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October 15, 2008 2:18 PM Subscribe
Does finding white pubic hairs mean I'm also getting white hairs on my head?
I'm a woman at the latter end of her mid-30s. In the past, maybe not quite a year, I've begun to notice a random white pubic hair here and there. However, they have been cropping up with a leeeetle more frequency and numerically in the past few months. Just this morning i found four where in the past I would have found only one or two at a time, over the course of a few months.
My question is if this is an indication that white/grey hairs are also springing up on my scalp as well? I've been coloring my hair for the last dozen years or so and therefore would never know (and therefore, viusally doesn't matter) but I'm just wondering if it would be the case that I'd be see them on my head (if I wasn't coloring my hair) because I'm seeing them more frequently down below?
I'm a woman at the latter end of her mid-30s. In the past, maybe not quite a year, I've begun to notice a random white pubic hair here and there. However, they have been cropping up with a leeeetle more frequency and numerically in the past few months. Just this morning i found four where in the past I would have found only one or two at a time, over the course of a few months.
My question is if this is an indication that white/grey hairs are also springing up on my scalp as well? I've been coloring my hair for the last dozen years or so and therefore would never know (and therefore, viusally doesn't matter) but I'm just wondering if it would be the case that I'd be see them on my head (if I wasn't coloring my hair) because I'm seeing them more frequently down below?
I am forty and just noticed grey hair on my head for the first time, yet I dont seem to have any old lady pubes yet. I do however seem to be growing a few extremely pale, suspiciously long EYEBROWS, about which I am not really thrilled!!
so I think it varies, everyone is going to be different with this. not all men get earhair....
posted by supermedusa at 2:47 PM on October 15, 2008
so I think it varies, everyone is going to be different with this. not all men get earhair....
posted by supermedusa at 2:47 PM on October 15, 2008
Oh, sure, you're anonymous, but what about the rest of us? Those of us who started getting grey hairs on our heads years ago but just noticed them... elsewhere... a few months ago? Like we'd share that information nonanonymously.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:54 PM on October 15, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:54 PM on October 15, 2008 [1 favorite]
Only if they are your pubic hairs.
posted by longsleeves at 3:07 PM on October 15, 2008 [4 favorites]
posted by longsleeves at 3:07 PM on October 15, 2008 [4 favorites]
The answer is that this is unanswerable for us. Changes in hair color over time (and over the body) have too much variety for us to tell you what you want to know.
Hair graying is the most obvious sign of aging in humans, yet its mechanism is largely unknown. Here, we used melanocyte-tagged transgenic mice and aging human hair follicles to demonstrate that hair graying is caused by defective self-maintenance of melanocyte stem cells. This process is accelerated dramatically with Bcl2 deficiency, which causes selective apoptosis of melanocyte stem cells, but not of differentiated melanocytes, within the niche at their entry into the dormant state. Furthermore, physiologic aging of melanocyte stem cells was associated with ectopic pigmentation or differentiation within the niche, a process accelerated by mutation of the melanocyte master transcriptional regulator Mitf.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/307/5710/720
posted by Exchequer at 3:11 PM on October 15, 2008
Hair graying is the most obvious sign of aging in humans, yet its mechanism is largely unknown. Here, we used melanocyte-tagged transgenic mice and aging human hair follicles to demonstrate that hair graying is caused by defective self-maintenance of melanocyte stem cells. This process is accelerated dramatically with Bcl2 deficiency, which causes selective apoptosis of melanocyte stem cells, but not of differentiated melanocytes, within the niche at their entry into the dormant state. Furthermore, physiologic aging of melanocyte stem cells was associated with ectopic pigmentation or differentiation within the niche, a process accelerated by mutation of the melanocyte master transcriptional regulator Mitf.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/307/5710/720
posted by Exchequer at 3:11 PM on October 15, 2008
Yes. You've probably been getting them for years but haven't noticed because they are few and far between at first, and because you color your hair, and I'm guessing it's a light color to begin with.
Ask all your friends with dark hair when they first noticed white hairs. It can vary from person to person, but it's not uncommon to start getting white hairs in one's teenage years.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 3:15 PM on October 15, 2008
Ask all your friends with dark hair when they first noticed white hairs. It can vary from person to person, but it's not uncommon to start getting white hairs in one's teenage years.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 3:15 PM on October 15, 2008
I actually started getting white hairs in middle school, not many, but enough for some people to notice. It increased a little bit throughout highschool and now at 27 I have a fair amount of white hairs, but I actually kind of like it. However, I have never noticed any white pubes.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 3:58 PM on October 15, 2008
posted by MaryDellamorte at 3:58 PM on October 15, 2008
Heh, its all different for everyone. I started going grey at 20. At 43, I'm almost completely grey on head and face (I'm told its 'distinguished' but they're probably being kind). I have grey hairs that sprout up on my chest and arms, but still brown below. I'll assume you're female (having said that you dye your hair regularly), but why even care? My Mom has dyed her hair dirty blonde for over 60 years. Hell, I dont think anyone living even remembers what color her hair was originally.
posted by elendil71 at 4:24 PM on October 15, 2008
posted by elendil71 at 4:24 PM on October 15, 2008
Just take a good look at your roots before you do your next dye job. Maybe even go just a little longer than usual so you can really see what is going on. By the way, gray tends to go in patches or streaks on your head so you will want to look in several different spots (forehead, temples seem more common spots to go grey first. Personally, my brother is 16 months younger than I am, so I look at his hair, mentally add a bit more grey and figure that is where I am. There is also a tendancy for women to follow a similar pattern as their own mother, so you could ask her, if she is still alive and available to you.
posted by metahawk at 4:35 PM on October 15, 2008
posted by metahawk at 4:35 PM on October 15, 2008
I'm a 28 year old (natural) dark brunette and have no gray hairs yet. My mother's hair was shot with gray when she was my age. So everyone is different.
I think metahawk has a good idea. Let your hair grow in a bit.
posted by cmgonzalez at 4:57 PM on October 15, 2008
I think metahawk has a good idea. Let your hair grow in a bit.
posted by cmgonzalez at 4:57 PM on October 15, 2008
A good way to tell if your colored head-hair is going gray is by paying attention to the texture. Granted, this won't work for just a few strands, but you'll know you're around 30%ish when the texture starts to change. Those grays are pesky and stubborn and do their own thing.
posted by smalls at 7:02 PM on October 15, 2008
posted by smalls at 7:02 PM on October 15, 2008
I'm 29 and am going gray, but I don't have any gray hairs below my sideburns.
posted by parmanparman at 7:46 PM on October 15, 2008
posted by parmanparman at 7:46 PM on October 15, 2008
All my gray, at 55, is below my sideburns, in my beard... and below.
I think the variation in humans is great enough that you can't predict one gray based on the other.
Why am I answering this?
posted by cccorlew at 9:03 PM on October 15, 2008
I think the variation in humans is great enough that you can't predict one gray based on the other.
Why am I answering this?
posted by cccorlew at 9:03 PM on October 15, 2008
My beard has been going gray for a good many years, but my head stayed its original color for quite awhile. The gray ran down to my chest quicker than up on top of my head. The pubes remain original.
posted by Goofyy at 2:37 AM on October 16, 2008
posted by Goofyy at 2:37 AM on October 16, 2008
The reverse doesn't seem to be true. My husband and I (mid/late 30s) are both getting gray hairs on our heads, but not on our pubes. Not that I spend much time looking at my own pubes, but he would tease the hell out of me if he found a gray one. He likes pulling the ones on my head, so I'd definitely know if he found one down there. I'm not exactly inspecting his pubes in any thorough manner, but I'm pretty observant and I think I'd notice.
posted by desjardins at 8:51 AM on October 16, 2008
posted by desjardins at 8:51 AM on October 16, 2008
Oh, and another datapoint - I've dated older men who are gray up top, but never noticed gray down below. I don't know if this holds true for women.
posted by desjardins at 8:52 AM on October 16, 2008
posted by desjardins at 8:52 AM on October 16, 2008
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