Found a shiny white hair amongst my 11 year olds black hair

Mattsmom277

Active Member
easy child and I were at my cousins for a birthday party this evening. I leaned over behind her on the couch to give her a hug and noticed a shiny WHITE hair amongst her jet black (with a slight red cast over part of her hair). I mean, WHITE. I plucked it and it was the full strand from root to top, no grey. Reaches to nearly her waist.

I didn't show it but I did freak out a little bit. I don't want to inspect her massively insanely thick hair and maybe upset or freak her out. But I'm freaking a bit. I find it totally odd at her young age.

Anyone have this happen???
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
I have no real idea, but I guess I don't think its that big of a deal.

I am blonde, but after a scalp injury, I have a patch of black, wiry hair that came back in when the area healed. I've had occassional white hairs (not gray, white) for years, particularly in that area of black ones.

The horses, if they get a cut, will almost always grow in white hair when the hair grows back, no matter what color the hair was before.
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
Sometimes a strand of hair will grow in without melanin (the pigment that gives hair and skin its colour). The hair is completely white because the protective sheath is colourless. Nothing to worry about. At 11 this is likely just a random occurrence, rather than a sign of early greying. If you're worried, it might be worth having her nutrition levels checked out at the doctor, but otherwise I wouldn't be too concerned.

I had a strand of hair just like the one you describe, about 20 years ago. My hair is also black. I plucked the hair, it never grew back, and I haven't had a grey or white hair since (at my age, I'm sure that will change shortly, but for now...)
 

Mattsmom277

Active Member
Thanks everyone. I guess it was just shocking against her beautiful dark hair. Freak out over ;). I did pluck the hair out. I'll keep an eye out. I can't imagine her nutrition levels are low but if I see another/more I'll for sure take her in for a workup.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I knew a guy who had really dark hair but had one white streak about an inch wide in his hair. No idea why.

Of course, my boys and Tony go gray early. Tony started at 21 and it appears the boys are following suit. They both have some already. Not as much as he did at their ages but some. At 30 Tony was about 30-40 % gray. Now he is about 90% gray.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
I'm what I call a "chameleon blonde" - IOW, the individual strands of my hair are a rainbow of colors. Yes, I do dye it; but naturally, they are blonde, red, brown, black, and every shade in between.

PS - Shiny? Is healthy. So it's GOOD!

And I get white ones fairly often, and have since I was about 14. With the chameleon aspect, though, no one has ever noticed. And it's not obvious.

That said - my Grandma had dark blonde hair - really dark - and she didn't start going white (not gray - white) until she was in her late sixties.

Mom has somewhat lighter hair than Grandma did, and she has a little white above her ears, recently - she's almost 63. So I'm not worried. And I don't think you should, either - unless it starts becoming a recurring thing.
 

skeeter

New Member
My son has a patch of white hair in his otherwise dark brown hair. It's from where he had eczema as a young child. He also doesn't tan where he had eczema. Somehow he lost all the melanin in all these areas.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
I think that is pretty common. I knew a guy who was completely gray at 13. I also had two friends that had gray/white patches on very dark hair. I've always been told that those patches of gray/white are a sign of intelligence.....(fwiw).
 
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