My gray hair is completely different....

nana_banana

I'm 27 years old and I'm going gray, which is not unusual, since my mother went gray at 27. I have about 10 gray hairs right now and every other week, it seems like I'm finding a new one. I don't mind going gray and in fact, I think it's kind of fun...

But my gray hairs are completely different than my non-gray hairs in term of curl pattern, texture, porosity, etc. My non-grays are soft, highly porous kinky 3C coils with a lot of bounciness. They are also very fine, almost translucent when you look at the individual hair strands closely. My gray hairs, however, are coarse, thick, and a much looser curl or wave (varying between 2B-3A), with even a couple of of them being completely straight.

Does this mean that over time, I'm going to lose my curls that I've finally learned to love and appreciate? Or will the grays get curlier as they get longer? They are very short right now, much shorter than my other hair.

rbb

i think it's hard to say how the gray will be. once you have a lot more gray you might have to change products as the texture will most likely be somewhat different. and with that product change you may still have the same curls you have now. just needing different ingredients.

nana_banana

Thanks rbb.

twirlygranny

My gray hairs are looser that my black hairs too....it's weird.

nana_banana

It'll be really interesting to see what will happen has I get more and more grays. I'm not even sure if I will dye them or not.

DonnitaMae

My gray is the same as my non-gray.. at least I think it is! I wonder if the level of moisture makes a difference. I have been on a mission to moisturize like crazy since I went Curly Girl!

BeinDeb

Mine is, too, Donnitamae, that is, my silver hair ended up to be exactly like my ex-blonde hair. I remember when they first started coming ~ they "seemed" to be a different texture/type. However, now, and especially since adopting the CG method, I realize that it IS a moisture issue. The lack of moisture both before and after hid the curls and fed the "poof." I suspect the grays/silvers were simply suffering more from the lack of moisture. As my natural hair is highly porous and extremely fine, moisture is the key right along with protein.

nana_banana

Maybe they just seem more different because they are very noticeable in comparison to my naturally dark brown hair? My mother is pretty much 100% gray now but she dyes her hair. She used to be have what I believe was 3A curls (hard to tell from 80's pictures though, lol) and now it looks mostly like 2A/2B. She lost a lot of curliness but it could also be that her hair is damaged too (she also heat straightens weekly).

fonki

My greys are noticeably thicker and more coarse. They stand out because they're the opposite colour of my black hair and they don't fit in with the rest of the curl.

chupie

Grey damages fairly easily I think. I would suspect weekly straightening is more responsible for your moms pattern change.

nana_banana

I sure hope so, chupie, because I have fantasies of rocking the gray fro well into my seventies and eighties!

chupie

I would love a gray fro. I'll be happy with waves.

Sandy Coils

I have natural hombre sandy brown colored hair - no dyes or anything. I have a "grey" patch in the front right of my head, only its not really grey. The hair strands are gold, so it almost looks like blonde highlights. Has anyone ever seen this type of "grey" hair before? I'm wondering how it will look when it completely takes over my head.

chupie

Wow. That sounds kind of cool actually. Have you always had it? I knew a kid in high school with one patch of gray.

testimony777

Sandy Coils wrote: »

I have natural hombre sandy brown colored hair - no dyes or anything. I have a "grey" patch in the front right of my head, only its not really grey. The hair strands are gold, so it almost looks like blonde highlights. Has anyone ever seen this type of "grey" hair before? I'm wondering how it will look when it completely takes over my head.

My hubby's gray started as copper strands that would show up periodically. Eventually the copper strands were replaced by gray strands. My theory is that the coper was just an intermediate stage as the follicle was beginning to produce less melanin (kind of like silver is for some people). Maybe since your hair is sandy your intermediate stage is gold?

rbb

chupie wrote: »

Grey damages fairly easily I think. I would suspect weekly straightening is more responsible for your moms pattern change.

i was just looking over tonya mckaly's articles,rereading several, and came across this one which i thought would be super helpful in this forum:

Gray Hair Versus Sunshine and UV Radiation