new thread
Well, something interesting has started happening just since posting my last update, and I'm curious to know the logistics of it all! It's worth mentioning first that I've got plenty of friends with red hair whom I affectionately refer to as my Viking pals 'cos of the gene's base in Viking heritage. I've been mocked plenty for my silly fascination with red hair - sometimes it'll even give me the chills if I run into folks with bright red hair! Last trip I took to Iceland, I met a man with very long, bright red hair, and I think my expression at first made him very nervous, hehehe.
So, with that in mind, you can imagine my surprise to see that a couple of days after shaving, over a quarter of the shaved hairs came back in bright red. At first I thought there might be some chemical that was bleaching it, but then I noticed in some of my longer hairs that the roots were bright red while the tips were still a very dark brown - if it had bleached, I'd expect it to hit the tip and not the root? And if it were bleached, it would be a pale colour and not red, right?
So, how did this happen? What makes a hair type change suddenly? This isn't happening to the hair on my head, so why is it happening to my facial hair?
Another thing is, it still has not come in very thick yet, so there aren't areas that are completely red. More like a few dozen red hairs that stand out amongst several other dark brown ones. Is this normal with most people? They didn't used to be there though, so I am pretty sure that something is changing. I was also born a blonde with very fine hair, but that changed very drastically around my 8th or 9th birthday. I'd really like to know what triggers things like this. Now I'm a little afraid to lose something I have that I like!
A fair amount of my facial hair is really light blonde even though I have dark brown hair. I shaved my attempt at a beard because there was a lot of blonde in it and it didn't match the rest of the really dark hair. I've had a few red hairs as well. It's normal for facial hair to have a variance in color. As for the reason I'm sure it has to do with pigmentation and all kinds of other things that I don't really have an interest in.
I think red hair is cool too, so your not alone.
I have seen blond-haired guys with brown beards, reddish beards, and blond beards.
I have seen brown-haired guys with brown beards, black beards (like me), and reddish beards mixed with brown.
Also, I have seen reddish-haired guys with darker, brownish beards. So, this is not uncommon. Also, since you are still developing your "beardedness" at your age, I would not see this as an uncommon occurence. I'm CERTAINLY no geneticist, but as best I can remember, genes that control certain things can turn on or off at certain points in development by means of hormones or other factors. You will have to look this up; I can't remember the names (introns and extrons?) (Don't hold me to that!)
No one would believe that I had wavy, flaxen-blond hair until I was about 10, then coarse, brown hair until about 22, and then transitioning until now, fine, spiral-curled hair.
And sometimes, if hair is bleached, it brings out the red rather than blond depending on the type of hair. My hair turns reddish in the sun, and my sister's will turn blondish in the sun. I have dark brown eyes she, hazel. It's just genetic variation.
And, like you, but unlike you, I find white hair coming in my beard now. The same genetic factors that cause that are related to you getting redder.
Hair Color: Why Do You Have Blond, Red, Brown or Black Hair, and Why Does It Turn Gray and White?
May 2006
The color of your hair is largely determined by the genes that you inherited from your parents and their ancestors. There are a few exceptions, mostly associated with disease or congenital anomalies that induce change in hair color.
Knowing that hair color is under genetic control is only the beginning of the hair color story. Scientists are still unraveling the mechanisms by which genes and regulatory molecules send the signals that tell hair follicles to produce hair of a given color. Some of the same molecular mechanisms are involved in the genetic control of skin pigmentation. It is not surprising, then, to find blond hair in fair-skinned people and black hair in dark-skinned people. All colors of hair can lose their pigmentation over time and become the gray and white hair associated with older age.
Melanocytes are the targets for genetic signals controlling skin and hair pigmentation. Melanocytes are specialized cells located in the skin and in hair follicles. As the name "melanocyte" implies, a function of melanocytes is to synthesize the pigment melanin-the pigment that gives color to skin and hair.
Melanocytes contain smaller sub-cellular bodies (organelles) called melanosomes. Under control of genetic and molecular signals that include hormone stimulation and enzyme catalysis, the melanosomes synthesize melanin. The melanosomes are of two types: elliptical (oval-shaped) melanosomes are specialized to synthesize brown and black eumelanin; spheroidal (round) melanosomes are specialized to synthesize red and yellow pheomelanin.
Melanocytes in the skin are under other forms of control, also. Keratinocytes, the tough cells that make up outer layers of skin and hair fibers, produce biochemical factors that regulate melanocyte growth and melanization.
In the hair follicle, melanocytes are located near the base of the follicle where a new hair is produced at the start of the anagen (growth) phase of the hair growth cycle. (See About Hair Loss and Hair Loss and the Hair Growth Cycle.) The melanocytes at the base of the hair follicle receive signals that tell them when to start producing melanin. Melanocytes synthesize melanin only during the anagen phase. Melanin synthesis is turned off during the catagen (degradation) and telogen (rest) phases of the hair growth cycle.
The melanin synthesized by melanocytes does not begin to color the newly formed hair in the earliest stages of hair formation: the "tip" of the newly formed hair is completely or nearly colorless. As the hair shaft continues to develop in the follicle, pigment enters the cortex of the shaft-the "core" of the hair shaft that lies under the protective shield of the cuticle or tough outer layer of keratin.
Both the eumelanin and pheomelanin pigments can be synthesized, but only one type of melanin is usually synthesized at any one time. Both types can be synthesized in varying amounts to produce variations in hair color. The amount of melanin in the hair fiber is usually proportional to the intensity of hair color.
When melanocytes begin to become inactive, newly formed hair becomes gray as melanin synthesis declines. Complete inactivity of melanocytes results in white hair, the absence of color in the hair shaft. Why hair follicles become inactive with age is still a topic for research.
Scientists have begun to define more specifically the genes that may be involved in hair pigmentation, and the molecular signaling mechanisms by which genes and regulatory molecules communicate with hair follicle melanocytes. Cells in the follicular papilla at the base of the follicle have been found, in mice, to express a gene that signals follicular melanocytes to synthesize melanin. Another gene, bcl-2, present in both mice and humans, has been found to be associated with melanocyte survival in mice. When this gene is made to stop working in mice, the hair of the mice becomes gray during the second week of the hair growth cycle.
Stem cell factors have also been found to be implicated in hair pigmentation. The presence of a stem cell factor and its receptor has been shown to be required for melanocyte development and activation in a mouse model of hair pigmentation.
Research to date has confirmed that (1) hair pigmentation is under genetic control, (2) to date, there is no known way to change hair color at the genetic level, and (3) inactivation of hair follicle melanocytes is likely to give most of us gray and white hair as we age.
From: http://www.ishrs.org/articles/hair-color.htm
Hi Gylfi,
What you have described is REALLY similar to how my hair and beard progressed. When I was very young my hair was very blonde and now its obviously browny red. As my beard started to grow it was light blonde, now its VERY obviously orange! However I've often wondered how pigmantation works. I have mostly red facial hair, but the centre of my chin and my side burns are browny red and my moustache is blonde still. I've considered trying to grow a full beard just to see how the colours connect with each other across my face. Alas, winter has passed and it'll start getting warmer soon. When you have as much fuzz as I do it gets hot!
I'm really interested to see if anyone knows the answer to your question.
Neil
As mentioned, it's very common for a man's facial hair to be a different color from the hair on his head.
I'd say it's probably because it's a different type of hair. Facial hair being much more coarse and thick.
I surely wish I knew the answer to this, as throughout my entire life my hair has changed colour by itself. All I can think is possibly a genetic thing? Here are the colours my hair has been through............and it has NEVER been coloured:
1. Born w/Black hair which quickly feel out.
2. White hair until the age of 2 or 3.
3. By the age of 5 a very light brown-blond colour
4. By age 14 medium light brown
5. By age 21 medium brown. (And it stayed that way until my mid-30's.)
6. Since, it has turned darker and darker until my own mother (now deceased) accused me of dying it black which it was just about to the stage of.
7. Now there is much salt in it as I saw over 4 years ago when I fell for the "Buzz Cut." Until that fatefull day I was not aware of this.
8. But now that all is long again the "salt" doesn't seem to be noticed all that much so the hair appears a very darkish brown.
9. Meanwhile, the beard is chock full of grey.......but I am "cheating" on that one and colouring it as I myself do not like the contrast between long hair and beard. Besides, the beard is such a cinch to grow.
You just never know.............later on in life you may have red toned hair hair yet.
Hi Gylfi,
It's fascinating reading about everyone's colour changes, including the red in your beard.
As a child I had very blonde hair, which darkened with age by the time I was ten. I still have most of my natural colour, but there is quite a smattering of gray which serves to give my hair natural highlights, and I actully like it that way.
Since I only just grew my first ever beard in the past two months, I have no idea what colour it would have been if I had grown one when I was younger. However, it is considerably darker than my hair, almost black, with a scattering of gray. My moustache and eyebrows are very light, however. I have a LOT of different colours everywhere in my hair, eyes, and facial hair, especially since my eyes are light blue. I am never bored.
David
Yeah, that seems to happen to a lot of people. My father had white hair when he was born and gradually darkened (first blond, then brown) now it's simply black. I used to have a lighter blond as well but I doubt mine will get any darker since I seem to have my mother's hair.
Facial hair is usually darker than hair.