Maybe natural blondes and redheads actual lose pigment whereas brunettes just get white hairs?

I am brunette and have white hairs. So all the “grey “ is a combo of white and brown strands.

Some (very few) strands are like zebras: brown for a few inches, then white, then brown again.

Fascinating topic. I’m 61, brunette with the odd white hair. I donot colour or highlight. I used to have very shiny hair with coppery highlights, as I’ve aged, hair seems duller, but still very brunette. Hard to know what my genetic disposition is, my mom always coloured her hair, as do my blonde sisters.

I believe my MIL has very little grey at 87. I started early and was dying my hair by my late 20s. Definitely genetic.

My mother-in-law is 91 and still has natural medium brown hair with very very little gray.

My 95-year-old mother, a natural redhead with fiery colored hair, has gone from that shade to blonde. But no gray.

My hairdresser adds darker highlights to my pale blonde hair. I see a few white strands over one temple, but they play nicely with the rest of my hair.

I used to think "yes". An aunt and uncle claimed they did not grow grey but both went very white eventually. We all (rest of the family) were sure that were coloring their hair. Their children are both very grey as are their siblings. Some go grey very early and for some it may be later in life. I had a friend who had very white hair in her twenties. It must have started in her teens. Her biggest problem with it was that people thought her children were her grandchildren, although even with white hair, she looked young.

I started going grey at 18, so I'm super envious of your genes LOL

My sister started graying in her 20's while I just started graying about 5 years ago, and mostly random kinky white hairs that stick out. I'm getting grayer but dying my hair takes care of that.

My mom is 86 and only 1/4 grey. I started getting silver strands about 4 years ago by my ears. Just started to see silver in my temple area and I will be 65 next month. Great topic, Angie.

My 75 year old mother had light brown hair which has simply faded to a lighter colour, with some nice blondish bits around the temples which are soft textured and genuinely look like blond highlights rather than grey.
Not that I dislike grey hair either, but I think it’s nice for my mom to have naturally nice hair in this phase of her life as it was something she struggled with most of her life because was very fine, straight and limp (in her view). The older I get the more I see that everyone has their season so to speak... the trait you hated can easily become the one you appreciate as you grow older.
And because of my mother’s experience, I was shocked and annoyed when I started getting coarse grey hairs, I wasn’t expecting that because my colouring takes after my mother. I hadn’t considered that my natural wavy curls obviously came from my dad, who was already salt and pepper in his 30s.

My dear friend here in town is in her mid 60’s, no hair dye, and darkish brown hair, no grey in sight. My dad didn’t turn grey until late 70’s and he mostly has a full head of hair. I have had grey since my 20’s as did my paternal grandmother and great aunts, one of them lived to be over 100.

Everyone in my family does. My Mom said she was going gray in high school and has colored her hair since then. At least I didn’t notice gray hair until my late 30’s.

As I said on the bog post on gray hair, both of my blue-eyed blonde sisters haven't turned gray at all--one is in her 80s. Sorry I don't have photos, but might find some. Last year we had a round robin email conversation on this topic and they tell me still no gray hairs.

I had the darkest hair and hazel brown eyes. I was slow to turn gray. I started coloring my hair at age 55--which I now regret. Influence of my then hairdresser who considered himself a color expert.

My very blonde sister thought her hair would turn silver, but no, it is a dark blonde. So possibly you won't ever turn gray. Or silver or white.

All those of you who mentioned that redheads seem to not go grey , but gradually fade to a neutral blonde are 100 % correct .

I was a stylist for 40 yrs. and only had about a dozen true strawberry /red head clients over the years (they are pretty rare , about 2%of the pop.) and they absolutely ...in my opinion...grey in the most beautiful subtle way. They actually look like they have been highlighted in a neutral , rather creamy blonde . It always amazed me .
Exactly how Angie’s Papa and many of you have mentioned. Of course I am sure there are exceptions, but I haven’t seen it .
*edit to say, I have seen some evidence that VERY light natural blondes do the same thing as red heads , to MsMavens point .

I think I'm going grey on the insides !

I think the majority of people lose pigment in their hair over time, but everyone’s timeline is individual. I think genetics plays a large part in the timing. My parents went gray prematurely. They had gorgeous salt and pepper hair. My dad was nicknamed the Silver Fox. At 82, mom now has pure white hair.
I began graying in my late 20’s, but colored my hair for 30 years. Now I am transitioning to my own gray/white. We stopped highlighting in May and I am loving my own color as it reveals itself.

Hmm well I can’t pretend I’m not incredibly envious of you in this regard Angie!
I started to get some silver when I was 26. Oddly enough, no more has come in the decade since then, it’s just one chunk on my right temple.
I’m feeling more comfortable with it now that I’ve learned light blonde and silver can play nicely together in an ashy-blondey stripy kind of way.
I feel like I’ll probably always highlight my hair, I just find the vibrancy of artificial dye unbeatable. Even if I had absolutely no grey I’d probably still colour it.

I had a conversation in the dentist's waiting room awhile back with a color specialist who was interested in my hair color. He said that vitamin D suppliments can change grey hair color over time to a non grey. It had worked for several of his clients. I tried it for awhile, and my grey/white hair started growing in darker. Maybe people whose bodies use Vitamin D more effectively ( genetics ?) or who are outside more, do not grey or do so later or differently. I like my white hair and did not continue the vitamin.

Wow Joy, that's fascinating about Vitamin D. Oddly, I have always been on the high end of normal for Vitamin D levels when tested. Maybe there's something to that theory!

I'm getting a stripe. Wish lanugo was lighter.

I agree with the fading. I don't have a lot of greys, but my natural red-brown is much duller than it used to be. I've ended up doing more high and lowlighting to give it some oomph.

Taylor my sister is a redhead and got her first grey hairs in her late 20s. She's been dying her hair ever since.

She's more of a rich auburn and her eyes are amber. Her skin is olive. We couldn't be more different.

My mom was also auburn and went grey early on, and dyed it for years and years. Her eyes are brown and her skin is super fair, more like my own, definitely not olive, except she's more peachy than I am.

My hubby also supposedly had auburn hair before I met him. It had also started greying in his 20s so when we met he had already been dying it. His eyes are green.

That’s interesting Shiny !
I have found that true strawberry blonde/redheads and VERY light blondes, remain so through their entire lifetime .
Auburn, dark auburn , or rich auburn turn dark as they age, in some cases very dark.
Again , I don’t believe the color of ones hair has much if any thing to do when one greys , that is genetics ..my point was the “color” of the grey coming in on true strawberry blonde/redheads is more subtle and in my opinion (and only my opinion) is the most beautiful of the blends.

My hairdresser says my hair is less than 50% gray. It's a mixture of light brown and gray, so I get blond highlights every 2 months. I would love to have white/gray hair. My hair used to be what they called dirty blond hair.

Late to the party with this one but my grandmother never went grey. She had a beautiful chestnutty colour into her 80s. She also had dementia and was looked after by family so there was no way she was nipping off to secretly dye it. Her three children (my dad and siblings) were all grey by their late 40s.

Interesting about the vit D Joy! My level is miniscule in winter, and am greying more than mr suntiger (though still under 5%). He has no greys yet.