going gray immediately after a pregnancy?

[Anonymous]

So maybe I was just lucky, but I never had so much as a single gray hair... until I got unexpectedly pregnant at age 35. I got my first gray hair, plucked it, jokingly mourned my lost youth, and didn't see another gray so didn't think much about it.

Fast forward to six months post-partum, just turned 37. I came home from a night out this past weekend... and discovered that some of my eyebrows have grown in WHITE and large swaths of my hair are growing in gray. And yeah, I suppose my life is definitely more stressful as a single working parent (albeit one with a very amicable coparenting relationship with my daughter's father), but I don't really consider myself stressed... so this came as a real surprise.

is this normal? Was I just due for gray hair anyway, so the post-partum graying was just coincidental timing? or did pregnancy do a number on my hormones? My skin's also been a bit iffier than usual lately and my periods are still a bit unpredictable.

i know it's a shallow thing and totally no big deal, and I don't mind starting to color my hair, but i am curious! thanks.

[Anonymous]

Iffy skin seems like a post-partum thing, but graying could easily be a late-30s thing. Alas...

[Anonymous]

I did, but I was 39 when I gave birth. Can't say if it was pregnancy or age.

[Anonymous]

I got my first grey hair at 18, so can't help you there. But, I have noticed that I got a lot older....quickly...after being pregnant. I had a kid at 37. Maybe part of it is feeling my age or maybe it's because I found pregnancy to be horrible (morning sickness the entire time) and the first year of my child's life to be one big no-sleeping blur. So maybe I just didn't look in the mirror for 2 years. But geez, prior to being pregnant I looked really good for my age. Post-pregnancy - I look my age. It's like it all caught up with me. I just hope it doesn't speed up and I start looking OLDER than I am.

Good thing about grey hair - it's easy to cover up : )

[Anonymous]

I had my baby at 32 and almost all of the new growth (after the post-partum hair fall-out) is coming in grey. I also don't know if the timing is coincidental or if I had some sort of hormonal shift that is causing this. I will say that the first year of my son's life was very difficult for me, and I felt (and looked) as though I aged 5 years during that time. Maybe the exhaustion and stress is what made my hair go white!

[Anonymous]

OP here - glad I'm not the only one! I plan to ask a few of my hair-savvy friends to recommend good boxed color. which when i get busy i will totally forget to maintain, so perhaps i should just accept the gray now.

[Anonymous]

gray hair is genetic i have alot i am in my forties my sister is older and has none, they say its a chemical each individual is born with it, but the companies of haircolor and hair salons would go broke if the chemical we have is fixed