White beard hairs - WTH?

[rmac]

I’m only 38 but have been noticing recently that I’m getting more than a few white beard hairs in my stubble. This wouldn’t normally be an issue, but these hairs are about 10 times tougher and more resistant than any of my other hairs.

The biggest issue is that I’m almost certainly guaranteed these will become ingrown, which makes extraction all the more difficult due to them being practically invisible and buried under the skin. I have to get a needle and wrestle with them before attacking it with tweezers.

They grow in multiple directions as well and if I don’t shave for more than 3 days they put up an immense struggle to even the sharpest blades (feather / Bic CPs).

Anyone else have similar growth, or am I just cursed? lol

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Yes, and no. My beard tends toward wiry and curly but the white hairs are straighter, so they tend not to ingrow. They are noticeably tougher to cut and they grow faster than the others too. But at 47 the balance has tipped to the greys being in the majority so it's just something I've grown to live with.

 

[Goblin]

I know what you mean @rmac .

A few years ago I was struggling to understand why I was getting irritation shaving certain areas where I never used to have problems. I realised that there were lots of "invisible" hairs there that were completely white and thicker than the hairs that still had some kind of pigment - I plucked one out and it was like fishing nylon.

I can't say have noticed the white hairs becoming ingrowns though - it's the thick, dark ones that give me issues in that regard. The dark hairs seem to form pilum multigemini, but the white ones don't, which is a blessing I guess.

I think it's all just another one of those great things about getting older that nobody tells you about! Sharp blades. Thorough pre-shave preparation and just do the best you can - that's my take.

 

[DesertIguana]

My father was all gray at 27, stress of USMM Service was stressful during WW-2.

 

[rmac]

My father was all gray at 27, stress of USMM Service was stressful during WW-2.

Interesting, not sure if the 2 things are coincidental but I recently swapped an office job for a much higher stress environment type role. It was possibly around the same time that I noticed the white hairs appearing in their abundance.

You could be onto something there…

 

[DesertIguana]

Well Gray Hair & Beard is because you change with age.

It called getting OLD.

 

[silverlifter]

I started to go grey in my twenties (hereditary), and my beard was mostly grey by my late thirties. And yes, it is like cutting wire. I just wish I still had some hair on my head like this...

 

[brucered]

Only 38?

You're old enough to be a Grandpa, you're old.

 

[Alexland]

I get occasional white hairs, particularly in my eyebrows, and it always causes me to think about an albino girl I dated 25 years ago.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

Interesting, not sure if the 2 things are coincidental but I recently swapped an office job for a much higher stress environment type role. It was possibly around the same time that I noticed the white hairs appearing in their abundance.

You could be onto something there…

If you are finding your job stressful enough that you might even consider that it could cause white hair then I would seek alternative employment before white hair becomes the least of your worries

 

[Mitzie]

It's caused by stress as mentioned

 

[Lil Cooties]

I'm 24 and I've got grey hairs in certain spots in my beard and at my temples, luckily they aren't any thicker or tougher than the dark hairs and don't get ingrown. I think it's also a genetic thing, both my father and older brother went grey pretty young, and it looks like I'm going that way as well. Another genetic thing is that I have some red hairs (depending on the lighting) in my beard but not my head, so that's kinda fun, I think that's from the other side of my family.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Heh, enjoy shaving your neck and chin in about 10 years.

 

[BigJ]

Join the crowd (and I thought I was the only one)!!

 

[DesertIguana]

I am Gray.

 

[Frito Ray]

If your complexion is pale, plan on shaving more often as the more white whiskers come in to avoid the “patchy beard” look.