Curious about hair color changing

[1GoldenSun]

i have blonde hair and blue eyes and my husband has brown hair and brown eyes. However, my husband's hair was blonde--even lighter than mine is now--up until he was maybe 9 or 10, then it gradually darkened through his teens until it was fairly dark brown.

Both of our children had golden blonde hair when they were young. My 14-year-old now has fairly dark blonde hair, but it hasn't changed much if at all over the last few years. My 10-year-old son's hair is still a golden blonde. He's a swimmer, though, and is in the sun a lot, and it is darker at the roots, but still blonde even there.

I just got wondering whether their hair is likely to stay blonde. The fact that my husband's blonde hair turned brown makes me think that could happen to them, but I'm wondering if the fact that they have blue eyes (as well as fairer skin than my husband's) makes it more likely that they'll stay blonde. It doesn't really matter, of course; I'm just curious.

Have you or someone close to you experienced a change in hair color, and at what age?

 

[Christine]

Hard to say. I am 54 years old and have medium to dark brown hair with blue eyes. I was WHITE blonde until age 4, then turned medium brown with blonde highlights. When I hit 30, any blonde there went away and I was pretty dark-haired at that point.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I think its more common than you realize.
My nephew had very blonde hair when he was little and it has now become darker.
My brother in law had red hair when he was little and it became dark brown.
My niece has red hair and we are hoping it will stay.
I almost wonder if it is more a male thing rather than female.

 

[DLgal]

I had white blonde hair until puberty, then it turned medium ash blonde. It's now dark blonde with several shades of red, brown, and blonde all mixed together. Puberty commonly causes hair color changes.

 

[1GoldenSun]

I think it's pretty common for blonde hair to darken, I just wondered if there was a certain age by which this would usually happen. Also, if it were less likely to darken if they also have blue eyes.

If your hair was still changing color at 30, @Christine, I guess you never can tell!

And I had no idea red hair could turn brown, @Queen of the WDW Scene!

 

[Owlpost23]

Blonde hair is wasted on the young.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd22 is still very blonde, platinum most of her life (brown eyes). I assume it will eventually turn into mousy blonde like mine (I have blue eyes and had the exact same hair as hers), ds20 started with the same color as Dd, but it got darker much faster, it’s a dark blonde now (hazel eyes). Dd 15 had the lightest, it looked like doll hair, straight and shiny. However, she has alopecia, it fell out, and grew back dark blonde (brown eyes). DH has the same hair experience as ds20. My other kids started out dark blonde, but are now brown (one has blue eyes).

Blonde is great, until you get older, and need highlights, blonde doesn’t age well.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I think it's all about dominant and recessive genes.
Blame Fr. Mendel and his gosh darn peas.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I think it's all about dominant and recessive genes.
Blame Fr.Mendel and his gosh darn peas.

That's what I was going to say. My husband has totally white hair (he grayed early), but when younger he had sort of mousy light brown hair and blue eyes. I always had medium brown hair (with red highlights when I was outdoors a lot) and hazel eyes.

We had 3 kids - all with blue eyes, two with medium brown hair and one with red hair. Since my husband's mother was a strawberry blond when young, I'd say our 3rd kid got the two recessive genes for red hair. And it's still red (copper red) 30 years later.

Both parents have brown hair, but carry a red-hair causing gene. These parents are both called “carriers” of the gene. In this case, the parents will have a 25% chance of having a child with brown hair who does not carry the red gene. They have a 50% chance of having a child with brown hair who carries the red gene. There is a 25% chance that the parents will have a child with red hair.

Also of interest - red-heads don't gray as early.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I think the blonde hair change is pretty normal. Both my ex-husband and I were blonde from birth until early elementary school. Our kids followed suit, my son's hair started turning brown in kindergarten and is now a mahogany brown color, my daughter is still blonde at age 7 and I think she's going to stay that way.

I like to pretend that I'm turning blonde again, I'm growing in some platinum highlights at my temples

 

[holden]

My hair color has stayed brown all my life (well, with the help of a bottle). However, my poker straight hair went completely curly when I hit puberty.

 

[Southernmiss]

I had strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes as a child turned to brown about age 6. Still brown, few grays peeking out but not enough to color. I had curly hair as a child. It straightened, but has naturally gone very wavy again in the last 10 years. My grandmother still had mostly black hair at 97.

Dh had blonde hair and green eyes until about age 8. Now brown haired.

Oldest ds had blonde hair and green eyes until abt age 8.

Next son had bonde hair blue eyes until abt 10 when it went to red highlights and now light brown.

Third son, always dark hair and green eyes. Weirdo.

Dd is 16 blue eyes her hair has gone from blonde to dark blonde. Always a curl in her hair. Has not changed color as quickly as her brothers did.

 

[cinnaminny]

I have a very large extended family, larger than most large families, and we had many white haired babies. To me it seems like the ones that held on to that fairly pale blonde hair through childhood were the ones that kept it to adulthood. The ones that started with white hair that got a bit darker during their childhood lost their blonde.

 

[DLgal]

I think it's pretty common for blonde hair to darken, I just wondered if there was a certain age by which this would usually happen. Also, if it were less likely to darken if they also have blue eyes.

If your hair was still changing color at 30, @Christine, I guess you never can tell!

And I had no idea red hair could turn brown, @Queen of the WDW Scene!

I have blue eyes. I don't think hair and eye color is related at all.

 

[amberpi]

My DH had white blonde hair as a child and see pic for his color now. Blue eyes too...which haven't changed. If that happens maybe consult a doctor?

 

[amberpi]

I have blue eyes. I don't think hair and eye color is related at all.

I have always had very dark hair (unless I was paying a great deal of money and spending a lot of time having it lightened), very light blue/green eyes, and fair skin. I don't think that hair and eye color is related either.

 

[DLgal]

I have always had very dark hair (unless I was paying a great deal of money and spending a lot of time having it lightened), very light blue/green eyes, and fair skin. I don't think that hair and eye color is related either.

My oldest son has medium brown hair and blue eyes. My other son has dark brown hair and green eyes.

 

[kimblebee]

I had white blond hair until I was 6 or so then it’s slowly darkened over time. Now I have dark blond/ light brown hair with the best blond highlights. Every single time I get my hair cut they assume I have highlights and they always comment on how good they are done lol

 

[disykat]

My hair gets darker with each year. I was a "towhead" as a child. By high school graduation I was dirty blond. With my pregnancies it darkened significantly but seemed to lighten up again as new hair grew. Now I almost don't recognize myself in the mirror because my hair is so dark. For a long time it was variegated with blond and light brown mixed with the darker. Now is just plain dark brown.

My boys are in their 20's and they have lost their blond and are a mixed light brown.

My siblings all had brown hair and still do. I was so blond and am now darker than all my siblings. Relatives generally assume I've dyed my hair. My grandmother was always all aflutter about it and never believed me that I hadn't.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I didn't read all of the replies, but I have blond hair & emerald green eyes. The color of blond I have depends on the amount of sun I get. If I'm in the sun a lot, it's light blond. I went from being in the pool all summer to a few years working 2nd or 3rd shift & spending very little time in the sun. Those years it became a sort of what I call a dirty blond. Now that I live in Florida, it's back to being a true blond. The amount of sun I get makes all the difference for me.