My mom came home from the beauty parlor one day when I was 18, and her hair was suddenly all gray. She'd always had dark brown hair that I knew of. I asked her why she frosted her hair. She gave me a dirty look and said very coldly, "I didn't frost it." And it went from there to pure white over the next year. She was around 45 then.
I cut off all my chestnut-brown hair at age 24 on a whim, actually shaved it once. As it started coming back over the next few months, my father told me I had some gray hairs showing on the sides.
Had a beard for several years until I turned 40, was starting to get some flecks of gray in it, but the side corners were almost pure white.
Went with a silver-flecked Marine Corps flat-top for several years into my late 40's, then stopped going to the barber and grew a long ponytail over the last decade. It came in almost pure silver, then turned partially blonde. Weird.
Started going back to the barber a few months ago (59 now), just a short cut with some length to brush back. Wow, is it thin and wispy now, but thank goodness the front has a little something to style. Nice shiny spot in the back now, that took some getting used to.
I'm sure the beard is mostly white now. I can go without shaving for 3 days and now you can't tell from 30 feet away, although I can feel it. I couldn't do that 20 years ago and get away with it.
