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Why does blond hair tend to darken with age?
Live Science ^ | 09/25/2026 | Kenna Hughes-Castleberry

Posted on 09/25/2026 10:28:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

If your blond preteen seems to be turning into a brunette, you're not imagining things. For some children, hair that starts out platinum blond gradually becomes darker and may end up dark brown, or even black, as they grow.

So what causes this change?

The short answer is that hair color is controlled by a complex interplay of genes, pigment-producing cells and, later in childhood, hormones. Scientists understand many of the genes involved in hair color, but they are still trying to find out why some blond children's hair darkens while others' locks remain blond for life.

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"It depends on their genetic inheritance," Desmond Tobin, a professor of dermatological science at University College Dublin, told Live Science in an email.

Hair gets its color from a pigment called melanin, which is produced by specialized cells called melanocytes in hair follicles. There are two main types of melanin: eumelanin, which produces brown and black shades, and pheomelanin, which contributes yellow and red tones to hair. The amount and type of melanin produced by follicles largely determine the color of hair that grows from it.

In general, more eumelanin means darker hair. For example, during pregnancy, high levels of estrogen and progesterone can encourage hair darkening as more eumelanin is produced.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: aging; blonde; blondehair; blondhair; color; hair

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1 posted on 09/25/2026 10:28:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Mine certainly did. I was platinum blonde as a kid. Now it’s definitely darker.


2 posted on 09/25/2026 10:32:12 AM PDT by AlaskaErik (There are three kinds of rats: Rats, Damned Rats, and DemocRats.)
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To: SeekAndFind

My wife of 47 years has lovely blond hair.

I ask her why she dyes the roots black.

She glares at me.


3 posted on 09/25/2026 10:33:28 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: SeekAndFind

The style salons run out of hair dye.


4 posted on 09/25/2026 10:35:27 AM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: Responsibility2nd

Be more thankful some women want us around.

They should ask us the year in our past when we could look down at the scale and see over our bellies without tipping forward.


5 posted on 09/25/2026 10:38:19 AM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: Responsibility2nd
Screenshot 2026 09 25 12 35 58 PM

My wife. Age 4. Her hair was white. It later turned blond, then red, then whatever color she chose from Miss Clairol.

6 posted on 09/25/2026 10:39:26 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: AlaskaErik

Same here. Then, for some strange reason mine turned all white. I tell my kids I got a gray hair every time that they got a spanking.


7 posted on 09/25/2026 10:40:23 AM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: SeekAndFind

Hats:-)


8 posted on 09/25/2026 10:42:39 AM PDT by Harpotoo (Being a socialist is a lot easier than having to WORK like the rest of US;-))
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To: SeekAndFind

I was a towhead when I was a kid, then it turned darker, now I’m a towhead again.


9 posted on 09/25/2026 10:46:00 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (The right of the Democrats to embezzle elections shall not be infringed. )
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To: frank ballenger

I think it’s God’s way of lowering the temptation of Muslims. Muhammad said blondes make the best sex slaves.


10 posted on 09/25/2026 10:48:20 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: crusty old prospector

Both of my parents turned grey at an early age. I, along with my 8 siblings, were prematurely grey. My eldest siblings, twin boys, had salt-and-pepper hair in 12th grade!


11 posted on 09/25/2026 10:49:09 AM PDT by Bigg Red (Deus vult!)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Clairol wears off............


12 posted on 09/25/2026 10:53:02 AM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I went from white to black with patches of bright red, especially in my beard.

I was very happy for the red to turn grey early, as the red in my beard looked very bizarre, like I was a pirate or a punk or something.


13 posted on 09/25/2026 10:56:54 AM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Sometimes There Is No Lesser Of Two Evils)
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To: MeanWestTexan

I had brown hair and a red beard. For a while, the beard had the Orson Welles grey stripes, that was kinda cool. Now it’s mostly grey.


14 posted on 09/25/2026 11:01:28 AM PDT by real saxophonist (Phil Weiser claps on 1 and 3. So does Jena Griswold.)
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To: Bigg Red

I bet nobody checked their ID’s.


15 posted on 09/25/2026 11:02:57 AM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: SeekAndFind

Here’s the real story...
God in his wisdom realized that guys can’t resist cute blonde girls. But he didn’t create enough blonde hair to go around. So he gives those cute girls blonde hair into their 20s so guys will fall for them, and end up married. After that, he turns their hair dishwater blonde or brown, taking the blondeness away and giving it to the next generation of cute girls. It’s been that way since the age of cute blonde dinosaurs.


16 posted on 09/25/2026 11:06:44 AM PDT by misterdarcey (Abandon all nuance, ye who enter here.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I took a different route: straight to grey in college. 😂


17 posted on 09/25/2026 11:14:22 AM PDT by piytar (NEVER FORGET Ashli Babbitt, Rosanne Boyland, Corey Comperatore, Iryna Zarutska, and Charlie Kirk!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Why Blonde Hair DarkensMelanin Production: Hair color comes from a pigment called melanin. Children with bright blonde hair often produce less eumelanin (the dark brown/black pigment). As people grow and go through puberty, melanocyte cells in the hair follicles often become more active and produce more eumelanin, deepening the hair color.

With age hair does 2 things it goes gray or it just goes.


18 posted on 09/25/2026 11:17:34 AM PDT by Vaduz (NEVER TRUST A DEMOCRAT)
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To: SeekAndFind

I was born and kept Sandy blonde hair till I was 8-9. Then little by little it became jet black.


19 posted on 09/25/2026 11:36:12 AM PDT by Hyman Roth
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To: SeekAndFind

Blonde, red, black, brown, or grey hair. They are all better than no hair.


20 posted on 09/25/2026 11:40:50 AM PDT by alternatives?
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