To clarify: For myself at least, shaving hasn’t had anything to do with making sure I can get any kind of “seal” with a mask, but rather that I wasn’t interested in the way it looks to wear a mask over facial hair, not to mention the discomfort. Far easier to just stay clean shaven than add another thing to try and keep track of.

I don't have a beard, but my hair started showing signs of gray in my early 30s. Started with a few gray chest hairs, then shortly after that a few gray chin hairs, then a few gray head hairs.

Now at mid-late 30s, I'm full-on "salt and pepper".

Early 30’s for me. Embrace the gray.

63 now. Have had a beard for almost 40 years. Started in the US Navy in ‘77.
Started graying in mid - 50’s. Almost full gray now.
Nobody I know, including myself, knows what I look like without a beard. Have gone so far as to consider career decisions based, in part, on whether I would need to shave off the beard.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
The first gray showed up in my middle 40s, but I had gray on my head five or six years before that.

That is quite the opposite of my experience.
Gray in the beard mid 40’s, gray on the head started showing five or six years later.

First beard at 19 had several grays. Normal for me I guess. First grays on head at 13. 72 now. Beard all gray.

At about 48-49, my facial hair went from almost all brown and turned white. I don't even think I had any gray streaks to speak of. My hair on the head still has very little gray in it. Due to not wanting my appearance to stand out due to work (solid brown headed guy with a solid white beard stands out), I have added color to my beard in the past. It doesn't last more than a couple of weeks, usually 10 days tops.

But, the speed that it went all white was blazing.

I will say to answer SF question, with color in my beard when I have one, I still look early 40s max. With a mustache, it still looks a mix of Paul Blart, and Super Troopers.

The grey on the head was showing up before I was 30. I couldn't grow a beard until I got out of the navy at 36, and it had grey then.

The beard for me is hopefully functional - I work outside a lot, and (until this year) a face covering seemed to alarm people, so I grow it for any warmth it will give me. The hair tips get full of ice, so I think it is helping. The beard starts in the fall and is shaved off on April Fool's Day.

Most of my hair fell out before it got a chance to turn gray.

Noticed the beard going gray late 40's or early 50's.

Fully gray by 60, now at 70 mostly white.

And +1 on the masks...I wear it because I have to, not because I think it does a damn bit of good. Our Commie governor made it mandatory for all businesses and the Mask Police are everywhere so rather than create problems for a business that has no choice in the matter, I just put the fucking thing on.

50 year old ginger here. Gray in the beard by early 40’s. I look like a calico. Hair on the other hand is turning a dull blonde.

As for the beard fad, I shave with a badger brush and safety razor. It makes shaving both cheap and luxurious.

I didn't grow a beard until I was about 50, and I think some of it was already going gray. It's totally white now (I make a good Santa).

flashguy
DSC_8266.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr

I have had a beard since I was 17, now 67. Only when I worked nuclear for a few years was I clean shaven due to respirator requirements. I notice in my mid-40's the beard started getting a little grey. Then by 60 almost total white.

Mid twenties.

My beard started going salt+pepper in late 30s, and my hair started going salt+pepper in mid 40s.

Patches of my beard have a distinct absence of pepper.

Mine never went gray, but at 50 white started appearing. Now it's about 1/3 white.

Started going bald in high school with my widow's peak receding on both sides.

Gray started to appear in my very early 30s in my Navy spec beard.

Beard became all gray / white in my early-mid 50s.


UPDATED:
Shot just posted in the Winter Hat thread:

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bald1,

First time growing a beard for me was winter of 2017-2018 and grew one the following year....no gray at all. I skipped last year because I was actively looking for a new job and didn’t want to make it obvious that I had an interview, so I stayed shaven last winter.

This year I have some gray in the area under the chin...not much but it’s there. I’m currently 45, in May I’ll turn 46.

At 53 my beard is at least 1/2 grey and what's left of the hair on my head is pure salt and pepper but I didn't really have any grey until I turned 40. When I was young it was common for men to dye their hair and moustaches. I always thought that it looked better to just let it go grey, no one is being fooled into thinking you're younger than you are because of hair dye.

"My view about beards is probably uncommon because I can’t stand to skip a day without shaving. "

Different strokes for sure. I last shaved in Nixon era. For much the same reason, only the reverse...attacking my face with a sharp instrument was only nominally worse than using a non-sharp device. Don't miss the daily event at all.

Don't know about the 'gray/white' divide, as from inside it still seems 'darkish' like those late 80s photos hint. The outside by Bush 41 noted a bit of drift, and since 44 has been some kind of chromosynchaotic collapse in shades of 'not dark'. Perhaps 'shades of grey/white' from the outside. So I'm told.

Thanks for all the responses.
Very informative. Even though the onset varies quite a bit, it's obvious that graying can start pretty early, and I never focused on the fact that it often starts earlier in the beard than on the (top of the) head.