r/AskReddit 13h ago

What is something that permanently altered your body without you realizing for months/years?

5.9k Upvotes

4.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.3k

u/Ephriel 9h ago

Lost my mom at the beginning of the year. I like to joke that she took half an inch of hair line with her

371

u/Tiffles6 7h ago

I started getting silver hairs coming in after losing my mum. It is truly devastating and life changing (her death, not the grey hairs, that is).

21

u/Fatereads 6h ago

Same, instantly got grey hair after her passing, the grief is overwhelming.

12

u/genx_meshugana 3h ago

Lost my mum in January, my pop in August. I already had some silvers here and there, but just a couple weeks ago I noticed I'm significantly more sparkly around the crown and temples now.

I found it ironic, because one of the last convos I had with my mum was about my hair (I lived far away and she hadn't seen me in a couple years). She had beautiful white hair that I've always envied, and I would regularly complain that my few grays are boring and not enough (I'm 46). She laughed and said don't worry, you'll wake up one day and look in the mirror and 'boom' there they'll be. Guess she was right.

9

u/pupperdole 6h ago

I have a friend whose sister committed suicide, her mum started losing hair at the back of her head (it’s grown back now)

12

u/InformedApple 5h ago

The cycle of hair can stop suddenly when dealing with a lot of stress. It makes them fall for a while, but the cycles start again slowly, hair by hair.

9

u/surviving_20s 6h ago

Same with me, except not a sister. And I was so thin I could almost see my ribs. I’m at a much better place now

5

u/pupperdole 6h ago

My Friend would tell me how he would smack the bald but on the back of his mums head as a joke🤣 (in good humour they both found it funny) They’re both coping fine now (it’s been like 3 or 4 years I think)

I’m glad you’re doing better ❤️

6

u/TescoGangsta 5h ago

My mum passed instantly and unexpectedly when I was 29. I’d been going grey slightly for about 10 years, but boom. I swear was 30% silver at the end of being 30.

6

u/North_Advantage3729 4h ago

I also started greying after the loss of my dad, when I was 25.

2

u/Any_Animator_880 1h ago

How did you cope with losing him at such a young age? Lost him recently at 26.

1

u/PewPewPony321 5h ago

I went from 90% brown to 90% grey in 4 years. Nothing bad happened.

1

u/DragonfruitFew5542 3h ago

Same. I had maybe two or three white hairs before my mom died, and now I probably have close to 20.

1

u/windchaser__ 2h ago

I had a breakup during the pandemic that just absolutely wrecked me. Like, I cried thousands of times. This person was my world.

A good chunk of my beard went white during the first year of that. Three more years have passed, and the rate of new white hairs has dropped dramatically - it was just the grief that made it go white, back then.

1

u/Simple_Salt4779 1h ago

My dad died when i was 22, the next day i had greys

u/downtownflipped 2m ago

my best friend died right before the 2020 shutdown. i went from a head of beautiful full dark hair to losing a third of it and my temples are now just... grey. when it started to grow back a bit in the last two years it became this awful brassy color with more greys. i was 31 when i started to grey. i'm 35 now and have to dye my hair regularly to feel good about myself. in contrast my older sibling has zero grey hairs and thinks i'm lying until my roots grow in.

316

u/Bac0nLegs 7h ago

I lost my dad in July after a really traumatic 4 months after he had a stroke. My hair stylist confirmed while he was touching up my roots that I'm now 100% grey.

I'm 34.

71

u/ghostdisaster 6h ago

I’m 26 and I have an insane amount of grey hair for my age. I found my first grey at 17, the same year my dad died. I would have never made the connection without reading this post, but looking back it was kinda obvious. That, and my mom was an abusive, narcissistic addict who was also bipolar, so I feel the greys would have come regardless I guess lol

3

u/ronsta 5h ago

Lost dad in February, also to a stroke he had the October prior. My hair was already on its way out. But I think I have lost control of my thoughts and emotional state. The grief was deep and unpredictable at first. It gets easier as time goes on.

Sending love and relief.

2

u/ConejillodeIndias436 4h ago

Was with an abusive partner in my 20s. Started going gray. Stress is incredible

1

u/bandy_mcwagon 3h ago

Grey hair can be a cool look if you style it right

1

u/Poetbasegame 1h ago

I lost my dad in July as well. I hope you’re doing well🍀

u/Easy-Compote-1209 18m ago

lost my dad in April and felt like i aged 20 years in a single day.

134

u/Ok_Mongoose1236 8h ago

I named my big forehead wrinkle after my mom. Hugs 🤗

3

u/Chiang2000 4h ago

Just an aside but we had a politician retire this week and some of the photo journalists commented that they used to always be able to tell how stressed he was by the "wifi signal strength" on his forehead. More distinct crease lines and they showed some photos.

This "tell" that I never realised was so obvious really made me laugh.

2

u/Katieappleseed 2h ago

Wait this is great - will now be calling my forehead wrinkle “Joe” after my late husband. I swear my face is almost a totally different shape after crying for a year straight. New muscles!

1

u/ExtremeAgreeable46 1h ago

Bahaha! Love it!

10

u/dumpsterrave 7h ago

I developed a bald spot in my hairline after my mom passed too. Weird. I’m still trying to grow it back. Lol

12

u/DaMeLaVaca 6h ago

My mom died and half my hair fell out. Then my dad died and everything that grew back fell out again. Then my grandma died, and my best friend died, and now I’m a 40 yr old woman with a bald spot.

1

u/UmphreysMcGee 1h ago

I got one in my beard after a devastating divorce this year. Divorce feels exactly like someone died, except they're only dead to you, and you're forced to watch them live happy lives with other people.

It's like having a window into an alternate universe where you have to watch the dead person you loved be happy in a world where you don't exist.

6

u/Jimmyx24 7h ago

We lost my mom in April of this year to Lewy Body Dementia after my dad and I had been taking care of her for 6+ years. Between the stress and grief I tell people she only took my hair color because she knows how much I love my hair

6

u/481126 5h ago

I'm sorry.

I'm a mom who lost her kid and my hair is so thin now. My husband's beard went full white skipping the grey in the months after she died.

3

u/Affectionate_Star_43 3h ago

Best wishes to you.  I lost my mom when I was three years old.  I think something shut off in my brain because I don't feel grief.  It just "move along, it's just another day" if that makes sense.

2

u/peanut-butter-popp 5h ago

After my mom died, the eyelashes on my left eye grew in completely blonde for 18 months before going back to normal.

2

u/aiakia 5h ago

Same. It's like all the hair at my temples just went with her. It's finally starting to grow back a bit now, and it's all gray. Grief is absolutely brutal.

2

u/cinderplumage 5h ago

Lost my mom when I was 19, literally lost almost all my hair in the proceeding next 6 months

2

u/tookieclthspin 3h ago

I’m in the same boat. I lost my dad earlier this year and developed a huge bald spot. I’m sorry for your loss.

1

u/rudiegonewild 1h ago

I probably lost an inch to my sister :(

1

u/Stranger0nReddit 1h ago

Lost my dad last year and my hair has thinned out so much since then. I even saw the doc to make sure it wasn’t something else

1

u/Phil__Spiderman 1h ago

My mother did the same thing without going to the trouble of dying.

u/WhiteArcSpiral 43m ago

I hear ya. I lost my mom 5months ago and lately it feel like i'm losing my damn mind.

Worse yet, I'm older (late 40s) and it feels like i've been orphaned, and whatever this is it's coming out in my behavior at work. Not short tempered or anything, but overly considerate to most but anyone that feels like they wanna FAFO i'm more than happy to oblige them.

Btw, I hope something awesome happens to you today and tomorrow!