Full goatee at 15. Full beard at 18. Still have my hairline intact to this day.
Started turning grey at 36, in my goatee. Today, about 75% of my beard is grey. I have spreckles of grey showing up in my hair but it seems like every haircut exposes more. Strangely enough, I got grey hairs on my arms, legs, chest & my nuts waaaaaaay before I got them in my hair.
I've always had thinning hair near the middle & front of my head, since I was a kid. It would look thin until my hair grew about an inch, then it was fine. After my surgery, I had two spots on my head that was bald; one on the side & one a little lower from that thinning area on the middle of my head. After recovery, the side one grew back & is fine to this day. The middle one is now thinning, but much like the middle, it grew back normal after about an inch.
Now that I'm 50, that original thinning area is now a half-dollar sized spot. Not really balding, because there is hair there. Strangely enough, someone challenged me to grow my hair out, so I grew my afro back.
Found out a few things. One, my hair will not grow past 3 inches anymore. I used to have the Ice Cube Bop Gun afro, now, I got the homie from Girlfriends afro. Two, all my hair grows back...even that spot.
So, my trick now is to grow my hair out, then cut it down &, keep it a dark ceasar.
The last time I went to the barbers, they put me on to a Dominican hair product that supposedly thickens & helps hair grow back. Been trying that out & I must say, my hair does seem to be thicker & the spot has reduced to about a quarter.
Catch is that it has Minoxodil in it, so if I stop using it, it might make the hair loss progress.
But I reckon I got about 5 years before genetics win out. My pops had the George Jefferson at 38. My brother, who is 7 years old, just started turning grey & doesn't have any of the hair issues I have. You would think the older brother would get dad's bullshit, right?
Until then, I'll keep my dark ceasar.