Young men (or older) what is your honest reaction?

[therosesword]

No offense to the women on this site, but I truly only want the male perspective.

Say you're around 13 and you and a buddy get trapped underground. You're someone who was imprisoned underground before so this brings up a host of past misery.

When you do get out you find your hair had turned white. What would your reaction be?

Now... before you tell me that scientifically can't happen, I know that. Please don't go there, this is for a fantasy novel and the fact it won't go there has been taken care of.

What I want is: What would your reaction be? How would you freak out? Would you be afraid how others would react?

Give me your gut reactions.

Thank you.

Write hard, write true

[Lahin]

It'd take me quite a while to notice that my hair is white, since my hair's short most of the time.

But once I've noticed it, two things will go through my mind.
One, shunned or something if it's taboo or a sign of some witchy stuff (I dunno if it's like that in that world).
Two, I need to find out why this happened and what this does to me.

Also, I'd try to see if I got some superpowers or not, cuz that'd be cool.

[therosesword]

What would your immediate emotional response be. Like looking into a mirror and seeing your face that yesterday looked fine and now the right side was raw pustules (too graphic LOL).

Really, I need a gut reaction, kind of like when you cut yourself and jump.

[Fuzzyman818]

Well if my hair had turned white when I got out of the cave, I would mean that I've been in there a lot longer then when I was 13 years old. You see, people who usually shut themselves inside all the time are sometimes more scared of finding things out in the real world, because they've kept themselves trapped in there own bubble. Call it a metaphor for hermits and basement dwellers but anybody that haven't seen the light of day would have a number of reactions to the world they left behind. Fear, Anguish, Anxiety, Angry, Depression, ect, ect.

But yeah, I would be scared of myself if I were to see myself in a reflection after being trapped in a cave for a long time.

[Lahin]

I'd actually instantly feel by back go cold. Starting from the spine, right behind the chest region.
I don't know if this happens to others because I haven't asked, but a shock of this sort would trigger this pretty surely.
Then I'd go closer to the mirror and check.

Sorry, I don't know what pustules is, though.

[therosesword]

I'm so sorry, I obviously did not make myself clear. Although I'm going to assume you've never heard of the old wive's tale of people's hair turning white after a terrible fright.
But thank you for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.

[therosesword]

Really ugly zits capable of dirtying a mirror at two paces. LOL

Thank you for the reaction.

here's a rough draft of the scene:

Dasch whirled around to the sound of the voice. His eyes were black with little flickers of blue. He closed them quickly against the light and when he reopened them they were back to normal. Peng stood still, staring at him.

"Dasch." Peng's voice was very quiet, his lower lip was gripped between his teeth.

Dasch took a step toward him but Peng stepped back. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, Dasch…" Peng reached out and pulled some of Dasch's hair forward. No longer a light brown, it was white.

Dasch grabbed his hair on the right side of his head and pulled it forward. It was white. He pulled forward hair from the left side of his head. It was white. He grabbed at his knot top pulling it from the ribbon and held it in front of his face. The hair was white.

Peng shook his head. "It's white. It's all white."

The younger boy beat at his hair with his hand, taking hands full and shaking it. "It's dirt. It's just dirt that fell from the ceiling." He shook his head the hair flipping around it but little dirt fell from it. His hands went to his eyebrows as his eyes opened wide. Peng shrugged, the eyebrows and lashes were the same as before. Dasch sank to sitting. "Papa won't know who I am. I'm a freak." He whispered.

[Kelheor]

[therosesword]

Best freaking laugh of the day. I love you.

[alexlcuri07]

Is there a reason this is being directed at men only? Wouldn't anyone of any sex or gender be a little confused if they realized their hair changed?

I think you should specify the traits of the character if you want better reactions. Is it a nervous character? Someone who's already self conscious? Do they take pride in their looks? He's thirteen. Does he go to school where he'll be judged by his peers?

I feel this character needs more conceptualization to fully answer this question. Because I don't know a single 13 year old who would worry about what their parents think before their friends and that has nothing to do with being a man.

[therosesword]

Yes, there is a reason it's directed at men only, I want a gut reaction of a 13 year old boy finding out his hair has gone completely white within a few minutes time.

Think of it a an exercise in improve acting. You're given a situation and bam, on the spot you need to come up with a reaction. that's all I want, is the reaction.

[alexlcuri07]

I understand what you're trying to do, but how someone responds to a situation has very little to do with their gender, at least from my experiences. Honestly, I feel as though you'd get better results from people who are teenagers or have worked with them then only asking people who identify as males in a sweeping generalization.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I'd honestly be excited and show it off to everyone. I was a weird child. Still weird, because I think white and grey hair is really awesome, can't wait to be an old geezer just because I like it so much.

[therosesword]

Surprisingly enough the teens I have asked (about a half dozen) have had markedly different reactions between the males and females.

[therosesword]

There is always the dye pot. Thanks Nathan... always love your responses.

[Puck]

I´m 45 but I remember how I felt when I was 13. I would have been in a real shock, physical appearance got really important for me when
I was 13 and every little detail that changed at that time was important for me like another beard hair or something like that and having
grey or white hair suddenly is not a little change.
I would not have thought that it´s a deadly sickness or something like that

I was also in a shock that the mother of my girlfriend told me I get grey hair on the back of my head when
she cut my hair and I was 21 at that time

[therosesword]

Thank you. What was the physical "gut" reaction when you found out about the grey. Stomach clench, cold on the spine like @Lahin? I got my first grey at 16 and started giggling because I was thrilled because my step-mom had one of those sweeping grey streaks and I loved it.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Dyeing is cheating though. Gotta earn my silver crown of glory by making it all the way through life. Lol.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I aim to be the forum funny man xD
But from my side of things, I feel like dyeing is cheating. I want to earn my silver crown the old fashioned way: making it through life.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Oops. Didn't mean to double post. My phone connection is bad today.