Dear Matt: I’ve got a question (obviously). I’m approaching 40, and I’ve noticed something unusual. While I’ve no gray or white hair on my head, I DO have two, yes TWO white pubic hairs. Why? My girlfriend said the places the white and gray hairs show up are usually where you first get hair. Most interesting. — C.V., B.S.CA

And most peculiar. Anyway, the places white and gray hairs show up are usually where your follicles are crapping out. Hair pigment cells become part of the hair shaft at its point of origin, below skin level in the base of the follicle. As we age, our follicles fatigue, hair growth and hair replacement slow, and fewer pigment cells are manufactured. VoilS: thinning gray hair. Scalp hair usually swoons first, but you seem to be fading from the crotch up. I suspect the two malfunctioning follicles are anomalies and you can look forward to an increasingly gray dome any minute now, though it will be harder to notice at first, given the relative hairiness of your cranium. Happy hunting.