Completely Off Topic: Question about mixed color beards

A little background...

I will be finishing college in May, and early this semester I decided to grow out my facial hair to see what it would look like before I have to look presentable for job interviews.

Throughout the majority of college, I was forced to shave every day when I was part of the university’s officer training program (started off as a military school), so I had never gotten the chance to grow it out. Even when I showed up at 18 and had no hair on my face, I still had to shave by the numbers every day with everyone else.

Anyways, here is the deal...After growing it out a few weeks, I found out I have a mixed color beard (which I read is fairly common).

But unlike the hair on my head which is light brown, the hairs around my lips and on my chin (think goatee) are almost completely white. Not even like a pale blonde, it is white. You could maybe mistake it for blonde from a distance because of my skin color, but upon inspection you will find very white hair.

And the rest of the hairs that comprise my beard are even darker brown than the hair on my head (cheeks, sideburns, on my neck), almost black. And to top it all off, unlike the the semi-wavy hair on my head, my beard hairs are fairly curly.

So I guess my question is this…. I have shaved long enough for my hair to darken and coarsen from the “peach fuzz” I grew as a teenager, so why at almost 23 would I have so much white in my beard?

I have googled it in every way I know how, but I haven’t found anything like my situation, as the most common mixed beard colors are red/brown/black combos.

Any GLPers out there have any experience or knowledge that could help out? It would be very much appreciated!!