Natural hair color

Has anyone else noticed their hair color naturally changing since going natural? My hair has always been jet black but I noticed when I take photos that I have strange spots where my hair is auburn/brownish and finer.It may have always been this way and I'm just now noticing. I've never dyed my hair. I started noticing it when my hair was growing out from last summer. This is a picture of the crown of my head. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

It's possible that you just never noticed it before. I thought that my natural hair would be black because it does appears darker than my relaxed hair. So I thought that the relaxer was making it lighter, but it turns out that my natural hair is in fact the same shade as my relaxed hair. Who knew...

But I guess it could be sun bleached or something like that....

my hair changed colors during this past summer, too. It runs in my family (my mom & my brother have dark brown hair that noticeably becomes lighter from direct sunlight)...but i've always had jet black hair that didn't change colors. Or so I thought...!