Learn why and when gray happens, but more importantly how to welcome this new silvery shade in your life!
Gray hair is caused by the gradual reduction of melanin production over time within the affected hair follicle. The melanocytes in the hair follicles produce less and less melanin, and the result is a loss of hair fiber color strength. What we call gray hair is not gray at all if you look at the individual hair fibers.
Why do we go Gray?
As people become older, the pigment cells on their hair follicles slowly begin to die. A follicle which contains fewer pigment cells will produce less melanin, the chemical responsible for giving hair its color. With a gradual decrease in the amount of melanin, the strand will eventually become transparent and look silver, white or gray.
Hair becoming gray is a natural response to becoming older and usually affects people in their 30s onwards. Research has revealed that gender can also affect the age we are likely to first notice gray hairs appearing. The average man starts to become gray at the age of 30, whilst in women it is slightly later at the age of 35.
Although regardless of these averages, ‘going gray’ can affect people of all ages. Even school children can be faced with the despair of premature signs of aging and often become a victim of ridicule, by discovering a gray strand has appeared on their hair.
Although the age in which we start to turn gray is determined by our genes, generally speaking, the chances of hair becoming gray increases by 10 – 20 percent each decade after the age of 30. Although turning ‘completely gray’ is a very slow process and usually takes about ten years for gray to dominate the whole head since a person notices their first wisp of gray. Although genes and the laws of age-related probability are not the only factors at stake which influence our ‘graying pains’.
Many scientists assert that a deficiency of B12 can cause gray hairs to appear. Smokers are also said to be at a greater risk of becoming prematurely gray, as smoking is known to decrease the production of melanin in the hair. Not only has smoking been categorically linked to the hair turning gray, but it has also been suggested that smokers are four times more likely to have gray hair than non-smokers.
Once you are aware of this fact it is extraordinary how many smokers you know who are going gray. Other underlying health problems such as Werner’s syndrome and thyroid imbalances can spur on the onset of gray hair.
Why and How Does Hair Turn Gray?
I am often asked questions about the causes and treatments for gray hair. The truth of the matter is that there are a number of factors that can affect the rate at which the hair turns gray. The primary factor is simply genetics.
Each person ages according to the genetic code stored in his or her DNA. Sometimes this means that a person will reach the age of 80 with his or her youthful hair color, while another person may be shock-white by the age of 25. Of course, these are extreme cases in opposite directions, and most of us fall into the middle range along different points.
Graying Hair Causes
There is a lot that science doesn’t yet know about graying hair causes. Factors like stress, poor diet/malnutrition, medical conditions and drug interactions and side effects can often play a part in how soon and to what measure a person will go gray. In some cases, these factors can result in a return to the normal hair color when the condition is treated and the cause is countered. However, in most cases, gray hair is simply a part of the body’s natural progression.
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