Grey Hair – What Causes It?
Have you ever wondered what causes hair to turn gray? You surely have, everyone probably has at one point or another. Grey hair is even more mysterious when you think about the thirty year old with a full head of gray hair compared against a 45 year old that has no gray hair at all. Well, there is reason for this disparity. It isn’t as mysterious as you may think.
Each strand of hair comprises of two components: the shaft (upper part) and the root (lower part anchored under the skin). The hair root is surrounded by hair follicles. The hair follicle is what is responsible for the growth and characteristics of each hair strand. One of these characteristics is hair coloration.
The cells in the hair follicle produce melanin, the same substance responsible for skin coloration as well. Melanin in the body comes in two forms each representing a different color shade: eumelanin is responsible for dark color and phaeomelanin causes light color. The entire spectrum of human hair shades is a as a result of the combination of these two forms of melanin in varying proportions.
As people age, the cells in each hair follicle that create melanin slowly die off. When the amount of melanin is reduced, the hair begins to turn grey. This is usually a long drawn out process because the average head has over 100,000 hairs and each hair follicle reacts independent of the others. In general, it takes over ten years for your entire head of hair to turn gray.
The time one experiences their first gray hair is dependent on a number of factors. The first and most significant is one’s genes. The time your hair turns gray will most likely be around the same age that your parents’ hair started to turn gray.
Diet also plays a role in how early your hair turns grey. In order for the melanin cells to stay healthy and produce hair color they must receive the proper nutrients such as iron and Vitamin B. These can be supplied by a well balanced and healthy diet. Therefore, if you live on junk food and empty calories, you just might have gray hair much sooner than you need to. In the same way, if you eat a healthy diet, you might be able to forestall grey hair.
Some of today’s lifestyle practices can also contribute to graying. Smoking has been one of the most frequently cited examples. Remember that smoking deprives the body’s cells of sufficient oxygen – a key component for life and growth of body tissue. There are also illnesses that may cause graying either directly or through the side effects of the treatment. Anemia and thyroid problems can lead to rapid graying of hair. Cancer treatment – both chemotherapy and radiotherapy – can accelerate the demise of body cells.
Most people are unhappy with gray hair and as a result, many products have come on the market to combat the problem. However, since grey hair is a biological process, not much can be done other than to over it up with hair coloring and hair styles.
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Posted on December 13, 2009 by Admin
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