- We have seen our parents and grandparents with gray hair. They try to cover up by dyeing it. Getting gray, silver, or white hair is a natural part of growing older or ageing.
- But sometimes we can see young people and even children with gray hair which might be hereditary as it is determined by genes.
- Each strand of hair on our heads is made up of two parts;
- A shaft: It is the colored part of hair that we see growing out of our heads.
- A root: It is the bottom part, which keeps the hair anchored under the scalp.
- Each hair strand has its root surrounded by a bulb of tissue called hair follicle under the skin.
- Each hair follicle contains a certain number of pigment cells that constantly synthesize a chemical called melanin.
- Melanin gives the growing shaft of hair its color of brown, blonde, black, red, and anything in between. The amount of melanin deposited in each hair determines how dark or light the hair will be.
- The same chemical, Melanin is responsible for our skin’s color to be fair or darker.
- As we get older, the pigment cells (melanin secreting cells) in our hair follicles gradually die and their number decreases.
- Fewer pigment cells in a hair follicle no longer synthesize enough melanin and hence the hair strand becomes a more transparent color like gray, silver, or white as it grows.
- Our genes determine the age and time that our hair goes gray. Most of us are likely to have gray hairs around the same age that our parents or grandparents first did.
- It may take more than 10 years for all of that person’s hair to turn gray after he notices his first few gray hairs.
- Some people say that stress, shock or trauma can turn a person’s hair white or gray overnight, but scientists don’t really believe that this happens.