What Causes Gray Hair
What causes gray hair something many of you may ask yourself especially if you are experiencing it pre-maturely.
Most people think age is the only factor leading to grey hair but the fact is that it can start at any stage of life, even as teenagers. On the other hand, there are those people who don’t develop even a single gray hair going all the way through to their later years. Well, everyone is different. However, the pigments are generated in our hair the same way.
The question is what causes gray hair? The cells Melanocytes that are present in our hair follicles generate Melanin which is the basic pigment. This gives our hair its color. At some stage in life the melanocytes may stop producing these pigments and thus the hair produced will be colorless or transparent. This transparency when combined with the darker hair in the back produces an effect that makes it look gray. So actually hair is not gray but rather it’s transparent. However, it's sometimes referred to as silver or white hair.
As mentioned earlier, grey hair can develop very early in the life. One very common reason for this is genetics. That means that if your parents developed gray hair early then the chances are that you might also face premature greying.
Though this may not always be the case but it is what generally tells you how soon you may begin to gray.
Age also plays a key role in you going gray. As you get older, the pigment production in the roots of the hair decreases and eventually it stops leaving behind transparent (or grey) hair.
Other reasons include medical conditions and diet. There are currently several medications that will cause premature gray hair. B12 is a very important vitamin for pigment production and if you’re deficient in that you might develop this condition. People suffering from thyroid imbalance also have to deal with the same problem.
Although not proven but research has given signs of stress causing gray hair to grow as it disturbs the body metabolism directly or indirectly. So stress, malnutrition, caffeine and long working hours might also contribute to what causes grey hair.
In order to prevent your hair turning grey, you’ll want to decrease (or better yet, stop!) the stress in your life every single day. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to reverse or cure gray hair! However, you can cover it with hair color which will get rid of the color for at least a temporary period of time.
Now that you know what causes gray hair, you should be able to at least prevent some of it by removing stress and making sure to get proper nutrients.
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