For those of you who have plucked those pesky gray hairs from your head, you don't have to fear that they are coming back with a vengeance. The idea that pulling a gray hair will cause 10 more to grow in its place is simply not true.
Despite the claims made online and by product marketers, it's not possible to reverse white hair if the cause is genetic. Once your hair follicles lose melanin, they can't produce it on their own. As melanin production slows, your hair turns gray, and then white when melanin production has completely stopped.
Repeated plucking of that white hair hurts the cells in your scalp and may cause scarring or even infection.
Genetics
Your makeup plays a big role in when (or if) you develop white hair. If you notice white hair at an early age, it's likely that your parents or grandparents also had graying or white hair at an early age. You can't change genetics.
"The white bulb at the end of the hair is keratin (or protein) and is the same keratin that makes up your skin and nails.
A new study shows that stress really can give you gray hair. Researchers found that the body's fight-or-flight response plays a key role in turning hair gray. Your hair color is determined by pigment-producing cells called melanocytes.
Typically, white people start going gray in their mid-30s, Asians in their late 30s, and Blacks in their mid-40s. Half of all people have a significant amount of gray hair by the time they turn 50.
It can be a shock to find your first gray hairs on your head, especially if you're only in your 20s. But women's expert Dr. Kirtly Parker Jones says a few gray hairs is perfectly normal, even for women in their late 20s and early 30s. However, stress, genetics and other factors can play a role.
Among white males, hair typically starts turning gray in the mid 30s, according to Tobin. In Asians, it begins in the late 30s, and in African-Americans, in the mid 40s. From then on, the chances of turning gray increase by 10 to 20% each decade.
“Plucking one grey hair from a follicle will not give rise to more greys, because there is only one hair that can grow from one follicle. Also, plucking one grey hair will not cause the surrounding hair to turn grey, because greying happens when melanin in that particular hair is affected,” she explains.
Stress can cause hair to gray prematurely by affecting the stem cells that are responsible for regenerating hair pigment. The findings give insights for future research into how stress affects stem cells and tissue regeneration.
Does lack of sleep send my hair grey or white? Lack of sleep can have a negative effect on many aspects of the body, not only can it lead to tiredness and lack of concentration, but longer term effects such as your immune system and stress. Stress has been proven to cause grey hair as mentioned above.
Premature graying hair and hair loss can be linked. However, one is not a sign that the other will occur. And, if both are happening, there may not be a link. In other words, it is important to look at other factors and determine what cause may be impacting your hair the most.
Although the primary cause of premature hair graying (PHG) is considered to be genetic, certain environmental factors also play a role. Trace element deficiencies such as Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3, and calcium may also be associated with PHG.
Genes may play a role in turning your hair grey even at a young age. It may have just been the luck of the draw that you have white hair at age 15. Genetics plays a major role in the color of your hair; for this reason, there is not much you can do to correct the change.
Harvard researchers have found that acute stress hyper-activates the sympathetic nervous system, which rapidly depletes the stem cells and leads to hair graying. (Image: Hsu Laboratory, Harvard University.)
Poliosis is caused by low amounts of melanin and melanocytes in your hair follicle. Melanin is the pigment that gives skin and hair color, and melanocytes are cells that make melanin. There are two general types of poliosis: acquired and genetic. Acquired poliosis.
"Plucking a grey hair will only get you a new grey hair in its place because there is only one hair that is able to grow per follicle. Your surrounding hairs will not turn white until their own follicles' pigment cells die," explained Dr Shaskank Kraleti, M.D. of UAMS Health.
Gray hair grows when hydrogen peroxide builds up in your hair follicle. "This causes hair to bleach itself from the inside out," says Debra Jaliman, MD, a dermatologist in New York and spokesperson for the American Academy of Dermatology. Gray hairs are thicker and wirier, so your hair gets coarser as they multiply.
Does Grey Hair Mean You Won't Go Bald? We'll call this one out straight away – developing grey hair doesn't prevent you from going bald, as disappointing as that might sound at first.
The researchers took a stab at the pattern of graying over time: In surveys, about 60 percent of men reported that grays first appeared at the temples, whereas women reported graying generally starting at the front of the head.
Blueberries. High on zinc, iodine, copper and vitamin B complex (B12 to be specific), these berries are very good for helping to produce melanin pigment. These are said to contribute to reducing white hair.