Hair-graying onset varies with race, with the average age for Caucasians being mid-thirties, that for Asians being late thirties, and that for Africans being mid-forties. Caucasians and Asians typically experience damage to the distal hair shaft, while African-Americans see damage occurring closer to the hair root.
Scientists don't know exactly why some people go gray early, but genes play a large role. Also, a vitamin B-12 deficiency or problems with your pituitary or thyroid gland can cause premature graying that's reversible if the problem is corrected, Benabio says.
This buildup can damage the pigment-producing cells, leading to gray or white hairs. In women, graying usually begins right around the temples and then moves toward the top of the scalp. As it gets lighter, it may eventually turn white.
Many researchers have been indicated that premature hair greying (PHG) may be associated with the multifactorial problem include genetic, trace elements deficiencies and some medical problems such as metabolic disorders. However, the risk factors for premature hair greying are not well known for young adult.
Most people start noticing their first gray hairs in their 30s—although some may find them in their late 20s. This period, when graying has just begun, is probably when the process is most reversible, according to Paus.
Grey hair and genetics
The average age for grey hair varies greatly, and one of the main causes of grey hair in your 20s is genetics. The age at which a person's hair turns grey is influenced by the IRF4 gene, and one specific variant (rs12203592) is a marker for premature greying.
When do most women go grey then? "Most women who are in their 30s should see a few grey hairs, but by the time they get into their 50 most women would expect to have more than 50% of their scalp hairs turn grey."
While the study concluded that the average age for a woman to go grey is 33, it found redheads lose their colour at 30, brunettes at 32 and blondes at 35. For one in 10 women, those first grey hairs appear by the time they reach 21-years-old, while one in four women find their first grey by the age of 25.
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.
Their parents' mean ages at death, prematurely gray or not, were compared. For fathers, mean age at death if prematurely gray was 68.27 years; if not prematurely gray, 66.03 years (P = 0.35). For mothers, the values were 70.55 years and 70.37 years respectively (P = greater than 0.50).
Just like the hair on the head, the hair on the rest of the body, including the pubic area, is subject to graying. As people age, their skin produces less melanin. Melanin is the pigment responsible for giving skin and hair its color.
Caucasian people will begin to gray in their mid-thirties, African-American people can retain their original hair color until their midforties, Asian people begin graying in their late thirties, whereas, as compared to South Indian population, North Indians begin to grey in their early thirties.
It can be inherited from either parent. The color of our hair is determined by the form of hair pigment that we have. The pigment is actually produced along the hair shaft, and there are two main forms of hair pigment. There's eumelanin and pheomelanin.
The researchers found that when hair starts to gray varies by race. The average ages are the mid-30s for whites, late 30s for Asian people, and mid-40s for Black people.
As of today, there does not seem to be any correlation between the various hair colors vs. the rate of hair turning grey. Melanin comes in two basic varieties, eumalanin and phaeomelanin, which combine in different proportions to create the vast array of hair colors.
The pigment in our hair is caused by melanin— the same pigment that is also responsible for our skin color. Gray hair is caused by a loss in melanin, whereas white hair does not have any melanin at all. As you age, your hair produces less and less melanin that leads your hair to appear gray, and then eventually white.
'If you have a vitamin B deficiency, adding foods rich in B vitamins, or a supplement containing them, may be useful in stopping premature greying,' she advises. 'However, at present there is no way to delay when you are genetically programmed to turn grey. '
As a general rule, Mike Liang, advanced colorist at Julien Farel Restore Salon & Spa in New York suggests going gray when you reach 80 percent non-pigmented or white hair. If your hair starts to feel increasingly dry, brittle, or damaged or you experience scalp irritation, it might be time to ditch the dye.
There are no treatments that are proven to treat (or reverse) gray hair. As researchers learn more about how the graying process happens, they may develop effective medications and treatments for gray hair.
Aside from the time investment of a salon session, there's how long it takes to fully transition to gray hair, which is anywhere from six months to a year, Ferrara says.
In those aged 56 to 60, 86 percent had some grey hair, with almost a third of their head having been covered. But not everyone in their 60s had grey hair. Researchers found that 91 percent of 61 to 65-year-olds have, on average, 40 percent of their hair going grey.
The average age of onset of gray hair in people of African ethnicity is mid-forties, with premature graying if the onset is before the age of 30 years.
Graying is said to have occurred prematurely if seen before 20 years in Caucasians or before 30 years in Africans. [1] Few authors have suggested that 25 years can be used as a cutoff for people in the Indian subcontinent.
Genetically, Native Americans are most closely related to East Asians and Ancient North Eurasian. Native American genomes contain genetic signals from Western Eurasia due in part to their descent from a common Siberian population during the Upper Paleolithic period.