The primary — and most scientifically-sound — reason for gray hair is in your genes. This is especially true if you go gray before 20 years old, which is referred to as premature graying. If your parents developed gray hair at a young age, chances are you will, too — and there's not much you can do about it.
If genetics or aging is the cause, nothing can prevent or reverse the process. However, treating graying hair could allow color pigmentation to return if the loss is due to a medical condition.
Nearly one in 10 people over 60 years of age is "naturally blessed" to have not a single grey hair on their head, says a new research conducted in more than 20 countries.
"While it's a natural part of aging for most of us, not everyone automatically turns gray when they hit the age of 50," she says. "Some people in their 80s don't have gray hair yet, while others get white hair in their late teens," she adds.
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.
After studying information in 69 different publications about hair aging between different races and ethnicities, a group of doctors and scholars found that the average age of hair-graying onset varies according to race: Caucasians: Occurs in mid-30s. Asians: Occurs in late 30s. Africans: Occurs in mid-40s.
As people continue to get older, fewer pigment cells will be around to produce melanin. Eventually, the hair will look completely gray. People can get gray hair at any age.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In humans, most gray hair is not related to stress. In fact, hair doesn't actually "turn" gray at all. Once a hair follicle produces hair, the color is set. If a single strand of hair starts out brown (or red or black or blond), it is never going to change its color (unless you color your hair).
You're probably not going gray.
They found that the timing and extent of grayness depend on genetics and ethnic heritage — and that your chances of going half gray at 50 are less than 24 percent.
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.
Is Hair Color Inherited from Mother or Father? Hair color comes from both parents through the chromosomes passed onto their child. The 46 chromosomes (23 from each parent) have genes made up of DNA with instructions of what traits a child will inherit. The results can be surprising.
Genetics and Eye Color
You inherit one from the mother and one from the father. If the two alleles of a specific gene are different (heterozygous), the trait that is dominant is expressed (shown). The trait that is hidden is called recessive. Brown eye color is a dominant trait and blue eye color is a recessive trait.
Just like one finds grey hairs on the head upon ageing, appearance of grey hair on the eyebrows is also a sign of ageing/premature ageing. While for some, these signs start showing up in the 40's or 50's, some folks encounter the problem of grey hair on eyebrows in their 30's.
Pubic hair, unlike head hair, stops growing at a certain point. So leaving your hair untrimmed won't cause a Rapunzel situation down there.
The less melanin you have, the lighter your hair color. Gray hair has minimal melanin, while white has none. As you age, it's natural to lose melanin in your hair. In fact, it's estimated that the odds of your hair turning gray increase up to 20 percent each decade after you hit your 30s.
Usually, our hair will turn darker because eumelanin production increases as we age (until we go gray, that is).
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.
Can White Hair Turn Black Again? Genetic or age related greying of hair cannot be reversed. However, greying related to diet, pollution, bleaching and stress can be slowed down with a balanced diet and a good hair care regimen.
Hair graying is the most apparent sign of biological aging in humans, yet its mechanism is largely unknown. Today, it is known that cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs), especially in combination, cause premature atherosclerosis.
Vitamins B6 and B12 have also been proven to boost melanin production. Goddard says that vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, has been found to trigger the production of enzymes and chemical reactions that boost the metabolism of the hair proteins (keratin and melanin) in the hair follicles.