What causes Gray Hair

There will come a time when our hair will slowly start to go gray. This can happen at different ages and contrary to popular belief Gray hair is not always related to ones age. Gray hair can occur as young as in our teens and into our late 50’s and even older.

What is common is the cause of the gray hair.The pigment of our hair is generated in the same way. The cells in our hair follicles called “Melanocytes” generate pigments of which the main is Melanin. This gives our hair its “Color”. When these Melanocytes stop producing the pigment the result is a transparent hair. The transparent hair against your healthier darker hair gives the appearance of Gray hair. In reality the hair is not Gray but transparent.

One of the main reasons for our hair to go gray is down to heredity. You can trace this back to when your grandfather or grandmother went gray or even you mom and dad. If your mom or dad started going Gray at a young age then the chances are you may also suffer from premature Gray hair but this can skip a generation sometimes. The same goes for baldness, you may sometimes take after your dad but this can skip a generation aswell. An example is brothers with the same father can have different hairloss patterns.

Age can and does play a large part in the graying process. The pigment in the hair shaft is generated from cells at the base of the root of the hair and as we get older these cells start producing less pigment until there is no pigment at all in the hair and we end up with the transparent hair.

Gray hair can also be the result of a medical condition. If you are deficient in B12 or suffer from a thyroid imbalance it can also cause your hair to go Gray. Supplements like Vitamin B12 can be taken to reduce the onset of gray hair in this case.

You may have been told or read that the sudden appearance of Gray hair is due to psychological shock or trauma however studies have shown that if this does happen then it’s typically due to Alopecia areata. What happens here is that the thicker, darker hairs stop growing before it effects the growth of gray hairs, giving the impression of Gray hair overnight. Alopecia areata eventually causes round shaped patches of hair loss or complete hair loss.