Gray Hair Part I: Why Do We Get Gray Hair?

man with grey hair

Cuban Grey Hair and Lines by Alex E. Proimos is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Just how is it that people view gray hair today? It seems as if for every article you see about preventing the onset of gray hairs, there’ll be something else written about how trendy it is to dye your hair gray or “silver.” Whatever your take is on gray hair, the reality is that there isn’t anything we can do to prevent it. Sure, we can mask it but sooner or later - be it in your twenties or your fifties - we are all going to succumb to gray hair. When that first gray hair appears, is actually linked to genetics and whenever it was that your parents or grandparents first started to go gray will be an accurate indicator for you. From then, it’ll take around 10 years before you go fully gray.

Why do we get gray hair though? Well, without trying to scare you off with too much biology, within us there are cells called melanocytes. They produce the pigment, melanin, which you may well be familiar with. Melanin is what gives colour to our eyes, skin and hair. Melanin comes in two colour forms: black/brown and reddish/yellow. How these come to be in our individual hair strands gives us that wide spectrum of human hair colours. No gray colour is produced. We do not grow gray hair. So where does this gray come from? Gradually and at different times in our lives, the melanocytes in our strands of hair begin to die. Melanin ceases to be produced and we are left with gray hair. The gray colour we are left with is actually the natural colour of hair strands lacking in pigment. Pigment-free hair is usually almost entirely transparent and it simply appears gray or white because of the way that light reflects off it.

Keep an eye out for our next blog* as we’ll be explaining how you can add gray hair to your hair systems. In the meantime, if you feel we can be of assistance to you on any matter, grey hair-related or not, then please just get in touch via our website or social media pages.