The Facts On Grey Hair
Firsts things first, there is technically speaking so such thing as ‘grey hair’.
We have hair that has colour and hair that goes white. When they mix together, they look all different kinds of ‘grey’. A good way to think of it is like the pixels on a screen on you TV for example.
Here’s a quick bit of science before we get to the good bit.
Within your scalp/skin there are tiny things called Melanocytes which create colour for your skin. Your hair follicle stem cells have a little collaboration with these Melanocytes, to create the melanin (colour) of your hair. When we start to go white/grey this process stops on the affected hairs and they start to grow out of your scalp white.
For the most part, white/grey hair is determined by your genetics.
Generally you will start to see some white hairs mixing in with the natural colour of your hair, sometime in your 30s. However it can start in your teens or sometimes not until your late 40s or even 50s.
Ethnicity plays a part as well. Caucasians tend to go grey sooner than Asians, and red heads before everyone. Scientists are not yet aware why this happens.
In some cases nutritional and hormonal factors can affect how quickly this happens to you. Things like diabetes, and thyroid problems can also create premature greying, but for the most part, white/grey hair is determined by your genetics.
Chemotherapy can cause the hair to grown back completely white after treatment, as well as a totally different hair texture.
In some cases of Alopecia Areata, the hair also comes back totally white and often softer in texture than it was before.
Basically the only way to prevent getting white hair is to not live past 30 and we certainly don’t want that!
Turns out there’s a great reason for these fabulous individuals called hairdressers, we can sort it out for you and know one needs to know when you start getting your sparklers coming through!
If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.