Why Hair Goes Gray

[DivaD04]

i'm hoping this hasn't been posted...i did a search and nothing came up, so here it goes.

Why Hair Goes Gray

Scientists may have figured out why hair turns gray, and their finding may open the door to new anti-graying strategies.
New research shows that hair turns gray as a result of a chemical chain reaction that causes hair to bleach itself from the inside out.
The process starts when there is a dip in levels of an enzyme called catalase. That catalase shortfall means that the hydrogen peroxide that naturally occurs in hair can't be broken down. So hydrogen peroxide builds up in the hair, and because other enzymes that would repair hydrogen peroxide's damage are also in short supply, the hair goes gray.
Putting the brakes on that chemical chain reaction "could have great implications in the hair graying scenario in humans," write the researchers, who included Karin Schallreuter, a professor clinical and experimental dermatology at England's University of Bradford.

 

[FlowerHair]

Interesting. Thank you
Frank is so handsome!

 

[blue_flower]

I thought gray hair had to do something with the melanocytes dying off, making the hair lose it's pigment, from root to tip. I don't know. I just think people need to stop fighting growing old. It's going to happen.

 

[DivaD04]

true flower this is true but i guess scientist found otherwise....you know science always change and is never constent so like with everything else. i thought this would be a good read and thought i'd share.
their findings where just recent though.
flowerhair you're welcome and thank you.

 

[Yellowflowers]

Very Interesting. If it helps with finding a solution, then it is will be awsome. It may help some to stop dying thier hair. Most of the hair dye products are not good for us.

 

[Allandra]

Thanks for posting.

 

[DivaD04]

your welcome allandra

 

[ART11]

Interesting to me for sure. Thanks!

 

[fuchsiastar]

That kinda makes sense. My mom has silver hair, but it comes in at the root black and almost looks like she has dyed it silver.

 

[naturalgurl]

Ijust did a henna with indigo this weekend. Hopefully that's my cure! I don't mind aging gracefully, thus the henna/indigo treatments.

What really got me was baby Frank II. Wow, how precious and little. I just love babies! Kiss him all over just for me. I know you don't know me, but please do. My mouth just waters up looking at him...

 

[DivaD04]

Ijust did a henna with indigo this weekend. Hopefully that's my cure! I don't mind aging gracefully, thus the henna/indigo treatments.

What really got me was baby Frank II. Wow, how precious and little. I just love babies! Kiss him all over just for me. I know you don't know me, but please do. My mouth just waters up looking at him...

thanks chica!!!! your cool in my books...my lhcf family he's sleep in my hands right and i just kissed him for you.

 

[Mook's hair]

Well then, my maternal family has catalase enzymes on lock. It takse us forever to go gray. And strangely enough I'm a lover of gray hair. I think it is soooo beautiful, and I'll probably be the last one to ever get it.


Thanks for sharing. And that little Frank photo is tooooo precious!

 

[mscocoface]

I would love to know more. This is great news.

 

[DivaD04]

this is what most folks know about hair before the "new root of the cause" came out

Why does hair turn gray?

Parents often cite having teenagers as the cause of gray hair. This is a good theory, but scientists continue to investigate why hair turns gray. In time, everyone’s hair turns gray. Your chance of going gray increases 10-20% every decade after 30 years.

Initially, hair is white. It gets its natural color from a type of pigment called melanin. The formation of melanin begins before birth. The natural color of our hair depends upon the distribution, type and amount of melanin in the middle layer of the hair shaft or cortex.
Hair has only two types of pigments: dark (eumelanin) and light (phaeomelanin). They blend together to make up the wide range of hair colors.

Melanin is made up of specialized pigment cells called melanocytes. They position themselves at the openings on the skin’s surface through which hair grows (follicles). Each hair grows from a single follicle.
The process of hair growth has three phases:

• Anagen: This is the active growth stage of the hair fiber and can last from 2- 7 years. At any given moment 80-85% of our hair is in the anagen phase.
• Catagen: Sometimes referred to as the transitional phase, which is when hair growth begins to “shut down” and stop activity. It generally lasts 10- 20 days.
• Telogen: This occurs when hair growth is completely at rest and the hair fiber falls out. At any given time, 10-15 % of our hair is in the telogen phase, which generally lasts 100 days for scalp hair. After the telogen phase, the hair growth process starts over again to the anagen phase.

As the hair is being formed, melanocytes inject pigment (melanin) into cells containing keratin. Keratin is the protein that makes up our hair, skin, and nails. Throughout the years, melanocyctes continue to inject pigment into the hair’s keratin, giving it a colorful hue.
With age comes a reduction of melanin. The hair turns gray and eventually white.

So why does our hair turn gray or white?

Dr. Desmond Tobin, professor of cell biology from the University of Bradford in England, suggests that the hair follicle has a “melanogentic clock” which slows down or stops melanocyte activity, thus decreasing the pigment our hair receives. This occurs just before the hair is preparing to fall out or shed, so the roots always look pale.
Moreover, Dr. Tobin suggests that hair turns gray because of age and genetics, in that genes regulate the exhaustion of the pigmentary potential of each individual hair follicle. This occurs at different rates in different hair follicles. For some people it occurs rapidly, while in others it occurs slowly over several decades.

In a February 2005 Science article (Nishimura, et al.) Harvard scientists proposed that a failure of melanocyte stem cells (MSC) to maintain the production of melanocytes could cause the graying of hair. This failure of MSC maintenance may result in the breakdown of signals that produce hair color.

There are other factors that can change the pigmentation of hair, making it lighter or darker. Scientists have divided them by intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external) factors:

Intrinsic factors:

• Genetic defects
• Hormones
• Body distribution
• Age

Extrinsic factors:

• Climate
• Pollutants
• Toxins
• Chemical exposure

Hair-raising facts:

• An average scalp has 100,000-150,000 hairs.
• Hair is so strong that each hair can withstand the strain of 100 grams (3.5 ounces). An average head of hair could hold 10-15 tons if only the scalp was strong enough!
• Human hair grows autonomously, that is each hair is on its own individual cycle. If all our hair were on the same cycle, we would molt!
• Hair has the highest rate of mitosis (cell division). An average hair grows 0.3 mm a day and 1 cm per month.

 

[Son26]

Interesting information. Thanks for posting.

 

[MysteryMe]

I'm a lover of gray hair. I think it is soooo beautiful.....And that little Frank photo is tooooo precious!

I'm with you.

 

[nadz]

Very interesting. This may explain why some people who go raw, reverse graying.

 

[gissellr78]

i'm hoping this hasn't been posted...i did a search and nothing came up, so here it goes.

Why Hair Goes Gray

Scientists may have figured out why hair turns gray, and their finding may open the door to new anti-graying strategies.
New research shows that hair turns gray as a result of a chemical chain reaction that causes hair to bleach itself from the inside out.
The process starts when there is a dip in levels of an enzyme called catalase. That catalase shortfall means that the hydrogen peroxide that naturally occurs in hair can't be broken down. So hydrogen peroxide builds up in the hair, and because other enzymes that would repair hydrogen peroxide's damage are also in short supply, the hair goes gray.
Putting the brakes on that chemical chain reaction "could have great implications in the hair graying scenario in humans," write the researchers, who included Karin Schallreuter, a professor clinical and experimental dermatology at England's University of Bradford.

OMG your baby is gorgeous!