Grey hair has very little melanin, while white hair has no melanin at all. As you go through the aging process, your hair might turn grey before going completely white. For some, this process is so drastic that the hair simply turns silver and then white.
Genetic factors, stress, hair dyes, and other factors may contribute. The human body has millions of hair follicles or small sacs lining the skin. The follicles generate hair and color or pigment cells that contain melanin. Over time, hair follicles lose pigment cells, resulting in white hair color.
If You Have Brown or Black Hair
These hair colors often go from salt and pepper to various shades of silver, and finally to white.
Gray hair comes down to melanin, or rather the lack of melanin. Melanin is the pigment that gives hair its color. Gray hair has reduced melanin, while white hair completely lacks it.
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.
Don't assume that grey hair makes you look older
Hair naturally loses pigment as we age, but stylist Paul Falltrick points out that the notion that grey hair makes you look older is increasingly becoming a misnomer: "Grey shades can be stereotyped as ageing, but a clean-looking grey is stunning" he says.
When there are fewer pigment cells in a hair follicle, that strand of hair will no longer contain as much melanin and will become a more transparent color — like gray, silver, or white — as it grows. As people continue to get older, fewer pigment cells will be around to produce melanin.
Science of Grays
As you age, these cells start to die. Without pigment, new hair strands grow in lighter and take on various shades of gray, silver, and eventually white. Once a follicle stops making melanin, it won't make colored strands again.
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.
Your hair doesn't turn gray — it grows that way.
As you age, your new hairs are more likely to be white. "Every time the hair regenerates, you have to re-form these pigment-forming cells, and they wear out," says Oro.
For instance, lighter shades of grey hair dye tend to fade faster than darker shades, so you'll have to spend more time and money on maintaining the look.
Gray hair is one of the universal signs of advanced age. More likely than not, at some point in your life, your hair will start to go gray. Some individuals can maintain hair color well into their older age, but most do not.
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.
A new study shows that stress really can give you gray hair. Researchers found that the body's fight-or-flight response plays a key role in turning hair gray. Your hair color is determined by pigment-producing cells called melanocytes.
Grey and gray are two different spellings of the same word. Gray is more common in the U.S., while grey is more common in other English-speaking countries. In proper names—like Earl Grey tea and the unit Gray, among others—the spelling stays the same, and they need to be memorized.
It features crushed violet pigments that neutralize style-ruining brassy and yellow tones. Hair stylists often tone bleached or blonde hair to neutralize brassy yellow and orange tones on bleached hair with a purple color. Purple shampoo is a great at-home solution for toning hair and preventing brassiness.
People use “gray,” “white” and “silver” interchangeably to describe hair that is turning or has turned. Its appearance — whether it looks, gray, white or silver — depends on how much natural color, or pigment, remains, experts say. Hair that has lost all its color typically appears white.
Marie Antoinette syndrome designates the condition in which scalp hair suddenly turns white.
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.
Sudden hair whitening (canities) was first reported centuries ago. Although a rare event, it has affected well-known historical figures, including Sir Thomas Moore and Queen Marie Antoinette of France. Early reports are substantiated by more recent cases in the scientific literature.
As you age, your hair produces less and less melanin that leads your hair to appear gray, and then eventually white. However, the speed that your hair loses melanin is largely attributed to genetics. For example, in some families, it's extremely common for people to have hair turn gray and white in their 20s.
B complex vitamins such as B12, Biotin, and B6 are important for strength and colour of hair. Deficiencies of any of these nutrients are known to promote hair greying. B complex supplements are very useful in preventing greying.