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.
So while the myth that if you pluck one gray hair ten of its siblings will pop up in its place has been dispelled, you still may want to refrain from plucking. In addition to swelling and scarring, plucking hair straight from the root could also contribute to irreversible premature hair loss in the area.
What is poliosis? Poliosis is a condition that causes a lack of the pigment, melanin in the hair follicles – this results in the hair turning white. Mostly associated with the hair on the head, it can also affect other areas of the body including the eyebrows and eyelashes.
Rogue hairs could also be the result of mutations to vellus hair follicles, or terminal hair follicles that once blended in with surrounding hairs, triggered by random chance, trauma to a cell, or environmental exposures.
Grays are inevitable, but they can still catch you off guard when they first sprout — especially if you're in your early 20s. For some, it's a random, lone white hair that shows up like an unwelcome house guest, while others might see a ton of gray hair in concentrated areas.
"Just like long black hair that grows on the face and neck, these white hairs are also random (genetically mutant) hair that grows during times of hormonal fluctuation in specific places, such as the chin, neck, and t-zone," adds Dr. Jegasothy.
As well as medical conditions, exposure to certain chemicals like chlorine can also cause blond streaks due to discoloration of melanin pigments. Some individuals with naturally dark hair may naturally develop gold strands as they age.
Never-before-seen body hairs pop up as a result of natural hormonal changes as you age: Estrogen levels dip, and testosterone levels can rise, says Sandy Tsao, MD, assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School. This change can trigger hairs to sprout in unusual spots.
Pili multigemini is a rare disorder where more than one hair exists in a single hair follicle. Papillar tips that divide into several tips will produce several hair shafts, so that characteristically do not fuse again. This disorder is relatively frequent on the beard of adult men and on the scalp of children.
Why Do We Get Them? It's possible that it's just a harmless gene mutation. It's possible that a single hair follicle diverged from its regular course if you locate one long, black hair at random. Hair properties such as length and diameter are determined by the growth phase of its lifespan.
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.
In the long run, you're actually doing more harm than good. "Plucking can traumatize the hair follicle, and you can damage it to the point where it will no longer grow any hair," says Gillen. Forget about having gray hair—you won't have any hair there at all.
Shaskank Kraleti, M.D., explain the medical science behind this myth. “Plucking a gray hair will only get you a new gray hair in its place because there is only one hair that is able to grow per follicle. Your surrounding hairs will not turn white until their own follicles' pigment cells die.”
Each of your hair strands grows out of a single hair follicle. So if you pull out the white hair only one hair can grow back in its place and possibly it will be white too. On extremely rare occasions though, the new hair growing out may be darker or shinier than its predecessor.
Over time, your hair begins to lose that pigment and starts to turn gray or white. So gray hair isn't bad; it's a normal part of the aging process. Typically, graying begins around the following ages: Caucasians: mid-30s.
The hair follicles contain melanin. As people age, these follicles begin to die off, and there is less melanin in the hair. As the follicles die and melanin decreases, the color of the hair fades to silver, gray, or white. This process happens with hair all over the body, including pubic hair.
Although plucking away unwanted face and body hair is convenient, it's typically pretty harmful. Plucking or tweezing is time consuming and only invasive if removed in the wrong direction which can deform and tear the hair follicle.
In fact, the white small particles in the roots of the hair are fat particles composed of sebum and oil.
Different from circle hair, rolled hair does not have a perfectly circular format and can be the result of mechanical trauma caused by frequent and repeated friction (Figure 3). 4 Smith JB, Hogan DJ. Circle hairs are not rolled hairs. J Am Acad Dermatol.
Chemical treatments and heat styling alike can cause changes in hair texture. Coloring, relaxing, perming, blow drying on high heat, and flat ironing can all damage hair, leaving it dry and wiry.
While other body hair serves a purpose (like the hair on your head keeping you warm and your eyebrows and eyelashes keeping dust out of your eyes), there's no known purpose for knuckle and finger hair. Really — it's basically useless. So, thanks mom and dad.
Silver grey hair is all the rage on social media, but when it happens in your twenties, it's not quite so cool. Stress, DNA, and specific health conditions can all cause early grey hair. Even though there's nothing you can do to reverse grey, there are a few changes you can make to slow down the grey hair transition.
The cuticle—our shingle-shaped outer layer—has the job of protecting a sponge-like shaft beneath and does its best work when its "shingles" are sitting tightly overlapped on top of the cuticle. 1 And when they are, the cuticle will reflect light, and your hair looks oh-so-shiny.
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.