Are you starting to see it creep in? It happens at all different ages. The greys eventually descend unto the majority of us and I don't mean aliens looking for abductees. What your’e seeing is actually the pigment cells in your hair follicles dying :(. Why does this happen? Read on to find out!
Just like skin cells, nothing gold can stay (except for actual gold). The true reason hair turns white or grey is due to the loss of melanin. Melanin is the pigment produced by melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells in the body that not only produce melanin but also distribute them. They do this with the help of melanocyte stem cells.
If too many of these cells die then they lose the color that they produce and hold.
Why does the human body contain these cells? What’s the significance of the color they produce? First, it’s important to know our hair isn't the only place these colors are produced. Melanocytes are responsible for the color in your skin and eyes too. You can find these color producing cells in birds and mammals too. It's not uncommon to see grey in dogs, cats and even horses. This color is a protectant against the sun and its harmful UV radiation.
Unfortunately for most of us there really isn't any way to turn grey hair back to its original color. You can change your lifestyle a bit to put it off though. Some suggestions I have found are increasing your calcium, copper, iron, B vitamin complex and zinc intake. The biggest solution for many people has become coloring our hair. the world of products designed to color the grey is a staggering 29 billion dollar industry. As technology advances so does medicine and new treatments may become available to us. Here is a a study done back in 2017 about hyper pigmentation in mice by messing with the melanocyte stem cells. (click here) its still in early stages though so for now hair color will have to do. Thanks for reading.
Information used to write this blog can be found in the following spots: