Gray Hair Treatment

There are three major ways to renew your hair colour in order to cover your grey. You can choose to go to your hair salon and have your hairdresser provide a professional hair colouring. This involves washing, bleaching and then adding your colour of choice – none of which is good for your hair. The second choice is to buy a colonisation kit at your local drug or department store. Again, it will normally involve first bleaching your hair and then adding the colour of your choice. And again you are beginning your process by harming your hair. Thirdly, you can choose to purchase a single-chemical colonisation process. This usually works by applying it during your shower, letting it stay on your hair for as long as you want the colour-depth to return, and then rinse it out. This is not nearly so damaging to your hair as the bleaching processes.

The downside to any of these processes, including both the above and most of the other alternatives out there, is that they are only changing the colour of your grown hair and after a week or so you are beginning to have visible growth of your grey hair. After two weeks it becomes noticeable, making renewing your chosen colonisation process necessary, renewing the damage you are causing to your hair. It is not natural and must continue to be used to keep your chosen colour looking natural and keep your roots coloured. None of it is natural and all of it is damaging, more or less, to your hair.

Would not it be nice to renew your original hair colour naturally? There are several herbal tonics and rubs/shampoos out there which say they will restore natural hair colour. You choose any of them at your own risk. However, some are more risky than others. Any natural colour restoration system which depends upon either being a rub or a shampoo sounds more like an artificial dye job. You need to seek out the ones that are taken internally. Tonics and teas would appear to be the most effective of all natural hair colour restoratives - but do they really work?

A word of caution is required here. There are many such teas and tonics available claimed to restore your natural hair colour. However, there is no scientific evidence at the moment that any existing medicine, diet, herb, supplement or natural product such as tonic or a herbal tea can prevent or reverse greying hair. It is not possible yet to revive the dead pigment producing cells at the root of your hair and if you decide to buy any product promising to change the colour of your hair naturally you are most likely wasting your time and money.

Premature gray hair and hair loss are some of the most common known genetic conditions. Restoring lost hair remains to most of us a distant dream. However, there are some existing options for replacing lost hair and several of them may seem surprisingly effective even to the most skeptical hair loss sufferer. The three main methods of hair restoration known today include surgical hair restoration, non-surgical hair replacement and therapies for regrowing hair using pills and topical applications. The main technique of surgical hair restoration today is hair transplantation, whereas wigs, hair system, hair loss concealers and hair thickeners are the most popular aids used to replace the lost hair by non-surgical means. The non-surgical camouflage is obviously the quickest and the least expensive method of replacing lost hair, though not tremendously popular, as many people believe that hairpieces and concealers cannot withstand rain and wind and do not look natural. In spite of this common belief, some of them are extremely resistant to external influences and can appear very authentic. Hair systems and concealers are often the only options of restoring lost hair for people suffering from non-hereditary forms of hair loss such as unpredictable alopecia areata.

Surgical hair restoration happens to be clearly the most expensive method of restoring lost hair but also the most elegant solution. It can only be used in people suffering from hereditary baldness and burn patients. Hair transplant candidates are required to have sufficient hair density at the back of their scalp and many women suffering from female form of hair loss with its typical diffuse balding pattern do not meet this condition. Hair restoration surgery has made great strides in the past twenty years or so with the introduction of the two main techniques used today - follicular unit transplantation and, more recently, follicular unit extraction. These advances in hair transplantation enable the grouping of hairs very close together, which gives modern hair transplants a completely natural look. The main weakness of hair transplant surgery, besides the cost and the pain involved, is the limited supply of donor hair and the need for multiple surgeries to achieve the final change. Furthermore, patients have to commit themselves to the use of finasteride or any other adequate medicinal hair loss therapy for the rest of their lives to prevent further loss of their existing hair.

Hair loss pills and topical applications do not, despite great scientific advances and the discoveries of recent years, provide satisfactory hair restoration results yet. The two most commonly prescribed hair loss drugs, finasteride and topical minoxidil, can be effectively used to reduce hair loss but their ability to regrow lost hair is relatively limited. Their effectiveness generally declines sharply in the later stages of the balding process. There is no existing medicinal or natural hair loss remedy that can deliver adequate visual results comparable to either hair transplant surgery or non-surgical hair replacements such as hair systems and hair loss concealers. Although there are some promising medicinal hair loss drugs currently under development, especially in the area of genetic research, the ultimate pill for baldness is not expected to become commercially available within the next fifteen years or so. Other advances in hair science, such as hair multiplication or the generation of new hair follicles in wounds, also hold out some promise but it seems that hair transplant surgery will in the next ten to fifteen years remain the most complete method of hair restoration.

At some point in our lives we will all experience the onset of gray hair. Contrary to popular belief gray hair is not always related to person’s old age. The first gray hair can occur in our teens but some individuals will not be bothered by gray hair until a very ripe age.

Everybody is different but the pigment in our hair follicles is generated in the same way. The cells in our hair follicles called melanocytes generate pigment called melanin. This gives our hair its characteristic colour. When these melanocytes stop producing the pigment the result is white hair. The white hair blending with your pigmented darker hair gives the impression of gray hair. In reality the gray hair is not gray but white.

The main reason for our hair behaving this way is heredity. If your mom or dad started turning gray at a young age then the chances are you may also suffer from premature graying.  Obviously, age plays a big part in the graying process. The pigment in the hair shaft is generated from the cells at the base of the hair’s root and as we grow older these cells start producing less pigment until they cease producing the pigment altogether and we end up with white hair.

Gray hair can also be the result of a medical condition. If you are deficient in B vitamins or suffer from a thyroid imbalance your hair can also start going gray prematurely. However, the sudden appearance of gray hair is not due to psychological shock or trauma. Studies have shown that if this happens then it is typically caused by telogen effluvium. What happens here is that the pigmented hair stops growing and starts shedding before it effects the growth of gray hairs, giving the impression of hair turning gray overnight. Telogen effluvium causes hair thinning but seldom leads to complete baldness.

Dying hair has become a common fashion these days among women as well as many men. You may use colours to add shine to your hair or to cover your gray hair. You may either use a home colour or go for a professional colour. Professional colours offer solution for a wide variety of requirements, while home colours are suitable for gray coverage and one to two levels of lightening. There is a wide variety or professional hair colours available in the market. Making the right choice may seem quite difficult.

Depending on your requirements, you can choose from different types of hair dyes. The first category is temporary hair dyes, which usually last for 1-2 shampoos. Such hair dyes are good for some occasions such as Halloween. However, they may last longer on blonde hair or porous and chemically treated hair. Temporary hair dyes come in both spray and liquid form. They usually contain FD&C dyes.

Semi-permanent hair dyes are the second category of hair colours. They usually last for 4-6 weeks. You can use them to blend gray hair without lightening the colour of your existing hair. Some semi-permanent hair colours contain only food grade dyes or FD&C dyes with an alkalizer. Some use oxidative dyes with an alkalising agent. Herbal hair dye henna is another form of semi permanent hair colour, which comes in red tones. However, it is not suitable for porous hair. Manufacturers use different ingredients including metals, oxidative dyes and other plant pigments to alter the shade of henna.

Progressive hair colorants are another category of hair colours. The more often you use them, the more colour they deposits on the outer surface of your hair. You need to be careful in using progressive dyes as some of them use lead acetate and other metallic components that can be harmful to your health if used inappropriately.

Permanent hair dyes contain various ingredients. Some use natural ingredients, while some may use many chemicals and concentrations of oxidative dyes. Chemicals like ammonia and monoethanolamine are very common in permanent hair colours and are known to be highly allergenic. Monoethanolamine colour is good for you if your hair is porous and fades quickly. Ammonia can make some hair prone to breakage depending on the other ingredients present in the hair colour.

It pays to have some basic understanding of the ingredients in a particular hair colour before you start using it. Most hair colours contain certain chemicals that may cause several problems such as hair loss, itchy scalp, flaking scalp, rashes and nausea. Such chemicals include various synthetic and toxic or allergenic ingredients. Have a careful look at the labels before you pick up a colour and always use a patch test before applying any such products to your scalp.