Gray Hair Treatment

You must have heard stories of people who experienced a sudden shock or trauma and their hair turned gray virtually overnight. Many of such stories go back many years if not centuries ago but there are also some cases from more recent past. Since the hair on our head is made of dead keratin it cannot change color suddenly without external chemical influence such as the bleaching agent or hair color. Therefore, if any such sudden transition from pigmented to gray hair happened overnight it must have been through a sudden loss of hair.

Hence, one plausible explanation is that this sudden change in hair color is caused by telogen effluvium. Such a change can happen in a person who has a blend of white and pigmented hair. As long as there is not too much of the white hair in this blend it may be hardly noticeable. Now, telogen effluvium comes in play. Telogen effluvium is a sudden loss of hair that can be sparked off by various factors with shock, trauma or extreme stress being some of them. A person can lose a significant portion of ones hair within days as a result of this condition. If you realize that white hair is usually thicker, courser and more resistant to external factors than regular pigmented hair it can be assumed that telogen effluvium mainly affects the pigmented hair. The result is the sudden loss of the large portion of the pigmented hair, which gives the impression of person’s hair suddenly turning gray.

The scientists have found out recently that the lack of enzyme catalase can cause white hair. This enzyme is present in many living organisms and its role is to enable the conversion of hydrogen peroxide in water. Hydrogen peroxide is an aggressive chemical substance often used to bleach hair. The lack of this enzyme has been shown to lead to gray hair as there is too much hydrogen peroxide building up in our hair follicles and thus we bleach our hair from within. If too much damage is caused to our hair follicles by hydrogen peroxide other enzymes that are responsible for repairing this damage are in short supply. And what makes matters even worse is that the lack of these enzymes called MSR A and MSR B leads to disruption of the production of the enzyme tyrosinase, which is needed for hair pigment production. This is a vicious circle speeding up hair graying process.

Although this discovery is extremely revealing it is not conclusive that the lack of enzyme catalase it is the only factor causing gray hair. There are some people living in this world who suffer from a complete lack of the enzyme catalase (this syndrome is called acatalase) and yet their hair does not seem to be all white. Hence, there must be some other contributing factor to the final formula that causes our hair turning prematurely gray.

The most common way of dealing with gray hair is to cover it. It may not seem to be the most elegant solutions to many people but it is the most effective way of getting rid of your gray. However, many people believe they can turn the clock backwards and reverse their gray hair naturally. Although no herb, vitamin or mineral has ever been shown to reverse gray hair the business with guaranteed products that promise you impossible is booming. Most of such products will contain B vitamins as premature gray hair in some individuals can be caused by vitamin B deficiency. The problem with extra intake of vitamin B is that it will not help an average gray hair sufferer as most of us have no deficiency in B vitamins.

However, there is one herb, Fo-Ti also known as He shou wu that you can find in almost any anti-gray hair pill on the market. This herb is also widely available in chemists shops as a herbal supplement. The story of Fo-Ti’s positive impact on graying hair goes more than 10 centuries back as Mr He, an old Chinese villager used this plant to reverse his gray hair. He was about 60 years old at the time and had no children. The story goes that he managed to reverse his gray and fathered children at a very ripe age and lived to be 130. Ever since gray hair reversing properties are attributed to it. Fo-Ti is not only valued for its ability to reverse white hair as it been used in China as a youth tonic for thousands of years. The truth, however, is that is not effective in reversing gray hair at all and any product you buy, containing Fo-Ti as its prime active ingredient is a waste of your time and money. The only effect from taking Fo-Ti pills will be slight diarrhoea and a possible weight loss.

Gray hair is widely associated with aging. In some people the first gray hair can emerge as early as in their teens. This is considered as premature and in many of those people it will inevitably lead to developing large gray areas in their late twenties and often turning their hair almost completely gray in their late thirties. If person’s hair is more than 50% grey by the age of 40 it is considered premature. Many people believe that premature gray hair is caused by unhealthy lifestyle, bad diet, extreme stress or vitamin deficiency. Although in some people this assumption may reflect the truth, in the most cases premature gray hair appears to be genetically determined as it does not seem to be influenced by any external factor. Despite that many premature gray hair sufferers reach for vitamins and nutritional supplement pills hoping to improve their condition.

But there are so many products claiming to reverse gray hair out there so why should not you try them. The fact is that they won’t do anything to reverse your graying process nor stopping it. There is no existing empirical or scientific evidence proving that any vitamin or nutritional supplement can slow down the graying process, let alone to halt it. However, there are people suffering from chronic vitamin B deficiency and in those patients vitamin B shots or extra intake of B vitamin can improve their condition. But no vitamin can help reverse gray hair in a normal healthy person.

It needs to be made clear that genetically determined, premature gray hair has not been found to be associated with any other health condition and no matter when your hair starts turning gray this will not have any impact on your overall health condition or life expectancy. Nevertheless, none of us wants to turn gray at an early age. So if vitamins cannot help you what can? The answer will not please you but there is nothing you can do at the moment to halt or reverse the graying process naturally and the only remaining option is to color you hair. There are plenty of options that were and will be discussed on this blog, but for god’s sake do not believe that a couple of vitamin pills can reverse your gray hair. You are wasting your money and making a fool of yourself.

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.

Given the currently available treatment options it seems that the greying process cannot be reversed. There is no scientific evidence that any existing medicine, herb, dietary supplement or natural product can prevent or reverse greying hair. Several cosmetics and pharmaceuticals companies are working on the discovery of the ultimate cure for grey hair but no satisfactory solution is commercially available yet.

Premature grey hair is often associated with excessive stress, bad diet, vitamin B deficiency, thyroid problems and smoking. The fact is, however, that the number one cause for premature greying hair is genetics. The pigment that determines the colour of our hair is produced by special cells at the root of our hair called melanocytes. It is the lifespan of these cells that determines the onset of the greying process. Once melanocytes die, the hair turns white.

There is no principal difference between a premature and a normal, age-related greying process. It is by virtue of nature that some people will experience their first grey hair in their teens and turn completely white in their early thirties, while others will keep their original hair colour for many decades. If more than 50% of a person’s hair is white by the age of 40, it is considered premature.

There are several commercial products out there that claim to be able to rejuvenate the dead pigment-producing cells and reverse grey hair. Such claims, however, are utterly unsubstantiated. The sad truth is that at this point in time no proven remedy exists that can reverse the greying process. Most of the anti-grey hair products either use Fo-Ti, referring to the centuries old legend of Mr He, who recovered his original hair colour, youthful appearance and vitality thanks to this traditional Chinese medicinal herb, also known as He Shou Wu or use vitamins B (mostly PABA and folic acid) as their main active ingredients, since some forms of premature greying are said to be caused by vitamin B deficiency. However, such products are ineffective for the majority of grey hair sufferers.
 
Therefore, the only option for treating grey hair that seems to deliver guaranteed results is camouflage. Women use various types of permanent, semi-permanent and demi-permanent hair dyes but men usually prefer a subtle and less noticeable change in their hair colour that does not cover all their grey. Such products are usually called progressive grey hair colorants. It is obvious that none of these products can make the dead cells produce pigmented hair and thus they must be used continuously to cover the grey of fresh hair. Although there are some natural hair dyes that claim to effectively cover your grey hair, the products that really work well all use certain chemicals. When deciding about hair dyes or progressive grey hair colorants, you should always consider the potential health risks, as most of them contain substances that can cause poisoning if used inappropriately or can lead to severe allergic reactions. You should always use a patch test before applying any such product and follow the application guidelines in order to minimise exposure to aggressive substances.