During the Covid lockdown, I was unable to visit my hairdresser and decided to stop colouring my hair. Gradually the hair dye grew out, revealing that I was about 75% gray. My mother, on the other hand, had never dyed her hair and retained her beautiful natural colour into her 90s. When I visited her care home the other residents thought it was hilarious that I had more gray hair than my mother did!
It started me wondering why some people go gray and others don’t.
Going gray is commonly explained as a loss of the pigment melaninin in the hair shaft. There are many reasons why hair becomes gray, but a lot of the time it’s due to genetics. For example, if your parents retained their hair colour late into life, you might also. My mother’s mother kept her hair colour late into life but my father’s mother had beautiful white hair when I was still a child. Perhaps I inherited gray hair from my father’s side of the family.
Lifestyle also contributes to graying. Smoking or an unbalanced diet might be factors in premature gray hair. Stress can also be a factor. You’ve probably heard about someone who went gray “overnight” because of a traumatic event in their life.
Of course the greatest cause of going gray is aging. As we age, melanocytes decrease in number and less melanin is produced. This lack of pigment in the hair results in the silvery gray colour. The hair shaft is not actually white. The silver appearance is an optical illusion that results when light is refracted off the hair, creating a silvery look.
Ethnicity also affects the onset of gray hair. Caucasians start to go gray in their 30s on average. Asians start to go gray at 35; black people at 40. Half of all people will have significant amount of gray hair by age 50.
Some medical conditions, such as those that affect the thyroid, are linked to graying. Deficiencies of some vitamins and minerals may also contribute to hair colour loss.
The best way to deal with gray hair is to embrace it. My hair dresser suggested a purple shampoo that makes my hair look whiter and makes it more manageable. (The purple shampoo is not quite as noticeable as my grandmother’s blue rinse.)
Graying is a natural part of life and there isn’t any reason you should feel the need to hide it if you don’t want to.
Gray hair has a different texture that may make it unmanageable. A new haircut might help you deal with coarser gray hair.
Embrace the change. Making the most of your gray hair can add years to your look.
