Gray hair is part of the process of getting older. I understand all of this, but I’ve recently been wondering-why am I going a little gray now and I’m only in my 30s? But then I read somewhere that this could even happen to people in their 20s. Here are other factors that play a role in when our hair grays.
One major factor is your genetic line. Your hair and its color are determined by your genes. Your DNA blueprint, provided by your parents, determines texture, amount, and color of your hair. According to www.healthiguide.com article entitled, “Going Gray-How, Why, When?,” this is the result of two types of melanin used to create the color of your hair. Eumelanin causes dark hair and pheomelanin causes lighter hair. These are both produced by cells known as melanocytes.
However, what other factors come to play? As we age, the wear and tear of life could not only take its toll on our bodies, but on our hair. The article mentions that hair follicles can lose their melanocytes as a result of cellular damage, which means the hair will not receive melanin for pigmentation. When it doesn’t receive pigmentation from the melanocytes, it comes out of the head gray or white. The development of gray hair is a gradual process and doesn’t happen all at once. But when a significant amount of melanocytes suffer from cellular damage, the overall hair will eventually go gray.
But the article lists several other interesting factors that play a role in hair going gray. Pollution, smoking and various diseases also come to mind. While nothing has been proven yet about this, stress is another likely factor. But did you know that the foods you eat could have an effect on your hair? Certain foods have carcinogens that can cause free radical damage, such as processed meats. So it might be a good idea to watch what you eat in order to avoid going gray early.
Gray hair may be an expected part of the aging process, but it makes some worry, including myself, when it happens early in life. But if you eat right, don’t smoke or don’t let stress dominate your life, you just might go gray later in life. For more information on the above article, visit www.healthiguide.com.
