Why does hair turn gray?

Slightlyunpleasant facts

Occurrenceof gray hair is by no means something a person would greet with enthusiasm. Anotherfact contributing to this is that after the person has reached thirty years of age and onwards, the chances for that person to be befallen bygray hair enhance as much as ten to twenty percent per decade. Anotherfact many people might not be familiar with is that hair is actually white in color, but the color it receives is influenced by a pigment known as melanin.Its creation starts prior to one’s birth. When it comes to the natural color of the person’s hair, it is completely dependable from the distribution,variety and quantity of melanin located in the middle layer of the hair shaft.

Havingthese facts in mind, it needs to be pointed out that there exist just two distinctvarieties of pigment, i.e. the dark one (i.e. eumelanin) and light one (i.e. phaeomelanin).Oncethey mix together, they are known to form a great range of hair colors.

Melanin

It isknown to consist of specific pigment cells known as the melanocytes, which arelocated at the openings situated at the surface of the person’s skin (where thehair grows). Furthermore, important to know is that each hair is born from asingle follicle. The entire hair growth process is systematically divided intothree stages, that being anagen, catagen and telogen. The first stagerepresents the active stage in which the hair fiber grows with duration of approximatelytwo to seven years. Interestingly enough, as much as eighty to eighty fivepercents of the person’s hair come to be in this first stage. The second stage is characterized by its overall nature and is quite often marked as thetransitional stage. It is in this stage that the process of hair growth is slowed down until it stops growing altogether. The duration of thisstage is, in general, ten to twenty days. Last but not the least, the thirdstage takes place once the hair becomes utterly and completely inactive withrespect to the growth in general.

Asidefrom afore mentioned causes, there also exist such as genetics. Genes are, onthe other hand, responsible for regulation of exhaustion of the pigmentarypotential in each and every follicle of the person’s hair. Fundamental factorsthat influence change in the color of one’s hair are primarily various geneticdefects, age, body distribution and, of course, those troublesome hormones.

Interestingfacts to keep in mind are those such as that an average scalp is endowed withno less than 100,000 to 250.000, as well as that when it comes to the overallstrength of the hair, it must be pointed out that one hair has enough strengthto withstand 100 g. Also, the entire hair growth process is autonomous andevery hair one has on his/her head represent an individual and separate cycle.