• Question: Why does our hair turn Grey?

    Asked by to Del, Catherine, John, Krishna, Mo Rassul on 17 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Krishna Mohan Surapaneni

      Krishna Mohan Surapaneni answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      There exists many reasons for it:

      1. Genetic
      2. Smoking
      3. Anaemia
      4. Poor nutrition
      5. Insufficient B vitamins
      6. Untreated thyroid conditions

      What EXACTLY causes your hair’s color to change?

      It is linked with the process controlling the production of the pigment called MELANIN, the same pigment that tans your skin in response to sunlight.
      Every hair follicle contains pigment cells called melanocytes.
      The melanocytes produce eumelanin, which is black or dark brown, and pheomelanin, which is reddish-yellow, and pass the melanin to the cells which produce keratin, the chief protein in hair. When the keratin-producing cells (keratinocytes) die, they retain the coloring from the melanin.

      When you first start to go gray, the melanocytes are still present, but they become less active. Less pigment is deposited into the hair so it appears lighter. As graying progresses, the melanocytes die off until there aren’t any cells left to produce the color.

    • Photo: Adelle Thrower

      Adelle Thrower answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      our hair turns grey as the pigment cells in the hair follicles slowly die off. this can be increased with stress, poor nutrition and other factors.

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