Going Gray? Good News There’s a Reason for that
It’s true. Everybody eventually goes gray as hair follicles stop producing pigment (aka color).
It’s true. Everybody eventually goes gray as hair follicles stop producing pigment (aka color). This happens with age, and it’s not a sign of poor health.
Hair follicles produce melanin, the pigment that gives hair its color. When people get older, their hair follicle production slows down naturally, which results in clear and light-colored hairs. As these hairs grow longer and you notice them more often, you’ll start to see more gray hairs mixed in with your regular ones!
You can blame it on genetics, but there’s also a lifestyle factor involved.
There are many reasons why going gray happens, and genetics is only one of them. An individual’s lifestyle may also be to blame, as well as the amount of stress they’ve been under.
If you’re a smoker or have been exposed to second-hand smoke at any point in your life, then it’s possible that your hair is going gray sooner than you think it should be. Smoking has been shown to speed up the process by which melanin pigment leaves your hair follicles; this means that smokers may have more white hairs mixed into their head of hair than non-smokers do at any given point in time (even if they don’t go completely grey).
On top of this, stress can also cause premature graying. This includes environmental factors like air pollution or working under harsh conditions for extended periods of time; but even just worrying about things on a day-to-day basis can take its toll on our bodies over long periods of time too – leading us to develop symptoms like premature greying before we would otherwise expect them
It usually starts to happen after age 40.
“It usually starts to happen after the age of 40,” says Dr. Alan Bauman, a dermatologist at Bauman Medical Group in Sacramento, California and author of The Skin Type Solution: A Practical Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment. “But there are some who go gray early because of genetics or smoking or stress.”
Why does hair turn gray? According to a study published in Nature Genetics, it’s all about those little cells called melanocytes (which produce pigment) and how they affect hair follicles in our heads. When you’re born, you have around 100 million melanocyte cells; by the time you hit your mid-20s, that number has dwindled down to 50 million—and then begins what’s known as “graying.” As we get older, these little guys aren’t as efficient at making pigment anymore—so instead of being able to properly cover up any bald spots on our heads with colored strands of hair (usually black), we just end up looking like salt shakers full of white powder instead!
Some people go gray before their time, and there are reasons for that too.
Premature graying is technically defined as hair that turns gray before age 30. It’s pretty common, too: about 1 in 5 people have it (and research suggests that this number is increasing). So what causes premature graying? There are a few different theories, but the most popular one has to do with genetics. In other words, if your parents went gray early in life, you probably will too.
Additionally, stress can contribute to premature graying because it increases oxidative damage in the hair follicle and sends more melanin into each strand of hair than usual—which ultimately leads to those white strands of yours! Lifestyle factors like smoking or diet may also play a role: smokers tend to develop more wrinkles earlier on due to the harmful impact of smoke on collagen production and circulation; diets high in sugar accelerate cell aging by overstimulating growth factor receptors; meanwhile foods rich in antioxidants like blueberries may help reduce inflammation and oxidative stress associated with perceived stressors (like deadlines), which could slow down how quickly your locks turn grey post-puberty!
There are a few options for dealing with gray hair.
If you’re not ready to embrace your gray, you have a few options for dealing with it. One is to dye the hair on top of your head and leave the rest alone. You can use temporary dye at home or go to a salon and get a more permanent solution. Another option is shaving off all of your hair. This will definitely make a statement! And finally, if you’re feeling adventurous, try leaving it as-is: some people find that going au naturel suits them perfectly fine!
When you see new gray hairs, you may not need to think about coloring until later.
The good news is that you don’t have to color your hair right away when you see new gray hairs.
- Cut the new gray hairs. If you can’t wait and want to get rid of them as soon as possible, trim them off with small scissors or an electric trimmer designed for home use.
- Don’t do anything yet! It’s okay if you don’t feel like coloring your hair just yet, since it will probably grow back in after a few weeks anyway, especially if it’s only on the surface of your scalp and hasn’t gone past its roots yet. Cutting it may make it worse than just waiting until later when more strands are affected and there’s no way around coloring them then anyway!
- Hire a professional stylist if necessary! If cutting doesn’t work out well enough or if there are too many areas affected by graying (which means more than half of one’s head), hiring someone who knows what they’re doing could be helpful.”
If you’re going gray, you may want to consider darker shades than your natural color.
If you’re going gray, you may want to consider darker shades than your natural color. Gray hair can be resistant to color and actually needs a darker shade to cover the gray strands.
So before you give up on going blonde or brunette because of the grays, do a strand test first! It will let you see how well your natural color blends with the new one before committing to it for good.
Gray hair generally takes more upkeep to maintain its color.
Gray hair is usually a result of aging, and it’s not uncommon for people to start going gray in their early 30s. While this may seem like an odd time to lose your hair color, it can be an expected part of growing older. As you get older, your body produces less melanin (the pigment responsible for coloring your hair). This causes gray hairs to appear and take over the previously colored ones.
However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t keep up with your appearance just because you’re getting older! With a few simple steps and products from our salon near Chicago IL area, we can help you maintain your youthful look while also giving yourself some peace of mind knowing that any unexpected changes are temporary—and that they won’t affect how beautiful everyone thinks you are!
Going gray is okay, but you have some choices if you don’t want to give up the look of your younger days.
You can choose to color your hair or not, depending on your lifestyle and preferences. There are pros and cons to each option.
- Coloring can be a little more costly, but it allows you the freedom of wearing your hair in any fashion you want without worrying about being mistaken for someone else’s mother or grandmother.
- Going gray is less expensive than coloring and requires much less maintenance time — but there is also no guarantee that it’ll work out that way. It might end up looking greyer than expected, which could make anyone look older or just not fit with their personal style at all (elderly people don’t necessarily want an au naturel look). You’ll need to decide whether going gray fits into your life and what kind of person would benefit from this new look before deciding whether it’s right for you.