Whenever you see an elderly person, it is not surprising to see them have gray hair. However, some hair starts to gray at a younger age. Gray hair is very common, but do we know why this happens?
Our hair is made up of two parts, the shaft and the root. The shaft is is the colored part that we see growing out of our heads. The root is the bottom part, which keeps the hair anchored under the scalp. Underneath the skin, there is something called a follicle. There are pigment cells in the follicle. Pigment cells produce melanin, which determines the color of your hair. When people start to age, these pigment cells begin to die. Because of the pigment cells dying, hair does not have the same amount of melanin. Soon the hair turns a gray or white color. When a person is younger and their hair is graying, this is caused by naturally occurring hydrogen peroxide building up in the hair.
It is always said that graying hair is very common for presidents. They are under an immense amount of pressure. So, is gray hair also caused by stress? Amy McMichael, professor of dermatology at Wake Forest Baptist Health said, “Perhaps over long periods of stress, there may be an acceleration of gray hair in some people. I don’t know of any studies showing this. I’m not sure I have a scientific answer.”
Sources:
http://kidshealth.org/kid/grownup/getting_older/gray_hair.html
http://www.webmd.com/beauty/hair-nails/abcs-premature-graying
Referring to the last part about grey hair being related to stress, does this mean if I was under an immense amount of stress my hair would turn grey too? I believe this to be partly true because as you mentioned, several presidents often “go grey” after their first term and have a noticeable change the next time around. I feel like this could just attribute to getting older and aging. It is possible that people don’t pay attention to it as much or notice the progression throughout their term but only notice it when an increased amount of time has passed. This article debunks the fact or fiction debate of stress and grey hair http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-stress-causes-gray-hair/
This blog is really interesting and I am glad I check this out. I have no idea why hair turns grey before I read your blog. You mentioned in your blog that pressure can make people’s hair turn grey quicker and you make an example of U.S. presidents. However, do you think other factor will increase the speed of having more grey hair? And here is an article about why more youngsters developing grey hair. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/beauty/Why-are-more-youngsters-developing-grey-hair/articleshow/23355744.cms
This is really interesting, I have never thought about this subject. The cause of premature hair loss and greying is an issue that effects one of my good friends, but we just give him a hard time. He’s 20 and has an extremely large receading hair line.