Call 619-395-4899 to speak with a licensed insurance agent.

Call 619-395-4899 to speak with a licensed insurance agent.

Have You Ever Wondered: Why Does Hair Turn Gray?

Posted by Dhina Valencia, January 12, 2021

We’re all accustomed to seeing it, but most of us just assume that graying hair is simply a part of life. That’s true, but have you ever wondered why it happens?

Known as canities or achromotrichia, greying hair often appears in the mid-thirties to early forties. By age 50 it is not uncommon for an individual to have hair that is at least half gray.

Normally, our hair follicles contain cells called melanocytes that produce pigments called eumelanin or pheomelanin. Which pigments you have in your hair is determined by your DNA, with eumelanin found in black or brown hair and pheomelanin found in blonde or red hair. These pigments degrade more slowly than those found in skin, which is why your hair keeps its color as it grows. Otherwise, each individual strand would fade before its normal life span of about 3.5 years.

Over time, individuals stop producing as many melanocytes. So, strands of hair lacking color pigment begin to sprout. In those of Caucasian descent, this process can begin in their thirties, but those of Asian or African descent often notice this change somewhat later.

Even though graying hair is associated with aging, it is luckily not linked to life span in any way! Scientists have studied the issue and found no correlation between early gray hairs and a shorter lifespan.

However, some studies have seemed to suggest that certain lifestyle changes might slow down the appearance of gray hair. Adequate vitamin B12 intake can prevent premature gray hair, as can smoking cessation and stress management.

Despite some anecdotal evidence that certain medications reverse the appearance of gray hair, no medical treatments exist that can safely address the loss of pigmentation. For now, we can simply accept gray hair as a sign of increasing wisdom or schedule an easy trip to the hair salon.

Need more information on your insurance options?

Contact us online to learn more

Contact Us

Close Accessibility Tools
Accessibility Controls Reset
Content Adjustments
Font Size

Default

Line Height

Default

Content Scaling

Default

Highlight Titles
Highlight Links
Highlight Forms
Align Left
Align Center
Align Right
Focus Mode
Color Adjustments
Desaturate
Monochrome
Contrast

Default

Saturation

Default

Accessibility Statement

Despite our attempts to make this website accessible for everyone, there may still be some pages or sections that are not completely accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or do not have a suitable technological solution to make them accessible. Nevertheless, we are always striving to enhance our accessibility by adding, updating, improving its options and features, and incorporating new technologies.

We want to provide our users with the best experience possible, so we strive to support as many browsers and assistive technologies as possible.

If you wish to contact this website's owner, please use the contact form on the website.

Our User Interface Adjustment Options

Font adjustments - With this tool, users can modify font size, style, letter spacing, and line height for improved alignment and readability.

Color adjustments - Users can customize their color contrast profiles to light, dark, desaturated, and monochrome.

Content highlighting - Users can prioritize key elements such as links, forms, and titles.

Content focus - Users can enable focus mode to highlight the current page information based on their mouse movement.

Close