An average scalp has about 100,000 to 150,000 hairs. Human hair has the highest rate of mitosis (cell division) and grows autonomously, so each hair is on its own individual cycle. Grey hair involves the loss of pigment cells in our hair follicles. This means that the strand of hair will no longer produce melanin, thus giving the hair a silver, white or grey colour.
There are many thoughts as to why the hair turns grey. Different reasons have been brought up, ranging from age to stress and the rest. Whether these theories are true or not, would and should be left for the scientists to prove or disprove.
Aside from that, here are some facts about grey hair, I can bet the money in my account (which isn’t much by the way) you had no idea about.
- Stress does not turn hair grey. Hair colour isn’t easily changed once it’s produced by the follicles and so, cannot turn grey just because you’re stressed out. That would mean we could express emotions through our hair colour, since it would change with any emotion we happen to feel intensely at that moment in time. Once your hair grows black, it stays black. The only thing that happens is that hair follicles tend to produce less colour as they age (or as you age too); so they might look a little lighter as you get older.
- Plucking one grey hair out won’t cause more to grow out. This is because the human body doesn’t just add a few more hair follicles whenever it likes, so pulling out that one grey hair you saw won’t cause more to grow out. However, some researchers have admitted to a few cases where there can be more than one hair in the same follicle. This, according to them, can occur when there is a merging of two hair follicles.
- Dyeing your hair another colour doesn’t turn it grey. Your hair grows back to its default colour. Remember that hair starts to grey when the follicles start to age.
- Lack of vitamin B (especially B5 complex and pantothenic acid) accelerates grey hair growth.
- Smoking could aid grey hair growth. Smoking can cause a lot of beauty and health problems, so it’s just best to stay away from it. Better safe than sorry right?
- Grey hair can be (and in some cases are) genetic. Genetics determines the average age at which a person begins to have grey hair.
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This article was first published on 14th February 2018
amarachi
Amara Adanna Ogbonna is a Christian, foodie, and lover of arts. She spends most of her time on Facebook.
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