Gray hair – is there any cure?

Hair turns white or gray when the pigment producing cells or melanocytes stop producing pigment. Gray hair are a normal age-associated feature.

If gray hair occur in early age, it is called premature graying of hair or canities.

Is hair graying a normal change?

Hair graying is a normal age-associated feature. It is considered completely normal if the graying of hair is first noticed at:

• early 30s in Caucasians or white skinned individuals with blond hair
• late 30s in Asians or individuals with wheatish skin and black hair
• mid 40s in dark skinned or Africans

Recent study reported that 6-23% of people have 50% gray hair by 50 years of age.

When are gray hair considered premature?

Hair graying is considered premature if a hair graying starts:

• before 20 years in whites,
• 25 years in Asians and
• before 30 years in Africans.

Premature graying of hair is also called canities.

What are the causes of premature hair graying?

Most important cause is genetic along with interplay of environmental factors.

• Premature graying of hair can occur due to autosomal dominant genetic defect. You may have a history of close relatives with premature hair graying.
• It can be associated with autoimmune diseases as pernicious anaemia, hypo/hyperthyroidism, cystic fibrosis
• It can also be associated with chronic diseases as cancer, HIV etc
• Environmental oxidative stress as pollution, uv light, smoking, psychological, emotional or inflammatory stress is another important. Smoking is one important risk factor that is linked to premature graying of hair.
• Studies have shown premature graying of hair to be associated with nutritional deficiencies. Significant low levels of copper, calcium, ferritin, folic acid, vitamin D3, vitamin b 12 to be shown associated with premature graying of hair. Chronic malnutrition or malabsorption syndromes causing significantly protein loss is also implicated in premature graying of hair.
• Certain medications as Chloroquine, Mephenesin, Phenylthiourea, Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor, Interferon-alpha etc have also been implicated in causation of premature graying of hair.
• It can be associated with premature ageing syndromes as progeria or pangeria. These are extremely rare conditions displaying early ageing changes as cataract, weak bones, diabetes etc.

Does severe stress causes graying of hair?

A common belief is that hair quickly undergo graying when under severe stress. But, actually the part of hair shaft that you see is made of dead cells, it can not change it colour spontaneously, though it can be bleached or dyed. During stress, most common thing to occur is hair fall exclusively of pigmented hair. So hair doesn’t turn white, but actually excessive loss of pigmented hair, gives such appearance of graying due to stress.

How does the hair graying begin?

In men, graying usually begins at the temples and in the sideburns. Later it spreads to the vertex and the remainder of the scalp. Women usually start graying around the perimeter of the hairline. The rate at which an individual turns gray depends on genetics. Beard and body hair are affected later. Chest, pubic, and axillary hair may remain pigmented even in old age.

Graying of hair is usually progressive and permanent, but there are occasional reports of spontaneous repigmentation of gray hair, and partial, spontaneous reversal during the early stages of canities.

Treatment of gray hair

First of all, the treatable causes of gray hair should be established. Your dermatologist consultant may request you to check levels of iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, thyroid levels, autoimmune profile etc. Multivitamins or hair vitamins are recommended in case of nutritional deficiency. If hormone or auto immune profile is deranged, specific treatment of medical cause should be dealt with. The medications implicated in graying hair should be replaced by other alternatives.

• Hair-vitamins containing biotin, PABA and calcium pantothenate are recommended to arrest hair graying.
• Melitane 5% lotion, for topical application, is the only medicine that works on gray hair. It activates the resting melanocytes to produce pigment. It has shown to arrest and even reverse premature graying of hair. Though results are inconsistent, it may work in some people in early stages. Moreover, it is costly and has to be applied for atleast 6 months for any visible response.

How to prevent further graying of hair?

Gray hair is more courser,stiffer and difficult to manage. Styling gray hair further damages them making them more frizzy and rough. Minimum styling is recommended for gray hair.

• Do not hot dry your hair
• Do not use hot iron
• Do not straighten your gray hair too often
• Do not expose your hair to bright sunlight
• Do not use unnecessary spend your money on shampoos, saloon hair treatments that promise repigmenting your hair as it is of no use.

Moreover, diet rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals prevent further graying of hair.

Quit smoking.

Hiding the gray:

You need a hair colourant to blend your gray hair with normal hair of your scalp. But the gray or white hair are more resistant to take colour and multiple applications in effort to colour them might damage your hair. So colour your grays safely. There are number of products in market to cover your grays.

• If you have 30-40% of grays, you can go for relatively safer semi permanent or Demi permanent hair colours, that just blend your grays with rest of your hair
• If you have more than 40% of grays, you should use permanent hair dyes.
• You can also use herbal hair colourants as henna or indigofera. These are safer alternatives to hair dyes.
• Always use the shade which is more closer to your normal hair colour to reduce damage to your hair
• Hair dye should be applied in a proper way so that the dye does not touch the scalp and gets distributed evenly.
• Prefer highlighting to limit the exposure of hair colour to your normal hair.

Embracing the gray

Many models, celebrities and models are nowadays opting for ‘go gray’. Breaking the prejudices that gray hair is unattractive and undesirable, celebrities like Steve Martin have gone gray early.

Is premature graying of hair linked to other co-morbidities?

Premature graying is considered analogous to ageing and reflects the ageing process happening inside. Premature hair graying is considered to be risk factor for coronary heart disease and low bone marrow density. Though further research on this association has been inconclusive. But if you are noticing white hair at an early age, you should be cautious and get regular cardiovascular health checkup.