“My daughter is 18 years of age and I am noticing that her hair is turning white, What shall we do?”
This is a question that gets asked often enough for me to write an article about.
Yes, it is true that certain people have different hair cycles and different genes. However, it is not the norm to have hair turning grey at such a young age.
The first thing you need to know is this :
Why does hair turn white?
The hair turns white because of the decrease in the melanin.
The second thing that occurs is …
What is a melanin?
A melanin is that pigment that imparts a black and brown color to your hair.
The third thing that one may ask is this.
Then how does GREY hair appear?
Simple. The mixture of the white hair (which is white due to loss of pigments) and the black pigment from the melanin adds up to having grey hair.
As far as one shall know is that the normal age for grey hair is not the same for everyone. This is due to different races. Therefore one should know that for the Caucasians grey hair starts to make an appearance in the mid-thirties. For the Asian race in the late thirties and in the African race mid-forties. One shall take immediate action and get a doctor to consult them once they see white hair at an early age. By an early age, we mean 20 years old for Caucasians, 25 years old for Asians, and 30 years old for Africans.
Let’s Take A Look at What Can Be The Cause Of Early Grey Hair
- When premature grey hair is inherited, which means either your parents, siblings or any other relative have had grey hair at a young age. In this case, it is not an abnormal thing to have grey hair due to genetics.
- Grey hair is common in those who have an autoimmune disease such as hypothyroidism.
- Premature aging syndrome such as progeria and pangeria can be the cause of early grey hair, which is commonly expected.
- Allergies such as in lungs (asthma), nose (allergic rhinitis), eyes (allergic conjunctivitis) skin (atopic dermatitis)
- Loss of protein such as iron, folic acid, copper, vitamin B12, C, D, E, zinc, and so on.
- Stress. Nope, it is unfortunate to announce that this was never just a myth. Daily stress will not turn your hair grey but shocking news, trauma and intense stress such as very difficult high-level exams, stressful relationship problems, and so on can cause reversible grey hair.
- Medication can also be the cause of grey land – Take a look at the following drugs that may make you age earlier:
Chloroquine
Mephenesin
Phenylthiourea
Triparanol
Fluoro butyrophenone
Dixyrazine
Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor
Interferon-alpha - Medical disorders such as HIV and fibrosis.
- Smoking and drug abuse will definitely not help by all means.
- Breathing in pollution, UV rays, harsh chemicals, etc.. might damage the pigment forming the cell of hair that leads to premature hair.
Is It Possible To Reduce Grey Hair?
Indeed it is let’s take a quick look at how one can prevent adding more than we already have. Such hair is usually frizzier. rougher and stiffer so it can be harder to style in place.
- Less blow dries as air drying is the best for such hair.
- Prevent hot irons such as straighteners as this equipment will make the hair frizzier.
- Harsh chemicals can be avoided too. Especially if the chemicals touch the roots and get absorbed into the hair roots where the pigment-forming cells are located.
- Spas that promise to turn your hair black are unlikely to help. and so are shampoos. However, colored shampoos can be of help if your whites aren’t intensive.
- Coloring the roots to hide whites is a must, however, it shall be done in a safe way: 1)The longer gap between coloring appointments the better. 2) Pay for a salon visit it is much better than hair dye will be done by professionals rather than many tries at home. 3) Highlighting is much more preferred to blend in the whites rather than dyeing to hide the whites. And highlights can be done a minimum of per six months.
Home Remedies For Grey Hair
Curry leaves and coconut oil – curry leaves have high vitamins and coconut oil has nourishing properties and together they work brilliantly for grey hair.
Tea – Boil some tea, strain, and use the cold water to rinse your hair. Do not get too worried
if your hair changes to black, it is only temporary.
Coffee– By boiling coffee leaving it to cool and rinsing your hair with it will give you a temporary dark brown color.
Henna – A natural hair color that gives red highlights to dark hair however since we are doing this on white hair using henna may turn those lights to an orange color instead. However, you can mix the mixture of tea with coffee to avoid the orange color in your hair.