Naturally occurring hydrogen peroxide can also build up in the hair, bleaching the color. Typically, white people start going gray in their mid-30s, Asians in their late 30s, and Blacks in their mid-40s. Half of all people have a significant amount of gray hair by the time they turn 50.
It can be a shock to find your first gray hairs on your head, especially if you're only in your 20s. But women's expert Dr. Kirtly Parker Jones says a few gray hairs is perfectly normal, even for women in their late 20s and early 30s. However, stress, genetics and other factors can play a role.
A new study shows that stress really can give you gray hair. Researchers found that the body's fight-or-flight response plays a key role in turning hair gray. Your hair color is determined by pigment-producing cells called melanocytes.
5.87% – 41-45 years old. 2.85% – 51-55 years old. 0.95% – 56 – 65 years old. 0.007% – over age 66.
Gray hair is one of the universal signs of advanced age.
The age at which hair begins to turn grey and the increase in grey hair with age appear to be clearly linked to ethnic and geographical origin. At a similar age, subjects of Asian or African descent, who have the darkest hair, have fewer grey hairs than those of Caucasian origin, who have lighter hair tones.
“The newfound mechanisms raise the possibility that the same fixed positioning of melanocyte stem cells may exist in humans. If so, it presents a potential pathway for reversing or preventing the graying of human hair by helping jammed cells to move again between developing hair follicle compartments.”
Quality sleep is essential
Studies show that lack of sleep causes inflammation in your body and can damage stem cells as well, which in turn can lead to greying hair.
So while the myth that if you pluck one gray hair ten of its siblings will pop up in its place has been dispelled, you still may want to refrain from plucking. In addition to swelling and scarring, plucking hair straight from the root could also contribute to irreversible premature hair loss in the area.
Any deficiencies of vitamin B-6, B-12, biotin, vitamin D, or vitamin E can contribute to premature graying. One 2015 report in the journal Development notes various deficiency studies on vitamin D-3, vitamin B-12, and copper and their connection to graying hair.
Gray is Completely Natural and Often Genetic
It's a sign of the aging process, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. According to Harvard Medical School, there are many reasons why hair turns gray, but overall gray hair is mainly genetic and it's not an indicator of poor health.
The team ultimately discovered that signaling from the sympathetic nervous system plays a critical role in stress-induced graying. Sympathetic nerves extend into each hair follicle and release noradrenaline in response to stress. Normally, the melanocyte stem cells in the follicle are dormant until a new hair is grown.
POSSIBLE ETIOPATHOGENESIS OF GRAYING
Reversible hypopigmentation of the hair can be seen in nutritional deficiencies protein-energy malnutrition and diseases of chronic loss of protein. Copper and iron deficiency also can cause graying of hair.
Blonds get white hair just like brunets, but some blondes only appear to get a lighter blond while others experience their blonde hairs getting darker and duller as the white hairs begin to appear. Still, blondes can, over time, have a full head of white hair.
Premature graying may be reversed with vitamin B12 supplementation only if vitamin B12 deficiency is the cause. If you are graying due to other factors, such as genetics, zinc deficiency, and medications, your gray hair cannot be reversed.
Dr. Jennifer Chwalek: The process of hair changing from darker color to white or gray with age is mainly due to genetics. It can be inherited from either parent. The color of our hair is determined by the form of hair pigment that we have.
"While it's a natural part of aging for most of us, not everyone automatically turns gray when they hit the age of 50," she says. "Some people in their 80s don't have gray hair yet, while others get white hair in their late teens," she adds.
The skin and hair are made of melatonin. ... White people start going gray in their 30s, Asians in their 30s, and African-Americans in their 40s. Half of all people have gray hair by their 50th birthday. In 2019, it was 23.6 percent — almost a quarter.
The 80-year-old man who still has a full head of hair... and not one grey one. When strangers mistake him for a man 30 years younger, Ron Williamson doesn't turn a hair. He explains that he is in fact 80 - but his luxuriant dark-brown mane refuses to show any sign of age.
People use “gray,” “white” and “silver” interchangeably to describe hair that is turning or has turned. Its appearance — whether it looks, gray, white or silver — depends on how much natural color, or pigment, remains, experts say. Hair that has lost all its color typically appears white.
Gray hair is caused by a loss in melanin, whereas white hair does not have any melanin at all. As you age, your hair produces less and less melanin that leads your hair to appear gray, and then eventually white. However, the speed that your hair loses melanin is largely attributed to genetics.