The appearance of gray is a sign of adulthood, and it is a natural phenomenon. But when young women suddenly begin to actively gray, then it is beyond the norm. Therefore it is necessary to understand the causes of early gray hair in women, to prevent the occurrence of this deviation of time.
Early gray in women is a cause for concern, but not so serious.
The mechanism of hair color
Hair coloring is caused by melanin, a pigment that is synthesized by melanocytes. They are located in the hair follicles. The more of this pigment in the protein that makes up the hair, the darker will be the hair color. Turning gray appears when melanocytes stop synthesizing melanin, because they simply age and die, and they cannot be repaired.
First, the melanocytes age and the coloring pigment is displaced, starting from the roots of the hair, and then the entire hair is discolored. The mechanism for the appearance of gray hair is the same for both older people and very young girls.
In this case there are changes not only in the color of the hair, but also in the structure of the hair itself. It appears porous, stiff, brittle, dry. Therefore, to know the causes of gray hair, it is necessary to understand why melanocytes age and die. And if the causes of gray in mature women are clear, when the discolored hair appears due to the natural aging of the body, then young girls can avoid this phenomenon.
It is necessary to understand the causes of gray hair.
Why does gray hair come early
There may be several reasons for the appearance of discolored hair at a young age:
- Strong stress – both a single case, and lasting for a long time. The adrenaline released in a stressful situation is the reason for the disruption of the connection between the pigment and the protein of the hair;
- improper lifestyle – this also applies to bad habits, mono-diet and daily regime;
- as evidence of diseases in the body;
- genetic predisposition – if the adult generation turned gray at a young age, it can be inherited;
- X-ray exposure – in this case there is usually a focal appearance of graying;
- Exposure to ultraviolet light – keep your head out of the sun, so that early graying does not become a cause of your grief;
- Vitamin and micronutrient deficiencies – these are vitamins A, B, C, as well as a lack of manganese, selenium, iron, copper, zinc.
Since it is impossible to restore the hair pigment, it is important to prevent the appearance of gray hair.
How women can avoid going gray early in life
If you’ve noticed your first gray hair, you need to completely rethink your attitude to life to slow down the aging of melanocytes and slow down the process of hair discoloration.
It is impossible to avoid stressful situations. If your stress is related to the death of a loved one, it may be worth consulting a professional and finding a sedative. When the source of a stressful situation is your work, studies or environment, it is necessary to minimize this influence – change your place of work, do your studies in time or change your environment.
It is necessary to pay attention to your way of life – to give up alcohol and tobacco products, to observe a correct sleeping regime. This way you not only level out the causes, but also keep your health. To work a lot and earn money, to study well in order to become a real professional, to have a fun and exciting holiday – every young girl has her priorities in life.
And it’s right, because youth is a special time of a long life. But only often it becomes the reason for loss of health, so everything should be in moderation – and work, and study, and fun.
Often dieting becomes the cause of gray hair – remember that
Many people think that vegetables and fruits – a great solution for a woman’s diet at a young age, and meat and fish cause only harm. They do not associate the lack of protein in the diet with the appearance of gray hair. And in vain – protein-free diets cause irreparable damage to the hair.
Tip: Review your diet, lifestyle, and daily regimen – following these simple rules can help you maintain your hair’s natural color until you’re older.
The hair protein is responsible for providing the pigment connection. If protein is missing in the body, then there is early gray hair in women or girls concerned about keeping their weight or sticking to a vegetarian type of diet. But also the small amount of fruits and vegetables in the diet leads to the same results when the body does not get a complete dose of vitamins. So make sure your diet is balanced, including all types of foods.
When gray hair is a symptom
The appearance of discolored hair at a young age can be a sign of a certain disease in the body. These are:
- Thyroid gland disorders;
- Gastritis, especially with reduced acidity;
- Anemia caused by iron deficiency;
- atherosclerosis;
- vitiligo;
- Werner’s syndrome;
- Wardenburg syndrome.
The appearance of gray hair at an early age is a sign that should not be ignored.
A visit to the doctor will help to rule out or confirm the presence of a disease, and therefore – in time to work on the restoration of health.
5 reasons why you shouldn’t be afraid of going gray at an early age
If you get upset about going gray when you’re young, here are 5 reasons why you shouldn’t:
- If graying is a sign of body ailments, then thank your hair for signaling it to you in time. Seeing a professional in good time allows you to address the problem before it’s too late;
- When bleached hair is hereditary – you don’t love your mom any less if she turned grey at an early age and passed it on to you;
- When your hair has given you the signal that work is taking up too much energy and entertainment is only making your health worse. This is a reason why you should quit smoking, establish a measured daily routine and try to avoid stressful situations;
- If gray hairs are a sign of an imbalanced diet, changing your diet will benefit your body and help you live a long and happy life;
- and finally – even gray hair is your native hair that will continue to grow. Cosmetology offers so many colors and methods of application that no one will even notice your gray hair. The important thing is to keep your hair in a healthy state.
So pay attention to your hair – it can tell you a lot about your body and its condition. Even a few gray hairs are a sign you need to make a change in your life.
In the old days, gray hair was associated with wisdom and symbolized the extraordinary abilities of the owner of gray strands. Gray hair commanded respect. Nowadays, the attitude toward gray hair has changed. Most people today look at the first gray strands in the mirror with dissatisfaction and try to get rid of them in every possible way. After all, in the public consciousness of modern people gray hair seems old and unenergetic, having no prospects in personal life and work. Such a negative attitude towards gray hair is due to the fact that the media and glossy magazines create stereotypes of beauty and youth in the minds of people in the form of beauties with hair of natural colors of dark and light shades.
Familiar to everyone from childhood images of witches, sorcerers, weak old men with gray hair induce fear and a negative attitude towards gray hair. However, men are not afraid of gray hair as much as they are afraid of baldness. After all, gray hair adds solidity, poise and spiritual nobility to men. Women are more ashamed of gray hair and try to hide it with hair coloring, and some even cut it or pull it out. After all, for women, gray hair is a sign of approaching old age and loss of attractiveness. Gray hair is not only typical for women of age, today you can find gray hair in many young girls. The cause of the early graying of the scientists can not name today. Presumably, they believe that the early graying is due to bad ecology, a lot of stress and hereditary predisposition of women.
It is normal when the first gray hair appears at the age of 34-45 years for European women, and for Asian women – at the age of 30-34 years. The most resistant to gray hair is the hair of Negro women, as their hair begins to turn gray only after the age of 43-45. Blond women’s hair begins to turn gray earlier, but their gray hair is less noticeable than that of dark-haired women. For women, the first gray hairs usually appear at the temples, then on the vertex and nape of the neck, and at age 55 many women already have more than 50% of their hair gray. If 50% of a woman’s hair is already gray by age 40, or if the first strands of gray appear at age 25, doctors consider this to be premature graying.
Hair graying is caused by a lack of the pigment melanin, which is responsible for the color of the skin and hair. Pigment cells of hair follicles in the process of aging or other factors stop producing the pigment melanin, as a result, air accumulates in the hair shaft instead. Under a microscope, gray hair resembles a tube with cylinders filled with air. The sudden graying of hair can be due to thyroid disorders or due to the strongest nervous experiences.
History has known cases of young people turning grey in an extremely short period of time as a result of extreme fear or stress. Maria Antaunetta’s head, for example, turned completely grey just one night before her execution. Scientists cannot give an exact scientific explanation for such facts of graying, but they have some suggestions in this regard. According to one of them, they believe that inside the hair is the so-called medullary layer, the core or thinnest channel through which fluid can circulate.
The assumption is that the body produces hormones when under stress, which travel through the blood vessels to the hair follicle and through the channel penetrate to the hair shaft. As a result, the melanin pigment is destroyed and the hair turns gray. According to another version, air spaces appear in the hair structure as a result of external factors, which change the color of the hair.
It has been scientifically proven that there is a connection between graying and anemia, vitamin deficiency, diseases of the nervous and immune systems, and exposure to ultraviolet rays. Early graying is mostly connected with hereditary factors, but can also be the cause of herpes, streptococcal infections and albinism.
The most effective way to prevent early gray hair is a balanced diet, with plenty of foods that contain iron. It is known that as you eat foods that contain a lot of iron, your hair becomes darker and thicker. Iron is abundant in apples, pomegranates, meat, and liver.
It is almost impossible to restore the natural color of gray hair, as well as to predict the early graying. After all, no one is immune to stress, worry and other negative factors. Therefore, the prevention of gray hair can only be the fight against premature aging of the body. And for this you need to lead a healthy lifestyle and eat healthy food. Long-term rigid diets, fasting to cleanse the body, and bad nutrition can have a negative effect on the color of your hair.
Gray hair is a physiologically inborn process that cannot be avoided. It has always been perceived as a symbol of wisdom and maturity.
But if this sign is manifested too early, men seriously think about their health. Many people believe that the appearance of the first gray hair is the end of youth. It leads to a decrease in self-esteem and self-confidence.
Why does the hair on your head turn gray?
The natural color of the hair depends on melanin. Thanks to pheomelanin it acquires a red hue, and due to eumelanin – dark colors. The owners of light strands have the lowest accumulation of pigments.
When the body stops producing melanin naturally, the hair loses almost all of its pigment supply and becomes ash-gray, and if it is completely absent, it turns white.
The loss of pigment negatively affects the structure and characteristics of hair, since melanin gives them elasticity and strength. They become dull, lifeless, dry and brittle, tangle and break easily.
Early graying is a direct consequence of the aging of human organs. There is often a decrease in the production of the enzyme tyrosinase, without which melanin is not formed.
As a result, the structure of the hair becomes porous, and because of the air cavities formed, it becomes silvery-white.
To understand why this happens, we need to understand the causes of all the processes.
The appearance of gray – at what age is it
Representatives of different races find “silver threads” on the head at different ages:
Europeans – on average, by the age of 35.
Asians at 42.
Negroes, after 50.
However, in some men the hair begins to turn silver already at the age of 18-25 years, and at 30 it turns completely gray. Most often this is due to heredity, genetics, and due to internal failures and external factors.
At the same time, the latest results of tests by scientists have shown that graying is a companion to good health.
This refers only to those cases in which the process begins before the age of 30.
Specialists are convinced that gray hair indicates longevity and good health.
How to prevent the appearance of gray hair?
Doctors and beauticians have not yet learned how to return the gray hair to its former shade, and the “fight” with the already appeared gray hair can only consist in the coloring of hair with special dyes with a third degree of stability. However, it is possible to prevent early graying, to get rid of single gray hair and to stop the progression of this process by observing a number of simple rules.
Food
Eating the right foods can help you keep your hair looking beautiful for longer. A balanced diet is one of the keys to staying young, healthy and beautiful. To prevent greying, you should include foods rich in these six minerals in your diet:
- Calcium – dairy products, soybeans, nuts, wheat, greens;
- Copper – eggs, beans, green vegetables, almonds, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds;
- zinc – mushrooms, whole grains, oysters, egg yolks;
- chromium – oysters, wine, wheat bread;
- iron – seaweed, apples, beans, buckwheat, beef, eggs, cocoa;
- Iodine – blackcurrants, sea fish, persimmon, seaweed.
For normal hair pigmentation, foods high in such vitamins should be included in the daily diet:
- Beta-carotene – carrots, cabbage, fish, spinach, liver;
- E – almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, sea buckthorn, dried apricots, pistachios, wheat, spinach, and raspberries;
- C – citrus fruits, rose hips, kiwi, apples, berries, bell peppers, rampson, Brussels sprouts;
- group B (B3, B5, B6, B7, B10 and B12) – pine nuts, cashews, lentils, pork, rabbit, mackerel, sardine, liver, mushrooms, eggs, dairy products, beans, walnuts, sea buckthorn;
- folic acid – liver, peanuts, walnuts, beans, spinach, hazelnuts, broccoli, rampson;
- Inositol – melon, nuts, meat, prunes, kiwi, legumes.
The above minerals and vitamins are important not only for normal hair pigmentation, but also necessary for maintaining hair health. Including foods that are rich in them in your diet on a daily basis will make your hair healthier, and it will become shiny and strong.
In addition to these vitamins and minerals, foods high in Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids should be included in the diet:
- flax seeds;
- fish oil;
- salmon;
- Olive oil;
- oats;
- almonds, etc.
All of these nutrients can also be taken in the form of dietary supplements and vitamin-mineral complexes:
- Melan+ for men and Melan+ for women;
- Neurobex;
- Complivit Selenium.
They should be taken with meals and plenty of water. You should not take these products after a big meal, because in such cases they will not be absorbed completely.
Drinking regimen
Hair follicles are extremely sensitive to the lack of fluid in the body. Lack of water impedes the intake and absorption of nutrients and can cause hair graying. That is why you should drink 1.5 to 2 liters of water a day to keep them healthy.
Proper hair care
When the first grey hairs appear, you should pay close attention to the hair care:
- Wash your hair with water of comfortable temperature.
- Use shampoos, conditioners and masks that contain nonaggressive detergents, vitamins, natural extracts and nutrients.
- Minimize the use of hair dryers, curling irons, irons, aggressive colors and styling products.
- Wear hats in hot and cold weather.
- Avoid hairstyles which disrupt the normal circulation of the blood in the scalp: ponytails, braids, the use of hairpins, rubber bands, etc.
Various salon treatments
The appearance of gray hair can be suspended with the following beauty salon procedures:
- laser therapy;
- Plasmolifting;
- Ultrasonic therapy;
- Micro-elemental mesotherapy.
Hardware methods of hair treatment can be supplemented by applying nourishing masks and vitamin serums:
- Dikson POLIPANT COMPLEX;
- Dercos Technique Vichy;
- Intensive Energizing Complex, etc.
Home remedies
To prevent the appearance of gray hair, you can use various folk remedies that help to restore their health.
Garlic Mask
Put garlic in a bowl and press it. In the resulting pulp add a little burdock oil and rub into the roots of the hair with gentle massaging motions. Head should be wrapped with a warm towel. Masque to wash off after 10-15 minutes, rinse hair with shampoo. The procedure is repeated two times a week.
Applications with burdock root infusion
2 tablespoons of crushed burdock root and 2 teaspoons of dill fruit pour 0.5 liters of boiling water and leave for about 3 hours. Rub into a clean scalp twice a day. The procedure should be repeated daily for 3 months.
Wheatgerm oil mask
Mix 30 ml of wheat germ oil with 7 drops of lavender, rose and sandalwood oil. Massage into the scalp, cover and keep for about 1-2 hours. Rinse off with shampoo. The mask should be applied twice a week for 2-3 months.
Before using these and other folk remedies, make sure that you are not allergic to the components of the recipe.
