Why gray hair appears and at what age do the first
We could say that the white hair are the result of the passage of time, which appear as a result of a process of changes that take place in the hair, that make, in short, the hair goes little by little turning white. This change tends to be progressive, appearing little by little as we get older. And it does so slowly and in parts: first it usually affects the temples, then the back of the head and, finally, it affects the entire hair.
Gray hair appears because there is a change in the amount of melanin present in the hair. Melanin is the pigment that determines the coloration of both the hair and the skin. In this sense, brown or black hair contains a lot of melanin, while light or blond hair has very little.
Why do gray hair appear and appear?
Until a few years ago it was not really known what its causes were. It was known, it is true, that the loss of melanin present in the hair influenced it, but a scientific study carried out in 2011 by researchers from the Langone Medical Center of the University of New York identified a protein known as ' Wnt ', which coordinates the pigmentation of the hair. So that a lack of this protein would cause the appearance of gray hair. It is, as we see, a key finding that can help stop the process.
Hair color is determined by two groups of stem cells:
- Those responsible for directing the development and growth of hair follicles.
- Those responsible for producing hair color, known as melanocytes.
These cells work together to produce the hair pigment from the 'Wnt' protein, which is the "responsible" for coordinating the entire process. Thus When this protein is missing in a melanocyte, the gray.
At what age do the first gray hairs appear?
It is common, and quite normal, that many people discover their first gray hair with only 20 years. It is an absolutely normal process, and it is known by the name of gray hair or premature canice. In these cases, far from being produced over the years, they are caused by genetic factors (heredity has a great influence in this sense) or by stress.
In fact, if one of your parents had gray hair as a young man and appeared since he was 20 years old, the most normal thing is that the same thing happens to you too. But you should not be alarmed, since that appearance is progressive and slow, so that the fact of discovering a cane today does not mean that tomorrow you will have many more and your hair will suddenly turn white.
Images | iStock / Parker Knight
