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What Causes Gray Hair?
Gray hair is one of the most familiar signs of
aging. It usually starts in late 30s and gradually increase the
percentage on your scalp over the next few years. The loss of hair
color is due to a gradual fall in melanin production in the hair
bulb. If you look at the hairs on a graying head you find a full
range of color, from the normal shade through to white along each
hair, and also from one hair to another. Usually people notice their
first gray hairs near their temples. Then the grayness spreads to
the crown, and later to the back of the head.
Our hair is made up of two parts: a shaft - the colored part
we see growing out of our heads and a root - the bottom part,
which keeps the hair anchored under the scalp
The root of every strand of hair is surrounded by hair
follicle. Each hair follicle contains a certain number of
pigment cells. These pigment cells continuously produce a
chemical called melanin that gives the growing shaft of hair its
color of brown, blonde, red, and anything in between.
Melanin is the same stuff that makes our skin's color fair or
darker. The dark or light color of someone's hair depends on how
much melanin each hair contains.
There are several reasons for gray hair and these vary from
one person to another pending on one's age. The most common
reason is heredity, the other big reason for graying hair is the
environment, a recent study indicates that smokers are 4 times
more likely to become prematurely gray (or bald). Among younger
people, vitamin B-12 deficiency, thyroid imbalance, anemia or
viruses can also lead to gray hair.
As we get older, the pigment cells in our hair follicles
gradually die. When there are fewer pigment cells in a hair
follicle, that strand of hair will no longer contain as much
melanin and will become a more transparent color - like gray,
silver, or white - as it grows. As people continue to get older,
fewer pigment cells will be around to produce melanin.
Eventually, the hair will look completely gray. By combining
traditional oriental herbal medicine theory and current
scientific breakthrough, Reminex research team discovered by
reviving dormant or sometimes nearly dead pigment cells, they
are able to prolong the natural hair color stage for older
people and prevent premature gray hair or white hair in younger
people.
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