Greying Hair

Grey hair is a familiar sign of ageing. The age when greying starts depends on your genetic inheritance, but around 50 percent of Caucasians find that half their hair has turned grey by the age of 50.

Loss of hair colour is due to a gradual decline in the production of a pigment, melanin, in the hair bulb. White hair has no pigment, and gray hair has some but not as much as a red, black or brown hair. Not all hairs respond in the same way or at the same time. So the graying process usually is gradual. You can’t prevent graying. If you look at individual hair on a greying head you will see a full-colour range, from the original shade to white – all along each hair. and from one hair to another. The first grey hair usually appears near the temples. Then the greyness spreads to the crown, and later to the back of the head.

Apparent rapid greying may be due to the selective shedding of pigmented hair in a person who already has some grey hair, which are retained. This kind of shedding usually takes several months. But it can occur in a few days, when the effects are dramatic, since the person’s grey hair would not have been so obvious until the darker hair were lost. Loss of hair colour before the age of 35 is termed premature greying.

Excessive intake of tea, coffee, alcohol, meat, and fried, oily, greasy, spicy, sour, and acidic foods can reduce the moisture and nutrients reaching the hair follicles and may lead to premature greying.

A drop in melanin production may be caused by a lack of the mineral copper. Eat foods such as crab, oysters, sunflower seeds, cashews and almonds, which have significant amounts of copper.

To obtain better results, iron & iodine should be taken in form of sea food. Besides fish, which is the main source of iodine, the requirement of this mineral can be met by adequate intake of carrots, bananas & similar other vegetables & fruits. Carrots are especially useful in furnishing fresh blood & maintaining the health of the hair.