Gray hair, White Hair, Silver Locks, Achromotrichia or Canitis: Treatment and solutions

Gray or White hair at young age can be a distressing and annoying at times for many but for older people, gray hair can symbolize wisdom and maturity. Graying may make one look older. Good news is recently, scientists have found that graying hair might be protecting you from getting cancer.

You will observe the first grey hairs usually near the temples, then to the crown and then at the back of your head. The common belief that for every graying hair they remove, two will grow back up in place of the lost  one is a myth.

Hair color comes from a protein and a pigment called melanin. The cells in the hair follicles that make and store melanin are called melanocytes. The melanocytes also present in the basal layer of the epidermis that produces melanin under the control of the melanocyte-stimulating hormone

 

 

 

 

 

 The stem cells at the base of hair follicles produce melanocytes. Melanocytes are also present in your hair follicles right next to the dermal sheath, an area below the hair bulge where you can also find keratinocyte cells.  Working synchronously, melanocytes and keratinocytes are the building blocks of your hair
Hair color is the pigmentation of hair follicles due to two types of melanin,eumelanin and pheomelanin. Generally, if more melanin is present, the color of the hair is darker; if less melanin is present, the hair is lighter. Levels of melanin can vary over time causing a person's hair color to change, and it is possible to have hair follicles of more than one color. Pheomelanin colors hair red. Eumelanin, which has two subtypes of black or brown, determines the darkness of the hair color. A low concentration of brown eumelanin results in blond hair, whereas a higher concentration of brown eumelanin will color the hair brown. High amounts of black eumelanin result in black hair, while low concentrations give gray hair. All humans have some pheomelanin in their hair.

Gray hair results from a reduction of pigment. White hair has no pigment. Changes in hair color typically occur naturally as people age, eventually turning the hair gray and then white. This is called achromotrichia.

There is a pocket that houses melanocyte stem cells halfway up the follicle, above the bulb. These stem cells turn into melanocytes when old melanocytes die off. The death or inactivity of the melanocyte stem cells causes the onset of graying.

 

Causes:

Aging: No available treatment – only solution is colour the hair.( white people will begin to gray in their mid-thirties and Asian people begin graying in their late thirties, but most black people can retain their original hair color until their mid-forties.) Your chance of going gray increases 10 to 20 percent every decade after 30 years. By age 50, most people can expect 50 percent of their hair to be gray. There are two theories of aging. The signs of aging are programmed in our genes or DNA. The second is that our cells and DNA wear out and get damaged over time eventually leading to aging and the end of life. If we can find damage to the DNA or cells dying as we get older, then maybe genes are not involved in aging. Some people believe as we get a little bit older we don't produce enough catalase and then the hydrogen peroxide cannot be broken down and that bleaches your hair from the inside out, turning it gray

Premature graying: This premature graying of hair is called canities in medical terminology How fast your hair turns grey really depends on the person's genetic predisposition and certain lifestyle factors that can directly influence the production of the pigment melanin. If you have a family history of premature grey hairs, the chances of your hair turning graying much earlier in life is far greater.

Genetic: No available treatment - only solution is colour the hair. Two genes appear to be responsible for the process of graying, Bcl2 and Bcl-w. Gene therapy may someday help us treat the signs of aging

Smoking: Smokers were found to be four times more likely to begin graying prematurely, compared to nonsmokers.

Lack of sleep and excess stress: Excessive stress is the principal creator of chronic free radical damage that can damage vulnerable cells like Melanocytes and influence melanin production.

Malnutrition:(certain Minerals cupper, zink  etc. and Vit B deficiency) is also known to cause hair to become lighter, thinner, and more brittle. The condition is reversible with proper nutrition.

Pernicious Anemia (Vitamin B12deficiency): Facing a deficiency in vitamin B especially B12 has been associated with less effective hair pigmentation

Thyroid deficiencies: Hyper or Hypo Thyroid status

Albinism: (a genetic abnormality in which little pigment is found in human hair, eyes or skin

Vitiligo (a patchy loss of hair and skin color that may occur as the result of an auto-immune disease.)

Werner Syndrome (premature aging disease that begins in adolescence or early adulthood and results in the appearance of old age by 30-40 years of age)

Apart from this spicy, oily, fast or junk foods, addictive foods like tea, coffee, alcohol and long illnesses, some medications etc are blamed to be the cause of premature graying.

Grey Hair Treatments

Given the currently available treatment options, it appears that the greying process cannot be effectively reversed. There is no scientific evidence at the moment that any existing medicine, diet, herb, supplement or natural product can prevent or reverse greying hair. The only current option that delivers satisfactory results is changing the colour of your existing hair. You can either use regular hair dyes or try progressive hair colorants. Unlike regular hair dyes, progressive hair colorants only affect your grey hair and not your non gray hair, changing its colour gradually and unnoticeably. It makes their hair look more natural, as they do not have to cover up all their grey. One interesting point about gray hair is that it is thicker and usually grows faster than normal, pigmented hair, which makes it more visible and difficult to cover with colour.
Gray hair may temporarily darken after inflammatory processes, after electron-beam-induced alopecia, and after some chemotherapy regimens. However, French scientists treating chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML).  patients with a new cancer drug Gleevec or Glivec noted an unexpected side effect: some of the patients' hair color was restored to their pre-gray color.
Nonetheless, there are some traditional and commercial products that claim to be effective in preventing and reversing graying hair.

Some of them are:

Topical liquid, cream or foam, foam, oil, lotion or spray

GRECIAN FORMULA

GREYBAN

 (POLY) RE-NATURE

RE:NUAL SERUM

RESTORIA

TOUCH OF GRAY

Oral Tabb or powder

MELANCOR-NH

REMINEX

SHEN MIN

SH SHOU WU PILL

OU WU PIA

Beggan's pills

Go Away Gray

YOUTHAIR

Active Substances Used in these products are:

 

 FO-TI or He Shou Wu (polygonum multiflorum)a Chinese herb also known as Chinese knotweed or flowery knotweed, There is no clinical research available supporting the claim of its efficacy

PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid)  is often referred to as vitamin BX or B10 and it is believed to be an anti-aging and anti-grey hair vitamin.

FOLIC ACID is another member from the group of vitamins B (B9)

An average healthy person is unlikely to register a change in the colour of their hair as a result of the extra intake of these two vitamins. Their administration can only be beneficial in rare, grey hair conditions caused by the deficiency of any of these two vitamins.

Amla or Indian Gooseberry
An Indain Fruit known as 'Amla'. You can make gooseberry oil and apply it to the scalp. To make the oil, you need to heat some amount of coconut oil with few pieces of the Indian gooseberries. After the berries turn dark, turn off the heat and let the solution cool down. Remove the berries and apply the oil to your hair.

Blackstrap Molasses
Molasses is made out of sugarcane or sugar beets juice. The juice is boiled at high temperatures which crystallizes the sugars. When the left over liquid is heated up two more times, blackstrap molasses is formed. Blackstrap molasses also contains such as calcium, iron, magnesium, copper, potassium etc.

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR - its water solution applied topically. It is an old wive’s tale assumed to work in a similar fashion to the metallic-based, hair colorants, gradually changing the colour of white hair. Its mechanism of action and potential efficacy are unknown.

 SAGE TEA is another traditional natural remedy Strong sage tea should be applied to the hair and left to dry, then rinsed with water and dried. This therapy should be repeated weekly until the desired shade is achieved. It is conceivable that the strong sage tea could stain and colour.

Wheat grass (contains all essential minerals the body needs)
Sea weeds (kelp, nori, dulse)

Catalase:  It is believed by some that as we get a little bit older we don't produce enough of enzyme called catalase and then the hydrogen peroxide cannot be broken down and that bleaches your hair from the inside out, turning it gray. Products like Go away gray and Beggan Pills have this as a main ingredient

Emu oil: supposed to moisturize and preserve the hair nutrients like Omega3 and Vit B12

Other Treatments:

RUBBING THE NAILS an old technique from India against each other is said to help circulation (as nerve endings are located under the finger nails

Henna (Mehdi) :Dried Henna powder from henna leaves of the plant has been used traditionally in India as temporary body decoration or tattoos.  It is also used to color the hair. It gives brownish red colour. Benefit is believed to be it is a natural product and there is no synthetic pigment. One of the ways to use is: Henna is okay if you don’t have clorinated water, or go into swimming pools as it will turn green or purple with the chemical reaction. It builds up and does exactly what i told you henna will when exposed to chlorine. A temporary hair color does a good job, and covers all the hair. The bonus is it will give shine, and make the other hair more lusterious conditioning also.

Usage of henna powder is also one the effective methods for gray hair treatment. Prepare a mix of henna powder (2 tbsp.), yogurt (1 tsp.), fenugreek seed powder (1 tsp.), coffee (3 tsp.), basil juice (2 tsp.) and mint juice (3 tsp.). Use this mix to massage the scalp and let it stay for about 3 hours. Thereafter, get your hair washed with a mild shampoo

Covering or colouring Gray Hair