Why Do Gray Hairs Look And Feel Different
Here’s a question that comes from our good friends over at Women’s Health Research News. If you get a chance, please go over and check out this great blog by a fellow indy science blogger.
Trisha’s question:
In a previous post you mentioned that gray hair looks gray because it has lost its melanin, which gives hair its pigment. What`s the biology involved with that? What actually causes hair to lose its melanin? And is there anything we can do to slow the process down? And why do my gray hairs seem more kinky and unruly compared to the rest of my hair?
The Left Brain’s Response:
Melanin is a pigment that is naturally produced in the hair follicle and “injected” into the hair fibers as the protein is formed and pushed out of the head. It’s the same kind of melanin that gives your skin its color. There are two basic types of melanin (eumelanin and pheomelanin) that are responsible for every hair color from brown and black to blonde and red.
No one knows why hair follicles stop producing melanin. Genetics mostly. There just gets to be a point where the melanocytes (the melanin producing cells) just stop producing. Thus you get gray hair.
Slowing the process? No one has figured this one out just yet. And the truth is that only the pharmaceutical companies would be looking for the solution anyway. Cosmetic companies focus on things that do not react with your body. I’m not sure if there will be a solution to this problem anytime soon. (By the way, there are products out there like Reminex that claim to restore melanin production but we’ve seen no data to indicate they really work.) Of course you can always dye your hair. Or you can use Verseo Greyban. (It’s not a dye. Not exactly.)
There is no solid data to show that gray hair has a different physical structure that makes it feel more kinky and unruly. In fact, we’ve seen experiments that show if you have people close their eyes they can not feel a difference between gray hair and “normal” hair. Why do people think gray hair is so different? There are probably two reasons: First, we know that as you age, the follicles produce less of their natural lubricating oils. That can make hair feel dry and coarse. Second, gray hairs are just easier to notice because of the color difference. Think about all the hairs on your head that are unruly but they are the same color as the rest of your hair so you don’t notice them.
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Amanda Says:
Thank you, Brains, for another fascinating and informed myth buster!!! I’m curious, then, what role melanin plays when dying one’s hair. My mother has grey hair, and no matter what she does, the color always seems to fade to a fake blondish after a couple washings. Does a lack of melanin make grey hair harder to dye?
Lien Says:
thanks for the great post! I am 32, and my hair is gray. Really, I am more salt then pepper. in my family everyone gets gray hair by the time they enter college. I have been dying my hair myself for years. however, for the last year the new hair is not taking the dye anymore. I can’t imagine going completely gray. is there any specific product that would hold better on the gray hair? or should I look for any ingredient? help :-O
forgetmenot Says:
Sometimes after pulling out my hair (trichotillomania) it’ll grow back white or white tipped. What might that be about? I’m only 18… :s
forgetmenot Says:
Also they often grow back coarser and kinkier. It’s pretty noticeable too cos the rest of my hair is pretty much naturally poker straight and I only tend to pull along the hairline and now it’s all kinky and weird
» End of week round-up - Women's Health Research News blog from IdeasForWomen.com Says:
[...] Why Do Gray Hairs Look And Feel Different?: [...]
Clark Clydestone Says:
I am a 60 year old man with parents, grandparents and greatgrandparents that live to 100 plus or minus 7 years.
Gray hair begins in our family usually in ealy 60’s. Nevertheless, my hair is still about 95% raven black.
DNA I think plays a part, however, good nutrition is paramont. That means little or no SIMPLE carbohydrates. 80-90% complex carbohydrates.
I still do 160 pushups 3-4 times a week among other exercises and people often think me late 30’s to early 40’s. DNA, yes I think it plays a part, but nutrition plays a greater part. Simple carboydrates are a recipe for old age soon! Unfortunately its the diet most of us grew up with and realize too late its an early harbinger of old age. We fed our stomach, but often our eyes, hair, heart, brain etc. have recieved no nutrition because what we eat hasn’t provision for them.
thebeautybrains Says:
Interesting comments Clark. What proof do you have that nutrition is more important than genetics. It seems that most of the scientific studies I’m aware of suggest that genetics is much more important. Congrats on your ability to do 160 pushups!
Liz Salley Says:
What can I use to make my Afro-American gray hair more managable, without dyeing it?
Left Brain Says:
Use a conditioner that contains something like petrolatum. This will help make the hair more manageable.
michelle Says:
i am a hairdresser and i believe grey hair is more coarse and more unruly without the melanin. because when you color hair its much softer .so when the color is taken away it is rough .take out one grey hair out of your head and feel it. there is a difference. people constantly complain about it to me.there are hair color formulas made specifically for grey hair and youre stylist should know about them.for african american hairor all hair types use proclaim glossing polish on wet hair will make soft i swear by it!
Left Brain Says:
All I can say is that in blinded testing people aren’t able to tell a difference between the feel of gray hair and non-gray hair. Intuitively it seems like there would be a difference but our intuition doesn’t always coincide with science.
Sharon Says:
Intuition or science, new gray hairs on my old head tend to stick straight up like an antenna!
Sigh.
thebeautybrains Says:
Ah yes. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what science tells us. We know how we feel about things.
Anabeana Says:
When the genes for melanin stop being transcribed and translated, there can be no more melanin. Replication , transcription, and translation (of DNA) slows down for many genes as we age. When it eventually stops for something vital, we die. It’s no secret that proper nutrition and exercise slow down the slowing down of the body. The healthier you are, the longer your cells are going to function properly (which a result of efficient protein production). This would be no different, I imagine, for the melanocytes.
deepo Says:
One of the best beauty changes I ever made was to let my grey grow out. The trick: get a good haircut. I have gotten more compliments than ever before. I love my hair. I’m in my 50’s but this actually gives me a more youthful look (again, maintain a good cut). My hair is still soft - I see no difference in the grey and the still dark hair. Don’t fear the grey!
Pat Says:
I was waiting longer than most of my friends to see my first grey hair–at age 51. My brother who is 9 years my junior began to grey before he was 35 and both of us have/had dark blond hair, but his was overly-curly and mine was straight as string, fine-textured, soft, but it grows in thick and densely–I mean a lot of hair, but each shaft is thin. The first place it showed up was in front of my ears (I guess if I were a guy, you’d say sideburns), which I could just tuck behind my ears and look like I had no grey anywhere. Now, at age 58, the blond is shot-through with nearly-invisible individual grey hairs and in the last couple years I’ve been noticing the texture of just the grey hairs is VERY different from the original hairs: fairly kinky and messy-looking, as it stands away from the combed hairs and does its own thing.
My eyebrows, always neat, never needing plucking are getting bizarre, at the same time: One individual eyebrow hair got so long it hung down and stabbed me in the eye before I figured out where it was coming from. Now, I have more long ones all the time. A few friends also said they’d noticed these “aging” problems nobody ever warned us about. I’d like to hear more about it. I haven’t dyed my hair since my mid-20’s and I’m curious to see how I’ll look all grey before I make a change, but not if it’s going to be all crazy unmanageable and haggy-textured!
Anyway, that’s my personal experience and I’m surprised to hear someone saying that it only affects the color and that the texture does not change. Mine sure did. I could send you a sample if I knew where to send it. Just let me know.
Shebi Says:
Article on graying hair