If you’ve ever spotted a gray hair amidst your lovely locks, you probably remember the first time it happened. For me, it was at the ripe age of eighteen when a friend styling my hair remarked, “Hey, you’re gettin’ old!” and lifted the deviant strand for me to gawk at in despair. The urge to rip it out immediately was only quelled by that old wives’ tale about five growing in its place. (An obvious myth, but who wants to take that chance?)
Graying hair is almost always associated with aging, but that doesn’t explain its occurrence among people who are still young. Stress is often used as a reason, but if that was all it took, I think many of us would’ve gone gray years ago. So what’s to blame for our hair taking on a silver hue?
How We Go Gray
First of all, those annoying gray hairs aren’t gray—they’re colorless. Our hair actually starts out white beneath the scalp. Color is added within the follicle by cells like melanin. The more melanin you have in the follicle, the darker your hair will be once it grows out. So when hair “goes gray,” it just means that it doesn’t have the color it normally would. For blondes this might mean completely white hair, while for dark haired folks, this can result in gray or silver hair.
For a long time, scientists were unclear about the specific process of going gray. But recently, research performed at the University of Bradford in England demonstrated that a lack of catalase, an enzyme responsible for breaking down the hydrogen peroxide molecules naturally found in hair, is the culprit. Catalase’s job is to turn hydrogen peroxide (the same stuff used to make even the darkest hair platinum blonde) into oxygen and water, which are then excreted by the body. When levels of catalase drop, the hydrogen peroxide builds up and blocks melanin from doing its colorful duty and the hair stays colorless.
The Roles of Aging and Stress
This new insight on going gray will hopefully lead to more information about its direct triggers. Most people point the finger at aging, for obvious reasons. But just because you’re a silver fox doesn’t mean your body is in decline. A study done in Copenhagen tried to find a connection between one’s life span and physical indicators of aging, like gray hair or balding. The purpose was to see if such characteristics were related to a higher mortality rate, but that relationship couldn’t be proved. The decrease in catalase production that causes gray hair is a natural part of aging, which is why the majority of older people have gray or white hair, so gray hair is associated with aging. However, since it occurs among younger generations, it doesn’t necessarily mean the body is prematurely aging, too.
