Seeing people in their late-twenties and early-thirties having a greyish shade to their hair while they are medically fit has been quite common these days. The layman believes that the common reason for having grey hair at an early age is stress. But is stress really the problem?
When a person is immensely stressed for quite some time, it can trigger a condition called telogen which is quite common. This condition causes hair to shed about three times faster than normal. However, the hair grows back eventually. Hence, this condition doesn’t cause balding. If the person is middle-aged and regenerating quickly, the new hair that grows maybe greyish instead of their original colour. Stress surely can’t ‘turn’ original coloured hair to grey. Then what is the reason for grey hair?
The scientists from Northeastern University explained in one of the parts of their series ‘Why is That’ the reason behind the grey colour of our hair. The pigment responsible for the colour of our hair is melanin. However, our hair follicles contain hydrogen peroxide which uses an enzyme called catalase to make it harmless and decompose it into water and oxygen. These two chemicals are very important are for our hair. Usually when we grow old, the production of these two goes down. It can happen at an early age too due to genetic effects or the environmental conditions around a person. When the percentage of melanin and catalase production goes down, the hydrogen peroxide in the hair increases exponentially which eventually causes the hair to turn grey. The melanin produced by our body to give colour to our hair can’t be substituted to its actual extent. Different products are available in the chemical industry containing artificial melanin but none of them are completely effective on human hair.
It was cleared with the research and studies that stressing over something can’t cause decolourisation of your hair. So if you aren’t old and have a greyish patch on your head, don’t blame your stress levels for it.
Luvpreet Singh