Table of contents:
- The cells that make hair color stop producing pigment
- Small children can also grow gray hair
- Does the appearance of gray hair at a young age mean there is a health problem?
- Cigarettes also speed up graying of a person
Everyone will definitely have gray hair, which generally will appear when entering the mid-30s or 40s. However, it is not uncommon for us to see people in their early 20s who have started to grow gray hair. How can gray hair appear at a young age?
The cells that make hair color stop producing pigment
Jeffrey Benabio, M.D., a dermatologist from Kaiser Pemente in San Diego, United States, says that a person begins to turn gray when hair color-making cells (melanocytes) stop producing pigment. Using hair care products that contain hydrogen peroxide can also accelerate white hair.
“Specifically, white people starting to gray in their mid-30s, Asian people in their late 30s, and African people in their mid-40s. Then, some people have a significant amount of gray hair when they enter the age of 50, "Jeffrey tells WebMD about when it is common for someone to go gray.
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This member of the Health Information Process Transformation (HIPT) added that white people will have gray hair that appears prematurely, aka too fast, usually when they are 20 years old. Meanwhile, premature gray hair for Africans will appear before the age of 30.
Small children can also grow gray hair
As Jeffrey previously explained, Dr. Desmond Tobin, professor of cell biology at the University of Bradford in the UK added that genetic factors also cause a person to grow gray hair prematurely.
"The loss of hair pigmentation makes a person gray, this is mainly due to genetic factors and also age. In some people, gray hair appears very quickly, perhaps before entering adolescence. While others, will appear only when they are old. The appearance of gray hair can be very fast in some people, but some people appear gradually, "said Dr. Tobin.
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Based on reports Diagnose-me.com, there is a case of an 8 year old child known to have gray hair. The rapid appearance of gray hair in these children, as explained by Dr. Tobin, tends to be caused by genetic factors.
Does the appearance of gray hair at a young age mean there is a health problem?
Growing gray hair, either normal or too early, does not mean you have a health problem, except in some rare cases. Jeffrey explained that experts and researchers do not know exactly why some people develop gray hair faster. Yet he said the same thing as Dr. Tobin, who believes that genetic factors have a big role in the appearance of gray hair.
Lack of vitamin B-12 or problems with the pituitary or thyroid gland can cause graying at a young age. However, Jeffrey said that the appearance of gray hair that is too fast can be prevented if these health problems are addressed.
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In the case of premature graying in children, Dr. Greene, the pediatrician who makes the website Drgreene.com, says there are several conditions that make children gray, including neurofibromatosis, also known as von Recklinghausen's disease. This disease is a genetic disorder of the nervous system that results in the development of benign tumors on the nerves.
In addition, alumni Princeton University and University of California This said, a rare disease such as Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome can affect children following a viral illness. As the child's body fights against the virus, the antibodies it makes destroy the melanocytes, which make the pigments for hair.
Cigarettes also speed up graying of a person
A clinical study published in 1996 in British Medical Journal, found a relationship between the appearance of gray hair before a person was 30 years old, and smoking.
Quoted by the Global Post, the researchers of the study examined more than 600 men and women, of whom about 300 were smokers. The researchers found a link between smoking and premature graying, which is caused by toxins in cigarettes that damage hormones and hair follicles. And the results of the study show that smokers gray 4 times faster than non-smokers.
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In other studies conducted by a number of researchers from Jordan University Hospital and published in 2013 at Indian Dermatology Journal OnlineIt has been suggested that smoking can harm the production of melanin (cells in hair follicles), thereby causing premature graying of a person before the age of 30.
