
Gray hair is one of
the most familiar signs of aging. It usually starts
in late 30s and graduately increase the percentage
on your scalp over the next few years. The loss of
hair color is due to a gradual fall in melanin
production in the hair bulb. If you look at the
hairs on a graying head you find a full range of
color, from the normal shade through to white along
each hair, and also from one hair to another.
Usually people notice their first gray hairs near
their temples. Then the grayness spreads to the
crown, and later to the back of the head.
Our hair is made up
of two parts: a
shaft - the colored part we see
growing out of our heads and a
root - the
bottom part, which keeps the hair anchored under the
scalp
The root of every
strand of hair is surrounded by hair follicle.
Each hair follicle contains a certain number of
pigment cells. These pigment cells continuously
produce a chemical called melanin that gives
the growing shaft of hair its color of brown,
blonde, red, and anything in between.
Melanin is the same
stuff that makes our skin's color fair or darker.
The dark or light color of someone's hair depends on
how much melanin each hair contains.
There are several
reasons for gray hair and these vary from one person
to another pending on one's age. The most common
reason is heredity, the other big reason for graying
hair is the environment, a recent study indicates
that smokers are 4 times more likely to become
prematurely gray (or bald). Among younger people,
vitamin B-12 deficiency, thyroid imbalance, anemia
or viruses can also lead to gray hair.
As we get older, the
pigment cells in our hair follicles gradually die.
When there are fewer pigment cells in a hair
follicle, that strand of hair will no longer contain
as much melanin and will become a more transparent
color - like gray, silver, or white - as it grows.
As people continue to get older, fewer pigment cells
will be around to produce melanin. Eventually, the
hair will look completely gray. By combining
traditional oriental herbal medicine theory and
current scientific breakthrough, Reminex research
team discovered by reviving dormant or sometimes
nearly dead pigment cells, they are able to prolong
the natural hair color stage for older people and
prevent premature gray hair or white hair in younger
people.