• Question: Why does hair turn grey?

    Asked by Chante to Eleni, Hannah, Jenny, Oli, Steven on 14 Nov 2016. This question was also asked by lottie243.
    • Photo: Hannah Bolt

      Hannah Bolt answered on 14 Nov 2016:

      Hi Chante,

      Human hair contains pigment cells that produce a molecule called ‘melanin’. This melanin gives hair its colour. How dark or light your hair is depends on how much melanin each hair has in it.

      Hair goes grey when the pigment cells in the hair die (for example, when we get older). The fewer pigment cells there are, the less melanin the hair contains and the hair becomes less coloured, i.e. grey or white.

      Hannah

    • Photo: Eleni Vikeli

      Eleni Vikeli answered on 15 Nov 2016:

      Hi Chante,

      I agree with Hannah and I would like to add that is a totally normal process. People can get gray hair at any age. Some people go gray at a young age — as early as when they are in high school or college — whereas others may be in their 30s or 40s before they see that first gray hair. How early we get gray hair is determined by our genes. This means that most of us will start having gray hairs around the same age that our parents or grandparents first did.
      I have a friend that her hair turned gray because of stress at the age of 18 :O

      Eleni

    • Photo: Steven Street

      Steven Street answered on 19 Nov 2016:

      Hi Chante,

      I didn’t know the exact answer to this, but now I do thanks to the others!

      Steve

Comments