Sunday, November 30, 2014

Is Gray/white hair genetic?

                The cause of white hair is not always genetics. However the two main reasons of gray hair is because of age and genetics. Genes control the exhaustion of the pigment potential of each hair follicle. Each different hair follicle has its own different rates. In certain people, this rate occurs much quicker. 


Human hair grows in stages in which a part of a hair is either growing or resting at a certain hair. Hair follicles contain pigments called melanin. The hair becomes colorless when the body stops producing pigments. This results in white hair, whereas gray hair is produced from a result of pigment dilution.

The two pigments that give hair its color are eumelanin and pheomelanin. Each human has a bit of pheomelanin in their hair, which is hair color orange and yellow. It is found that two gene pairs control human hair color. Several gene pairs control the light versus dark hair in effect. The children born with some hair colors that darkens with growth, which is caused by genes being turned off and on during early puberty. The two genes responsible for gray hair is Bcl2 and Bcl-w.
Link 1: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/health/10well.html?_r=0
Related link: http://www.womansday.com/style-beauty/beauty-tips-products/why-does-hair-turn-gray-118871

3 comments:

  1. This was interesting to read about. Since about the age of 25 my uncle has had pure white hair, which came on pretty rapidly. So I can imagine that his body stopped producing pigment at such a young age for some reason. Speaking of those who have hair color their whole lives, or most of it, I recently learned that red heads keep their pigment much longer than any other hair color, allowing them to keep from graying until much older.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I find this very interesting because I always thought that grey hairs comes with age and stress for everyone. Now that I think about it though genetically I guess some people have a higher chance at having grey hairs since people react to stress and age differently.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If grey hair really is genetic, I hope I don't get my father's genes for that because he's been greying for years now. Maybe if I try to live a life without much stress (yeah right!) I won't get grey hair too early.

    ReplyDelete