Grey Hair? [CAUSES & REMEDY] Can hair greying be reversed?

Are you worried that grey hair is making you look older than you are? Can hair greying be reversed is one of the frequent questions that pop up in your head? Well, gaining knowledge about the causation can equip you with the weapons to tackle it. And yes, to some extent it can be fought.
But what is the average age that men start getting grey hair? Caucasians mostly go grey in their mid-40s, Asians in their late 50s  and Africans in their late 40s. But why people go grey early in life, as opposed to later is largely thought to be due to genetics, as well as some environmental influences. Grey hair occurs as a result of the loss of pigment production in the hair by Melanocytes. Melanocytes produced by hair follicles are responsible for the color of your hair. When the production of Melanocytes reduces, the natural color of the hair starts wearing off and slowly turns grey. Pigment production in our hair coincides with specific phases of the hair cycle, unlike in our skin. Any normal hair has a life-cycle that consists of three phases anagen, catagen and telogen. Anagen is a growing phase and telogen is the resting phase after which the hair falls off and new hair comes in the place which starts with the anagen phase again. Generally what's observed is that there is progressive miniaturization, where each time you have a cycle, then the next hair that grows is actually smaller and finer than its predecessor and it also lasts for a shorter period of time. But keep in mind that these phases are quite long, the anagen phase itself lasts for about 6 years and by the time it reaches the final stage you can add another 6 years, so normal hair will have a life cycle of about 12 years minimum. For the most part, the majority of the hair on your head is in that growing phase or the anagen phase and roughly 10% of your hair in the telogen phase, and that is why you shed hair all the time and it's normal to shed a 50-100 hair a day. But pigment production coincides with the hair cycle and the production only occurs during the growing phase of the hair cycle. Therefore at the later phases of the hair cycle, the number of pigment-producing melanocytes also keeps reducing in number and gradually it becomes very low. The speed at which it occurs may differ from person to person depending on genetics.


Apart from genetics increased level of heat in the body is also a major factor to causes grey hair. Now, this could be due to various reasons, excessive eating of fried and junk foods, regular eating of foods which are too spicy, high intake of beverages like tea and coffee prolonged exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun, air pollution, using harsh shampoos perfume oils and other toxic products, smoking cigarettes daily, or consumption of alcohol, and also stress, anxiety and anger may contribute to grey hair.  Most of these activities increase the reactive oxygen species in our body which are highly damaging. Now oxidation keeps occurring all the time in our body as a by-product of various life processes, our body has anti-oxidant mechanisms in place to get rid of those to a certain extent. However, as the above-discussed activities shoot the number of reactive oxygen species beyond a certain limit the oxidation caused by it can damage the melanocytes present in the hair. Additionally, with age, this mechanism also gets weaken and hence not able to curb the effects of oxidation leading to grey hair. Thus avoiding many of these harmful habits can help in reversing the greying of hair, in case some of these reasons are accelerating the process of greying.

 When it comes to vitamin deficiencies, most notably vitamin B 12 deficiency has been associated with premature greying of hair. There is also a disease called pernicious anemia, in which individuals cannot absorb vitamin B 12 properly. Deficiency of vitamin B12 is a bigger problem especially for vegetarians or vegan, because plant foods, don't have much B 12 unless they are fortified. Beef liver and clams are the best sources of Vitamin B12 but you can also eat food like fish meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and other dairy products as well or you can also get it from vitamin supplements.

So we can see not all the factors that we have discussed are under our control. But what's under control, is that we can keep our body hydrated and eating fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, is the best way to keep the water levels of the body in check. Improper nutrition is an overlooked factor, which becomes the major cause of premature greying of hair in more than 50% of the cases.

Can hair greying be reversed?

 It was recently discovered that follicles release a small amount of hydrogen peroxide, which gets accumulated over time it reaches the hair and causes it to turn grey. By removing this accumulation, your hair can retain its natural color. So here is one home remedy which does exactly that. All you need is black tea, salt, and water. Take about 500 ml of water and two tablespoons of black tea. One teaspoon of salt, boil it for five minutes black tea hair mask gives hair keratin and melanin a great boost which restores the natural pigment of the hair, thereby reducing grey hair. Strain the liquid into a jar and let it cool. Gently massage it on your hair. Let it stay for about 20 minutes and then wash it off. Avoid using shampoo as it can negate the benefits of black tea. Follow this remedy for at least four to five times a week to see a visible difference in the appearance of grey hair.