Besides old age, what else causes a person to grow grey hairs?
Not even old age causes grey hairs. Hairs do not turn grey. Individual hairs may turn from dark to white. The hairs that turn white merely blend with the greater number of dark hairs to create an overall grey appearance. When all hairs on a person’s head change in this way, the general appearance is white, not grey. Alastair Fyfe, Valley Heights The main reason for our hair behaving this way is heredity. If your mum or dad started going grey at a young age then the chances are you may also suffer from premature grey hair. Everybody is different but the pigment of our hair is generated in the same way. The cells in our hair follicles called melanocytes generate pigments – the main one being melanin. This gives our hair its colour. When these melanocytes stop producing the pigment the result is a white hair, a hair with no pigment. Emily Hamon, Lane Cove Chlorophyll used to be in everything from toothpaste to chewing gum – why is it no longer used? Variations in additives and flavourings
