White Hair and How to Prevent It From Spreading
August 24, 2021 | Farah Jassawalla

White Hair and How to Prevent It From Spreading

The human body has hair follicles, tiny sacs aligned with the scalp as well as skin all over. These tiny hair follicles contain a chemical called melanin. Melanin is the “coloring pigment” i.e. it gives colors and shades to hair all over the body. This color pigment begins to fade in the late forties or early fifties on average, which is when the hair starts to turn grey or white. 

White hair is a characteristic of aging. But hair noticeably turning white at an early age is not considered very normal, yet it is common. A very few white hair strands are, although, fine, and it is easier to prevent its spreading. However, finding your head growing white hair prematurely has multiple causes, and the pigmentation can be restored early on after knowing the cause.

Causes and Prevention

Genes:

Genetics play a huge role in growing premature white hair. If the antecedents of a family had this condition at an early age, younger generations can also have white hair. Unfortunately, it cannot be helped. But dyeing hair can be a way around it.

Acute and chronic stress:

Mental stress is almost considered a part of life now. Acute stress i.e. stress for a short period over something specific, as well as chronic stress i.e. elongated stress that extends over a long time with changing intensity, is explored to leave physical impacts on the body.

Chronic stress may also lead to anxiety, high blood pressure, and appetite and sleep problems. These distressing changes in daily life damage the stem cells in the body. This links to the destruction of hair follicles, and disruption in the production of melanin. 

So, preventing stress to overpower your physical health by practicing distress tolerance skills, anxiety management, and having a healthy diet can be useful in this situation.

Loss of pigment:

An abnormal occurrence where the body immune system starts attacking nearby body cells is called autoimmune disease. These types of diseases are highly responsible for the growth of prematurely white hair. This leads to the destruction of hair follicles and loss of melanin, which in turn leads to white hair. 

Treatment of these autoimmune diseases can regain pigment production and restore hair color.

Changes in thyroid:

The thyroid is a gland that is present at the back of the neck. It is responsible for the metabolism of the human body along with other bodily functions. Changes in hormonal production can ignite changes in the thyroid. 

Hyperthyroidism, i.e. overactivity in the thyroid gland, and hypothyroidism, i.e. under activity in the thyroid, is caused by hormonal changes in the body. So, these thyroid problems can be responsible for hair problems including premature white hair and sudden lack of hair pigmentation.

Treatment of thyroid disorder can restore bodily metabolism which also includes healthy hair and its color repair.

Anemia:

Anemia is a condition where the human body is lacking vitamin B. vitamin B is responsible for energy production, and healthy hair and nails. The deficiency of it causes anemia, where the body is unable to absorb enough vitamins. 

The body requires a healthy amount of vitamin B for the production of red blood cells. These cells carry oxygen to the hair cells. If these red blood cells are deficient, the hair cells are not able to get enough oxygen. Due to this, melanin production is affected as well as hair growth.

Ingesting vitamin pills and having a healthy and nutritious meal with a high amount of vitamins can prevent hair problems.

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Farah Jassawalla

Farah Jassawalla is a graduate of the Lahore School of Economics. She is also a writer, and healthcare enthusiast, having closely observed case studies while working with Lahore's thriving general physicians at their clinics.