Mar 10 2008
Root cause of grey hair identified
Mar 10: The problem of grey hair is haunting several people all across the world. It is believed that it has a strongly connection with genetic pedigree of a person, it determines when and how the grey streaks occur. With the advent of more user-friendly hair colour products the concept of grey hair has changed a lot than what it was before. Despite all these hair colours, people still feel worried on seeing the appearance of first silver hair on their head.
Blaming the pedigree is not at all worth as the new researches points out that the grey hair is linked to aging of the skin as the pigment in hair follicles will get reduced as we grow age. The white hair shows there are no pigment left and the grey hair represent there is little pigment left. It is part of aging process. The root cause of the problem has long remained a mystery.
In the year 2004 the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute in Boston did a study on skin cancer melanoma. The findings of the study were published in the Science journal. The scientists find the cellulose that cause greying. Scientists earlier identified that melenocytes plays the crucial role in determining the colour of hair and skin. The researchers at Dana-Farber have identified that the loss of the natural colour of hair is due to the decrease in the number of adult stem cells that helps to create continues supply of melanocytes.
According to the researchers as we grow older the pigment cells began to diminish and the hair turn into transparent. It is because of the transparency the hair looks grey or white in colour. Each hair strands consist of a shaft and a root. The root portion is encircled by a tube of tissues or follicle. Melanin pigment is produced here and that determines the hair colour. Melanin contains melanocyte a special pigment cell that exists in the follicle. Hair colour determining follicles are of two types that are eumelanin for dark hair and pheomelanin for light hair both of them combined together to give mixed colour.
