![Gray hair can happen at any age--even in your teens or early twenties. [Credit: Abouthair.com]](http://scienceline.org/_s/files/2007/10/hair1.jpg)
ask scienceline | health | biology | etc
I’m 24 and I have gray hair! What’s going on?
- asks Kat from London
I was only 18 when I spotted my first gray hairs, interlopers among my chestnut-colored tresses. As a freshman in college, I chalked these gray hairs up to stress from calculus class and a bad boyfriend. But by the time I aced calculus and dumped the boyfriend, those silver wisps were still there—and now, at the age of 25, a few gray strands have multiplied to what seems like nearly a hundred, silently taunting me when I look in the mirror as if to say, “You’re getting old. You’re getting old. You’re getting old.”
To explain the mystery of graying hair, you must get to the root of the problem, err, I mean the root of your hair. Under the scalp, a tube of tissue called the hair follicle surrounds the root of every hair strand. Each follicle contains a number of pigment cells that produce melanin, the polymer that gives the growing shaft of hair its color. Usually these pigment cells continuously produce melanin, but if your body stops generating it, the strand of hair will have very little pigment to paint over it’s normally transparent hue; this base-transparency will then present itself as gray, white, or silver.
Melanin production is brought to a halt for a variety of reasons–some natural, some indicators of greater health issues. As people continue to get older, the number of pigment cells around to produce melanin will actually be reduced. Eventually, these cells will be so depleted, the hair will look completely gray. Incidentally, melanin also provides moisture to the hair strand, so when less is produced, hair tends to grow brittle, losing its bounce. This is why as your hair leans towards the color of the snowy peaks of the Alps, its texture becomes dryer and coarser, making it more curly or wiry.
My gray hair started when I was still in my teens—a far cry from the usual graying age range of 30 to 50. But it turns out that people can get gray hair at any age, depending on genetics. This means that most of us will start having gray hairs around the same age that our parents or grandparents first did. I called my mother to find out our family’s graying hairstory. She told me it wasn’t any surprise that I had started to gray at a young age—her uncle’s hair was completely white by the time he was 25. Aha! I thought. Now this mystery is starting to make sense.
Researchers have shown that gender plays a role in graying. The average male starts to gray around age 30, while women typically began to notice lighter strands around age 35. In some families, many members develop white hair in their 20s. “It obviously clusters in families in one sense. Whether that is a single gene or common gene we don’t know,” writes Dr. Meyer in the magazine Scientific American. “Generally speaking, among Caucasians, 50% are 50% gray by age 50. There is, however, wide variation. This number differs for other ethnic groups, again demonstrating the effect of genetics.” But this biological fact of life varies greatly from person to person, which made dermatologists and geneticists conclude that age is not the the only indicator of when gray hair will appear.
For starters, smoking is known to decrease melanin production. Sometimes, the arrival of gray hair can be a sign of an underlying health problem. Werner’s syndrome, a disease that mirrors the symptoms of aging in people as young as 20, can spur the premature growth of gray hair. Pernicious anemia, a disease marked by a vitamin B12 deficiency, is also associated with decreased melanin production.
Although there are people who think that a big shock or trauma can turn a person’s hair white overnight, only a rare disease has been known to cause this phenomenon. Called alopecia areata, the condition causes the thicker, darker hairs to stop growing before it affects the growth of gray hairs—meaning people with the disease seem to “go gray” overnight as the darker strands are diminished and the gray ones keep on growing strong.
Overnight graying myth aside, what about that pesky old wive’s tale that says pulling out a gray will result in five more springing in it’s place? That’s also wrong! So yank away. I, however, don’t have that kind of patience, so it’s back to the salon for me, for a little color to cover those stubborn grays.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
omg…
Im 19, took a good look at my hair then BAM!
a strand of my first gray hair… god no…
I was very unhappy, and whats worse is that my hair is dark brown. wonderful.
so far thats the only one I had spotted… thats good I guess…
but yes, it is definately genetic. My mom was suprised because she couldnt believe that I got my first gray hair at such a young age. My dad, on the other hand, wasnt suprised at all. In fact, he started graying at age 18…
thanks a lot dad
December 31st, 2007 at 1:13 am
I started going gray at 16! It was not a surprise to me though, on the side of my family that I am biologically linked to all the women started very young. My mother and grandmother have had “salt and pepper” hair for most of thier lives, with gram finally starting to go silver now (she’s in her 60’s). My older sister found her first gray at 15!
Well, we are Irish, and I always wanted to have bright red hair rather than my light brown. On my 18th birthday I was offically given control over my body, I went and got a tattoo, a second piercing in each ear, and a bottle of red hair dye! I have now been dying my hair for 10 years. All my friends know I dye my hair, but they all think it’s to get the red. I have had many compliments on my beautiful hair by strangers and I tell them it’s Feria.
Only my husband and I know the truth…the gray! He will see me at the mirror when it’s time to do a new dye job with tweezers - plucking out all the new gray hairs I can find. I like my look, especially when I get carded, bet that wouldn’t happen if I let my grays show.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
I spotted my first silver when i was 13 (I’m 25 now…and i am 50% grey)I am south asian so have got dark brown hair…and when silver nasty roots start to show only after 2 weeks of coloring man it just drives me crazy…! i started off by using henna…but eventually turned to loreal as applying henna is too much of a hassle…i am seriously thinking of going bald and not coloring my hair again…! any idea how long does it take for a bald woman to grow her hair back?!?!
January 28th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I’m 36. I’m just about 100 percent gray!
February 25th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
What is the cure for grey hair at young age?
is there any natural cure available
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
getting gray hair is all part of stress of course its also genetic but alot of it comes from when your over stressed so maybe take a break or something…or u culd use that as an exscuse!!
April 5th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Yeah i think getting gray hair is a result of genetics and stress. stress just helps to speed up the process.
I just noticed my first silver hair and I’m only 25. I just wonder at what rate I’m going to get more silvery/gray hair.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:47 am
I’m 19 too, I was 16 when I found my first white hair. All my hair is starting to dull out now and the number of strands is enough that it’s noticeable…I wish it’ll just hurry up and change, it’s a pretty color and it might look good on me, besides I like the color more than I did the brown that came before it.
April 25th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I spotted my first gray hair when I was still in high school.
I’m 19 now and have quite some gray hairs, but they are not very noticeable since my hair is shiny.
Plus I wouldn’t mind having my hair completely white, my hair is black so dying it is not simple.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:04 am
I have gray hair when i was 14 years old.
It keeps on increasing every year.
Now im 22 years old.
People that do not have gray hair wont understand how do you feel!
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I am 25 and I have grey hair since I was 17. Now I am grey grey grey. It is awful, because I have dark hair–> which I like.
I am not sure that stress could cause so much grey hair, I think genetic is the reason (and the quilty one).
June 4th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I noticed my first grey at around 14…except it wasn’t just the one >.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
ahh thanks for all of the comfort in knowing I am not some stress freak…=) I am 26 now but I started noticing them when I was 23-24 and I do internalize a lot of stress and thought that was causing it…but it makes me feel better to realize it’s pretty normal.. thanks.
June 19th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I found my first grey hair when i was 10 years old. yes TEN YEARS OLD! But it was just one strand..I’m 15 now and i still have that one strand of hair thats grey - the rest of my hair is perfectly dark brown. I cover that one hair using black mascara! it really works and its not even noticeable.
June 25th, 2008 at 4:01 am
Hi,
Try to take 8-10 curry leaves,honey,one big gooseberry everyday….This helps to prevent grayhair as well as the hairfall…..Take the food items that are rich in vitamin B12….Try to avoid the food items that cause heat in our body Eg:Dry fruits….
Don’t use shampoo every day even it is a mild one…
July 4th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
I took a good look at my hair and bam I have no grey hair I’m 29 ha ha ha ha ha ha all you old fogies can have some tea to that. cheers
July 10th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
premature gray can be a sign of gluten intolerance (it causes B12 deficiency)
July 13th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I never feel good with my grey hair. Always feel concious. Worried about my looks. It also effects my performance in office or my profession. I have seen many people who do not have a single grey hair till the age of 35-37. Why i have alot of grey hair at the age of 25.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Well,i spotted my first strands of grey hair when i was 17.Guys! We can not do anything about it.Leave it alone.90% of causes are out of heritage.Sometimes when i want to start a relation(im 26 now)with some girls,they tell me you seem older because of my grey hairs.Dont try to dye your hairs.you have to do it regularly and is costy.Esprcially when you got dark hairs it seems so unnatural.That’s the discretion of god.Thank’s god!
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Geez i have had Beautiful Silver Hair since i was about 16, i am now 23 and there are hundreds if not thousands of lovely silver hair upon my head….i think it makes me look enchanting and intriging and i never get carded lol
Silver hair is not all that bad!!
July 30th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
45 and no gray yet. Mom got her first at around 60 so genetics would seem to be the key here. 30 seems awful early for the first gray. 40 -45 would seem more typical for this.
August 25th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
i’m only 16 and have grey hairs on back of my hair which is weird and i usually get to fight cuz of people who keeps saying to me oh ur getting old u have grey hairs and ur only 16 i can’t stand it they keep on saying which is very irritating if they only know how it feels to have grey at young age damn!! i wish they get grey hairs too lol