HAIR COLOURING

The look of first gray hair raises panic amongst most people. Although it is a common phenomenon but still people try dreadfully to delay its arrival. If you are also nervous about your hair turning gray then it is better that you know why hair turns gray and then know how you can apply hair color to hide it

Why our hair turns gray?

To answer this question you first have to understand the structure of the hair.

Follicle is a tissue that lies beneath the skin. This tissue surrounds our hair. Each follicle contains a single hair. The follicle contains pigment cells called melanocytes which produce eumelanin and pheomelanin. The eumelanin is black or dark brown in color whereas the pheomelanin is reddish yellow. They pass the melanin to the cells of the hair which determines the color of our hair. So it is melanin which determines whether we have black, red, blonde or brown hair.

If melanocytes become less active they will deposit less pigment in the hair and our hair will appear lighter. With time, the melanocytes die off thus leaving no cells to produce color and we experience graying of hair.

The age at which you will experience graying of hair depends on a lot of factors. Your age, genetic factors and hormones are the major factors that determine when you will get gray hair. The genes regulate the potential of hair follicles to produce pigments. This is the reason why it is often found that people belonging to the same family starts getting gray hair at the same age.

There are other external factors also that influence graying of hair like pollutants, climate and publicity to chemicals. Premature graying of hair occurs due to faulty diet, stress, thyroid diseases etc.

Gray hair is often related to old age and makes people unhappy. But with all the hair colors that are available in the market you can dye your hair in any color and show off a younger you.

How to choose hair colors?

For ages people have been using natural ingredients to give their hair a different tint. Henna and black walnut shells were more commonly used. Bleaching agents like vinegar were also used to change the color of the hair. Nowadays a lot of hair colors are available in the market from which you can select the one that suits your needs.

Temporary hair colors

Temporary hair colors change the color of the hair by depositing acidic dyes on the outside of the hair shaft. These colors also contain small pigment molecules that can enter the hair shaft and change the color.

With shampooing the color molecules get dislodged and the hair finally gets back its own color.

Permanent hair colors

Permanent hair color uses ammonia to open up the cuticles and the coloring agents penetrate the cortex of the hair. Peroxide is regularly used in hair colors which break the chemical bond. A new color is bonded to the hair cortex which becomes permanent.

So, you know how hair turns gray. Now it is up to you whether you want to show off your gray hair or color them to look younger