Core tip: white hair is often considered to be one of the characteristics of aging. For people of the same age, if a person is full of white hair and a person has dark hair, it seems that there is a big age difference. But there are also some people whose hair turns gray even though they are not old. What’s the reason?
White hair is often considered to be one of the characteristics of a person’s aging. People of the same age, if a person with white hair, and a person with black hair, look very different in age. But there are also some people whose hair turns gray even though they are not old. What’s the reason?
Why does a person’s hair appear black or white?
The hair is divided into hair stem and hair root. The hair stem is exposed outside the scalp and the hair root is buried inside the scalp. The end of the hair root is expanded like a ball, which is called a hairball. The color of hair varies from person to person because the pigment particles contained in the hair stem are different. Most of the white people have golden granules with golden hair; the brown people have more red pigment granules with red hair; while the yellow people have more melanin granules with black hair. Some people’s hair does not contain pigment particles, that is white hair. Melanin granules in hair stems are secreted and synthesized by melanocytes in a hairball.
During the growth of hair, the pigment cells of the mother hair divide and secrete pigment to synthesize black granules. Unfortunately, in the growth process, some of the hair mother pigment cells will “sleep”, lose activity, lose the function of secreting melanin, so the new hair becomes white. If you don’t wake up to a certain amount of this pigment, you will get a considerable amount of white hair.
Studies have found that there is a chemical catalyst called tyrosinase in the hair mother pigment cells, the number of which directly affects the synthesis and accumulation of melanin particles. In the elderly, this enzyme is significantly reduced, so that melanin is greatly reduced and hair turns white.
What is the cause of ShaoBaiTou?
① Mental factors
As the saying goes, “smile, ten years less, worry, white head.”. Excessive worry, panic, fright, and mental fatigue are the most direct causes of juvenile white hair. The story of Wu Zixu’s passing Zhaoguan pass is widely spread among the people. Because of his worry and panic, his hair and hair became white overnight. It shows that the ancients have already found the close relationship between mental factors and white hair. From the point of view of modern medicine, high mental tension and excessive anxiety will cause vasospasm in the blood vessels supplying hair nutrition, hinder the function of melanin secretion by hair mother pigment cells, affect the synthesis and transportation of pigment particles, and make black hair turn white gradually.
② Imbalance of nutrition and trace elements
Experiments have shown that if the black rat has been eating food that lacks vitamin B, its hair will turn gray. It also contains metal particles such as iron and cobalt, which are related to melanin. Therefore, the lack of trace elements such as copper is also the cause of white hair. Besides
, often eat some anti-cancer drugs and other drugs, or nerve injury, lack of protein, high malnutrition, can also grow white hair.
③ Chronic diseases
For example, autonomic nerve dysfunction, hyperthyroidism, pernicious anemia, encephalitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, tumor, blood circulation disorders, endocrine disorders, often with hair white as a precursor.
④ Genetic factors
Juvenile white hair is often related to genetic factors. For many years, people with white hair can find a similar situation in their parents or family lineage. As for another kind of “albinism”, that is, the skin, hair, and eyebrows are white, and the eyes are photophobic, most of them are caused by the inborn lack of melanocytes due to the marriage of close relatives.