Going grey before your time? Yes, your salts and peppers may look fabulous once you’re over 40, 45. But too many greys on your head before then can be annoying.
Understand why you get grey hair and how to stop them with hair Gurus Drs. Apoorva and Sonal Shah. Their names are synonymous with strand and scalp care. Whatever your health woes—from greying and thinning to balding and hair loss, Drs. Shah have the perfect remedy.
Featured in the Limca book of Records as India’s first certified trichologist, Dr. Apoorva took up to saving tresses long before it became fashionable, setting up the Richfeel Trichology Centers in India—fifty two, at last count—to solve common strand woes. His beautiful wife Dr. Sonal shares his passion and is a qualified Beauty Physician in Natural Therapies and the first female Indian trichologist who launched the country’s earliest range of nutritive homeopathic remedies. The couple was also the Official Hair Care Experts for the Femina Miss India Pageant for ten consecutive years.
So, don’t fret, and get ready to battle the woes of greying hair.
Beauty Book: Why does premature greying happen?
Drs. Shah: "We believe that though greying is part of the natural process of ageing, Indian men and women are spotting those pesky greys when they’re in their 20s and 30s. While hair tends to lose its natural color as we age, premature greying is a morbid condition that can age you before your time. Hair is an appendage of skin, composed of the same kind of cells as the outer layer of skin, also referred to as the epidermis. They grow from follicles embedded deep within the epidermis. Oil secreting glands (sebaceous glands) in the scalp secrete oily sebum that supplies nutrition, lustre and blackness to hair. Healthy hair, from its roots can prevent greying hair. These nutrients are supplied by the bloodstream and no amount of external application—think oils and protein masks –can make the hair healthy from within."
Nykaa recommends: WOW Skin Science Onion Black Seed Hair Oil, Moroccanoil Restorative Hair Mask
BB: What causes changing of hair color due to ageing?
Dr. Sonal: "Hair color is determined by a number of factors such as the quality of food you eat, your lifestyle, stress, and to some, extent hereditary traits. If your mother greyed in her 30s, chances are you might too. However, the single most important factor that determines hair color is melanin. It is produced by melanocytes found within the layers of the hair follicle melanin.
There comes a time when the melanocytes start making little or no melanin, causing hair to become virtually transparent. The result: grey hair. Melanocytes stop functioning effectively when there’s a decrease in the production of the hormone that stimulates their functioning."
BB: What causes for greying of hair prematurely?
Dr. Sonal: "Greying among younger men and women is often a result of nutritional deficiencies such as a lack of B vitamins, iron, copper and iodine. Tension and stress also affect scalp and skin health because it interferes with the supply of vital nutrition necessary for healthy skin and tresses.
Some experts believe that rapid hair whitening can be attributed to a rare form of alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition resulting in partial or complete baldness. Typically, only pigmented hair is targeted and falls out. Other causes of premature greying include unclean scalp, shampooing with hot water, over-use of hair dryers and hair dyes. Sometimes even extreme shock causes overnight greying."
BB: How to treat grey hair?
Drs. Shah: "Treatment protocols for premature greying lie more in the preventive category than in the curative realm. Since oxidative stress is an important cause for greying, eating an energizing, antioxidant-rich diet choc-a-bloc with strawberries, red apples, cherries, green tea, red and black grapes, and kidney beans can pack a punch. People must learn to de-stress through exercise, yoga or meditation. It’s also important to maintain a healthy work-life balance and work towards ensuring a less fast-paced lifestyle. Those greys maybe an early warning of an internal imbalance. Think of them as a warning bell and seek help."
