Thursday, May 5, 2011

Truth or Fiction: Favourite Myths About Gray Hair

If you are starting to get gray hair, then it's probable that you have identified the culprit as stress. Whether or not it's pressure to do the job in an increasingly competitive corporate world or the anxiety that comes from being exposed a number of headlines in regards to the sorry condition with the overall economy, it's no wonder far more people associate greying hair with having a stressful daily life.

Having said that, whilst a variety of authorities have repeatedly espoused the theory that there's no legitimate connection between stress and grey hair, contemporary studies has proved that the first instinct is right. In truth, countless research and surveys have observed a robust link amongst stress and gray hair. When we go through increasing degree of stress, our bodies manufacture more hydrogen peroxide, which is then accumulated into our hair follicles. Because of this increase in hydrogen peroxide, the enzymes that happen to be primarily accountable for repairing hair follicles (MSRA and MSRB) are deactivated, leading to melanocyte death. This then makes it possible for the hydrogen peroxide to successfully bleach the hair follicles unabated, resulting in a stressed-out silver mane.

In other words, get started taking up that yoga habit - since stress does grey hair! When it comes to popular myths surrounding gray hair, this isn't the one "theory" that ought to be looked at. In an effort to put an end to the preferred greying hair myths around - and to swap them with a lot more rational scientific explanations - we've unraveled the fact from the fiction of greying hair.

The Myth: Much like the mythological Hydra, pulling out one grey hair will only trigger two grey hairs taking its spot.

The Truth: This favored myth is totally and unequivocally false. Despite the fact that our eyes may have us convinced that multiple gray hairs have taken the spot of the original offender, plucking a single hair follicle will bring about the growth of another single hair follicle - irrespective of what its colour. This myth was doubtless fueled by the rapid hair graying process,leading some to believe that a plucked grey hair would come back with a vengeance.

The Myth: Smoking leads to gray hair.

The Truth: This is one case were that old wives tale was actually correct, as smoking does indeed trigger gray hair. A 1997 research carried out by researchers in England discovered that smokers ended up nearly four times much more likely to have grey hair than their non-smoking counterparts. If you would like to preserve your luscious hair colour - and enhance your health - then it's time to ditch the smoking habit.

The Myth: It is possible to reverse the graying hair process.

The Truth: While you'll find a few methods for reversing graying hair, you will find loads of quack cure-alls that do nothing but raise false hope. Indeed, in a forum dedicated to dealing with gray hair, one forum user even advised another user to "drink more carrot juice" to get rid of gray hair. For a quick gray hair fix, buy yourself a box of semi-permanent or permanent hair dye. Talking of which...

The Myth: You can only use permanent hair dye to cover up those stubborn grey hairs.

The Truth: Those of you that are put off by the idea of a permanent hair dye can relax - semi-permanent hair dye covers those grays just as well. It's likely that this rumor began a few decades ago before semi-permanent hair dye had developed into the superior coverage formulas to choose from today.

The Myth: Hair can turn gray following a frightening event or trauma.

The Truth: Hollywood has long ascribed to the myth that hair can turn gray due to a frightening event (just look at Frankenstein's bride). But there's entirely no empirical support that hair can suddenly turn gray after a severe shock or trauma. Sorry Hollywood.

These are by no means the limit to the number of graying hair myths that happen to be circulating out in the world today - but these are the biggest offenders. Even though we still might not exactly fully grasp what it really is in our genes that makes some of us go gray earlier than other individuals, we do understand that common graying hair myths are preventing us from seeing the bigger picture.


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