What gives our hair its specific natural color?

Parents often cite having teenagers as the cause of gray hair. This is a good hypothesis, but scientists continue to investigate why hair turns gray. In time, everyone’s hair turns gray. Your chance of going gray increases 10-20% every decade after 30 years.

Initially, hair is white. It gets its natural color from a type of pigment called melanin. The formation of melanin begins before birth. The natural color of our hair depends upon the distribution, type and amount of melanin in the middle layer of the hair shaft or cortex.

More Info: www.loc.gov

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26 Comments

Michael Baker

I must have a lot of melanin, I'm 65 and not a grey hair on my head. Plenty on my chest though

Princess

I remember a childhood friend whose father had wavy white hair. He was probably in his 30s then. And in her high school pic she has lovely streaks of silver gray! Seems as though genetics plays the most prominent role.

Marty Marshall

This is the first question that I have seen when a choice of "all" was given but was not the answer.

robert karel

Rachel Weatherby, at least it’s not falling out.

robert karel

My beard is gray, my hair is not.

Candace Lorenc Taylor Clark

Michael Baker, I’m 66 and waiting for signs of gray hair to show! I still have dark roots that I highlight every two months! And I’m the person who wanted gray hair!! 😮

Lynne Zeman

Keratin is part of the hair structure, but melanin is the color. Our stores of melanin fade as we age, much like hormones. Less melanin, less color.

Marie Robson

It is a fact that red haired people do not go grey; their colour becomes paler until it goes WHITE You don't mention hereditary genes having an influence.