Treat Premature Greying With These 5 Tips by an Expert

Premature greying? Well, you are not alone. You can try to fix it by following certain hair care habits. Dr Geetika Srivastava shares secrets to taking care of your premature greys.

We can’t stop time, no matter how much we wish for it. Signs of ageing mostly evident with time are sagging of skin and greying of hair. While greying of hair is a natural phenomenon of ageing, early and premature greying is problematic and must be treated.

But, first, let’s find out what causes greying?

Dr Geetika Srivastava, Dermatologist & Founder, Influennz– Hair & Skin Clinic explains, “Grey hair could be a sign of wisdom for some and cause of concern for many others. Spotting the very first strand of grey hair could be intimidating. Whilst it’s illogical to consider being young forever, greying of hair in the 20s is abnormal and that’s what we are addressing here.”

She further adds, “Medically, the term premature greying is reserved for individuals having grey hair in less than 20 years of age (for Caucasians), less than 25 years (for Indians) and less than 30 years (for Africans and Americans) for different races. This means that people of different race and ethnicities ages differently when it comes to hair.

So, what are the different causes of early greying:

Genetics

Children of parents suffering from early greying tend to have the same pattern of greying. Men tend to have the earliest grey hairs on their temples and sideburns while females tend to develop grey hairs on the peripheries of the frontal scalp.

Sun exposure, stress and smoking

Greying is a form of ageing of hair where the hair strands either completely loses the hair pigment (also known as melanin) leading to white hair or partially loses pigment leading to grey hair. Factors like sun exposure, stress and smoking release free radicals in the body leading to premature senescence and grey hair.

Nutritional deficiencies

Vitamin b12, iron, copper and zinc deficiencies are associated with early greying of hair.

• Hypothyroidism and growth hormone abnormalities can also precipitate grey hair
• Autoimmune diseases
• Atopy

The simplest way to treat grey hair is by dying them with hair colour. 

However, here are few things you must do in order to delay greying.

• Get a life, “literally”. Meaning live a healthy lifestyle, practice meditation to combat stress, avoiding smoking, exercising regularly, and eating a balanced healthy diet. Often multivitamins can combat early greying.
• Try “daadi maa ke nuskhe”: Medical science may not have answers to all your problems. Often at times, “ghareloo nuskhe” can do wonders. One such home remedy that you can swear by for early greying is curry leaves in coconut oil and a mix of “amla”, “rithaa” and “shikakai”. Try one for sure to be amazed by the magic!
• Opt for cyclical nutritional therapy. Multivitamins are now old school. What’s in the rage right now is cyclical nutritional therapy. It combines a synergistic combination of nutritional supplements in a cyclical manner to give strong, long and black hair.
• Calcium pantothenate, has been proven to work on early greying of hair, the keyword here being “early”. It does not work on normal greying of hair.
• Hair colour: The easiest way to “treat” grey hair is by colouring them. Hair dye does not aggravate grey hair just like the plucking of hair cannot increase white hair.