19 and white hairs!? ahh!?

Question

I am about to turn 19, so I am still very young. (not too young for white hair, I know that) but I am at a healthy weight for my height, take good care of myself, eat right, and get enough sleep. Prematurely gray/white hair does not run in my family on either side. I have been under a ton of stress lately and noticed about 8 or so white hairs growing - I plucked them out. I noticed the white hairs are MUCH thicker than my normal dark brown hair. Any ideas? Could I have a chemical imbalance?

Answer 1

Each hair on our heads is made up of two parts:

1-a shaft - the colored part we see growing out of our heads
2-a root - the bottom part, which keeps the hair anchored under the scalp

The root of every strand of hair is surrounded by a tube of tissue under the skin that is called the hair follicle (say: fah-lih-kul). Each hair follicle contains a certain number of pigment cells. These pigment cells continuously produce a chemical called melanin (say: meh-luh-nin) that gives the growing shaft of hair its color of brown, blonde, red, and anything in between.

Melanin is the same stuff that makes our skin's color fair or darker. It also helps determine whether a person will burn or tan in the sun. The dark or light color of someone's hair depends on how much melanin each hair contains.

As we get older, the pigment cells in our hair follicles gradually die. When there are fewer pigment cells in a hair follicle, that strand of hair will no longer contain as much melanin and will become a more transparent color - like gray, silver, or white - as it grows. As people continue to get older, fewer pigment cells will be around to produce melanin. Eventually, the hair will look completely gray.

Some people go gray at a young age - as early as when they are in high school or college - whereas others may be in their 30s or 40s before they see that first gray hair. How early we get gray hair is determined by our genes. This means that most of us will start having gray hairs around the same age that our parents or grandparents first did

http://www.homeomiracles.com/Index/hairProblems/Hair_article/hair%20diet/diet.htm


*What makes hair go gray? Can you go gray suddenly if you're sick or upset?
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2005/04/19/what_makes_hair_go_gray_can_you_go_gray_suddenly_if_youre_sick_or_upset/

Answer 2

I have an aunt whose hair turned gray prematurely and she is the only one in my family who has ever had this happen. Even though you are healthy it is just changing. Ask your doctor about a vitamin you could take. I think a type of vitamin B might help to slow it down. Good luck!

Answer 3

Actually my sister had the same problem...she was about 24 or so when that started happening to her and my mom said she started getting a couple of gray and white hairs when she was about 20. I think it is something that can happen to anyone so it's normal.

Answer 4

It could be from the amount of stress you are under. I am under a large amount of stress and half of my hair is gray, but gray hair early does run in my family. By the time my grandfather was 20, his hair was completely gray.

Answer 5

It's the stress. I got my first gray hair at 21. Fortunately, they stayed away for the most part until now...I'm 41. So relax. One guy in my class back then was bald at 21. I was quite satisfied with my ONE gray hair...which I promply yanked out and put in my wallet!

Answer 6

I know a girl in my school who had grey hair since she was twleve and a few others who have grey hair now.For a few of them their hair would grow back to normal and according to my friend she said the reason she had grey hair was because she lacked nutriens and stress.If it is just a few strands then i dun think that you should worry much.I think it will grow back normally but don't pull it out because a few people i know told me that if you pull your grey hair more grey hair will grow.If it bothers you so much then maybe you can get your hair coloured.

Answer 7

never pluck them out cz they'll double and even triple in number..might be of stress issues but did u dye ur hair at a young age?

Answer 8

think yourself lucky you still have hair- even at nineteen peeps can go bald so stop moaning about 8 GREY hairs and go get some hair dye