Why Hair Goes Gray

25 February 2009 - May scientists understand why hair turns gray, and their finding May opened the door to new anti-aging.

New research shows that the hair turns gray because of a chemical that causes the chain reaction of hair bleach from himself inside.

The process starts when there is a dip in levels of an enzyme called catalase. Catalase This deficit means that the hydrogen peroxide that occurs naturally in the hair can not be broken. Thus, hydrogen peroxide accumulates in the hair, and because other enzymes repair the damage that would be hydrogen peroxide are also short of supply, the hair is gray.

To halt the chain reaction of the chemical "could have repercussions in the gray-haired man scenario," write the researchers, who included Karin Schallreuter, clinical professor of dermatology and experimental of England at the University of Bradford.

The study appears online in the FASEB Journal, FASEB Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.