The mystery of why human hair turns grey as we age has finally been solved by a team of European scientists – and wisdom has nothing to do with it.
Science Daily reports that greying hair is caused by a massive build-up of hydrogen peroxide – the chemical women have long used to dye their hair blonde – due to wear and tear of hair follicles.
The build-up of peroxide eventually blocks our normal synthesis of melanin, the natural pigment responsible for our hair, skin, and eye colour.
"Not only blondes change their hair colour with hydrogen peroxide. All of our hair cells make a tiny bit of hydrogen peroxide, but as we get older, this little bit becomes a lot. We bleach our hair pigment from within, and our hair turns gray and then white. This research, however, is an important first step to get at the root of the problem, so to speak", said Gerald Weissmann MD, Editor-in-Chief of The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology journal, to Science Daily.
