About Melanin Substitute

Hair color.  It’s something most of us take for granted. It’s the old story of not knowing what you have until it’s gone and hair color is no exception. With all the other problems and complexities in life, the color of ones hair is not usually an issue; until that is, it begins to turn gray.   To understand why hair turns gray, and in many cases followed by white, we first need to understand why our hair has color to begin with.  The actual hair shaft is translucent.  This means the hair shaft has no color and is see through although somewhat cloudy in appearance.  At the end of the hair shaft, inside the scalp, is a pocket attached to the base of the hair shaft itself.  This pocket is referred to as the hair follicle. It is this follicle that plays the key role in determining what color a person’s hair will be.

The color of a person’s hair is determined within this hair follicle through the wonder of nature.  The human body produces a chemical called, melanin within the follicle.  This melanin acts as a color darkening agent.  The melanin combines inside the hair follicle with other chemicals and enzymes unique to you which your body also produces.  It is this mixture which will determine what color your hair actually is.  Simply put, the amount of melanin in your hair determines your hair color. People with dark hair have more melanin than people with light hair.  If your hair is black, your body produces more melanin than someone with brown hair.  If your hair color is blond, you have less melanin than a person with brown hair.  It is this individual combination within the hair follicle which will determine the color of ones hair. Conversely, it is within this follicle that the inevitable lack of this precious combination will cause graying hair and eventually grey hair.

Now that we understand why a person has a particular hair color, we can explain why we lose this color and the hair turns gray.  This occurrence is very natural and is part of everyone’s ageing process.  As we age, the body produces less of a lot of things we had an abundance of when we were younger.  Sight may diminish, hearing loss, muscle tone and mass, as well as energy and other complex matters and bodily functions.  The melanin within the hair follicle is no exception.  The older you get, the less melanin your body produces.  Without the normal levels of melanin inside the hair follicle to blend with the other chemicals and enzymes, the less color can be established and the hair begins to turn gray.  At first it is just a single hair or two.  This graying process usually accelerates as the late twenties arrive and certainly in the thirties. This time estimate for the arrival of grey hair is just that, an estimate.  Depending on numerous variables, some people will experience gray hair earlier than some and others will not have greying hair until later in life.

This occurrence, although very natural, is almost never welcomed.  It is a wake up call to our mortal makeup.  It brings us to the realization of ageing and the fact that we are getting older and there is nothing we can do about it.  Gray hair usually is accompanied by other unpleasant feelings as well.  Some people become self conscious and feel embarrassed.   Some withdraw from social events.  Other lose self confidence.  Many people have a number of these feelings or all of them at the same time.  In any event, they are not pleasant, not welcomed, and not something any of us need at that time in our lives.  It is at this time we are most vulnerable.  We seek out a cure for the gray hair syndrome.  Many people become victims to a plethora of products claiming to provide this cure. As you may know, marketing is almost always the key to sales in anything.  Products for combating grey hair are varied and numerous and marketed in many ways. Let’s now look at some of these products.