The battle of grey hair

I

have to be honest, my hair is much greyer than I like, so I confess I have been colouring it for years.  I know it’s just vanity, but I’m only in my early 40’s and don’t want to be grey yet.  I’m not just talking about a few grey hairs – it’s almost all grey, in fact I started going grey in my early 20’s. Now if I looked like Jamie Lee Curtis I wouldn't mind, but it's just plain patchy!
I have noticed over the last year that whenever I colour my hair, it fades very quickly and is very patchy taking up colour.  I have been using increasingly lighter blonde hair colour, but within 2 weeks it’s mostly faded out.  I have searched the internet, spoken to my hairdresser at length but just couldn’t find an answer.  I have tried almost every brand of home colour – with pretty much the same results… 

How permanent colour works

The outer layer of the hair shaft – the cuticle – must be opened in order to allow the new colour in before the permanent colour can be deposited into the hair.  Once it is open, the dye reacts with the inner part of the hair – the cortex – to add or remove colour.  Most permanent colours use ammonia to open the cuticle and as a catalyst when the dye comes together with the peroxide.  Peroxide is used as a developer or oxidizing agent which removes existing colour.  Then a new colour is added to the cortex before the conditioners close the cuticle again (About.com)

Why do we get grey hair?

·         Prematurely grey hair, grey hair around the temples and hairline and coarse hairs are more resistant to colour and quicker to lose colour.

·         Genetics play a role, as do smoking and dietary deficiencies (International Journal of Trichology)

·         Hypothyroidism can cause early greying according to University of Michigan Health System

Home treatments to improve hair colouring and quality

·         It is suggested that grey hair can take up to 45 minutes to colour so you may choose to leave colour on for longer than suggested in the instructions (How stuff works)

·         You should wear a hat, or use hair product with sunscreen in summer to prevent colour from fading and hair from becoming dry

·         Before going swimming, rinse your hair through to dilute the action of the chlorine

·         Blot your hair dry – don’t rub it with a towel or wrap it in a towel.

·         Avoid overdrying – blow dry until almost dry, but not completely dry.

There are many suggested home treatments on the internet, all aiming to prevent dryness and condition your hair – ranging from mayonnaise to olive oil to coconut oil.  There are so many I suggest you Google ‘home treatments for coloured hair’ to see what you would like to try. 

My hairdresser has suggested that my hair is resistant to hair dye in places and that where it does take up dye it then the cuticles don’t close and the colour leaks out within a few washes.  I have been trying to condition my hair regularly (with an intensive treatment once a week) to see if it uptakes dye better, as well as improving my diet (see my other blog on dietary supports for hair) to close the cuticles, so I will update you with my progress!

Future possibilities

There is a lot of information on the internet about the use of PC-KUS which is a compound which has been found to reverse lack of pigmentation found in both grey hair and vitiligo.  The research suggests that hydrogen peroxide starts to accumulate in hair follicles as a result of oxidative stress (happening in most people by middle age).  This effectively bleaches hair from the inside out.   PC-KUS can be applied topically to the hair and it converts the hydrogen peroxide in the follicle to water and oxygen which allows hair to return to its original colour (International Business Times, The FASEB Journal).  This is experimental research in its early stages (International Journal of Trichology) but it does support the hypothesis that oxidative stress plays a role in the aging process.

It is not clear at the moment whether it is colouring our hair (with products that contain peroxide) that worsens the increase in hydrogen peroxide.

A product containing PC-KUS is available on Amazon at £40 a bottle (called depo-melanin), but there is not much information around to confirm its effectiveness.  The product has to be used regularly as it cannot alter hair which has already grown through or previously coloured, takes 6-12 weeks to show a difference and then must be used as a maintenance treatment.  So it could be an expensive home treatment which is not well proven in its effectiveness yet.

However, oxidative stress happens all the time in our bodies and we use anti-oxidants to fight this, so it would be sensible to eat foods containing anti-oxidants to see what effect these may have over a long period of time.  These include kidney beans, cooked tomatoes, turmeric, broccoli, wheatgrass, grapefruit, onions, strawberries, blueberries, raspberry, prunes, apples and cranberries (WebMD, Guardian UK).

References

How stuff works (nd) “How hair colouring works”.  Available at: http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/everyday-innovations/hair-coloring3.htm 

International Business Times (2013) What is PC-KUS?  Available at: http://www.ibtimes.com/what-pc-kus-all-about-new-gray-hair-cure-backed-actual-science-1241793#

About.com (nd) Hair Colour Chemistry.  Available at: http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa101203a.htm

The FASEB Journal (2009) Senile hair graying: H2O2-mediated oxidative stress affects human hair color by blunting methionine sulfoxide repair.  Available at: http://www.fasebj.org/content/23/7/2065.abstract 

WebMD (nd) 20 common foods with highest anti-oxidants.  Available at: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/20-common-foods-most-antioxidants

Guardian UK (2006) Seven super rich anti-oxidant foods.  Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/sep/16/healthandwellbeing.foodanddrink

International Journal of Trichology (2009) Oxidative stress in aging hair.  Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2929555/