Talk:Grey hair

From CopperWiki

why is it that the young in India are greying? Interestingly the moment these young people with the problem of "premature greying" get their normal hair colour when they travel out to more developed countries.

[edit] Therapy? Is greying a sign of being unwell?

I can understand the psychological effects of premature greying and the urge to conceal it to give the impression of youth, however, it seems the wisdom is to undergo some form of therapy as if the condition was an illness, curable by this implication. It seems from the statistics it is an inevitable process of aging so why shouldn't the therapy be psychological? Pragmatically speaking, grey is a colour that suits some people yet when it's on the head it's somehow unattractive?

The other thing is it isn't only hair that loses pigment; the skin tone and texture alters, so sometimes the original hair colour no longer compliments the natural appearance - it looks unnatural.

[edit] why do we reject grey hair?!!

hi, this is a subject close to my heart & my head - i've been greying since my teens and have had a hard time explaining it to myself and reconciling a self-image inconsistent with my age. Which is why i think premature greying is a bit of a heartache as it places you bang in the middle of an experience you don't have skills to come to terms with. This is of course quite different from the process of greying.

Overall, there must be deeply psychological implications to greying...a kind of a biological reminder that the clock is ticking and if time were ever to run out on a visual landscape, it would take all the colour with it and render us grey!!!

The sense of discomfort with grey to me seems almost instinctual - as healthy living creatures, we shun the idea of the colour of life seeping out of us...as much as we tend to avoid being around the old and diseased (there are exceptions, of course) I've noticed how people almost physically recoil and gasp at the hint of grey. Am pretty sure evolutionary biologists & psychologists would be able to explain it better...(how this rejection is linked with feeble chances of procreation due to sign of advancing age etc.)

I think my own level of comfort or discomfort with my personal greying process would have been better, had people i've known not responded so violently to the idea of grey hair. It was bad enough when i was really, really young and even now it doesn't seem acceptable going by some sneak preview when i let the coloring ritual lapse.

But, you make an interesting point about colour matching - how with change in texture and colour of skin, perhaps the original colour no longer works. incidentally, i have an appointment with my root touch up lady this afternoon and i might just get an interesting perspective.

Thank you,

Suparna Banerjee

[edit] Correlation

that's my point really. there's no correlation between hair colour and health or hair colour and longevity. it's upsetting because we make these wrong assumptions and judgements about our genetic differences.

then again, there's nothing wrong in a bit of cosmetic enhancement, just like make-up or jewellery. :o)