Did you know that the scientific term for “grey hair” is “canities” (pronounced kah-nish’e-ez)? Well technically, “canities” is the term for the whitening of hair. This creates the illusion of grey hair. So now let me explain a few quick things about grey hair…
Grey Hair aka Canities
When hair grows, it is either pigmented or white. Grey hair is really just an illusion caused by colored hair and white hair mixed together. As the number of white hair increases on a person’s head, the hair appears to be more grey.
Hair grows in as white hair when it is not pigmented at its conception. Why this happens is still a mystery to scientists. However, they do know that the papilla (part of the hair follicle) can produce white hair that contains melanocytes (melanin-producing pigments) but doesn’t produce color pigments correctly. On the other hand, other papillae work perfectly but cannot transmit melanin to the keratinocytes. I say that we should just leave all that fancy terminology to the scientists and embrace that grey hair is in style.
Now you know…