• Question: Why does hair go white or grey as you get old?

    Asked by anon-225175 to Simon, Selen, Paul, Nawapat, Natalie, Katy on 14 Nov 2019. This question was also asked by anon-225157.
    • Photo: Paul Laurance-Young

      Paul Laurance-Young answered on 14 Nov 2019: last edited 14 Nov 2019 10:10 pm

      The cells producing the pigment, which gives your hair its colour, stop dividing and making it. As a result it goes grey.

    • Photo: Natalie Fowler

      Natalie Fowler answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      I couldn’t have answered this question but what a great one to ask! I’ve learnt something new.

    • Photo: Katy Bruce

      Katy Bruce answered on 25 Nov 2019:

      Aha! This one I can answer – I used to teach hairdressers!! Apparently grey hair is a myth – there is no such thing. There is only pigmented hair or white hair (lacking in pigment). When somebody has a mix of pigmented (coloured) hair and white hair, the overall effect is that it looks grey but no single hair is actually grey, The hairdressers I used to work with called it “salt and pepper hair”!

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