Natural Ways To Overcome Greying Of Hair

One of the first sign of aging is the appearance of the grey hair. It is something most people dread and fear. They adopt various ways and means to keep themselves looking young through hair-dyes. Although in the earlier generations the appearance of grey hair was in the age group of forties, today it can be seen in much younger people. Often boys and girls as young as 25 have grey hair.

Up till now, most people accepted greying as an inevitable part of the aging process. One can either live with it or cover it with hair dyes. But now some experts are suggesting that certain changes in lifestyle can actually prevent premature greying and delay the entire process.

The greying of hair is knows as palitya in Ayurveda. each hair has a root, a stem or a thickness, from person to person. What is strange is that it is rounded in normal straight hair while curly hair has an oval or flattened section. The different color of the hair is caused by pigment scattered in varying amounts throughout the hair. In the aging process the hair bulb produces less hair pigment. It is the absence of pigment in the cortical layer of the hair that makes the hair clear( or grey). What exactly is the reason for the lack of pigment formation is mystery. about 88% people claim to have some grey hair by the time they are 40, of that some 1% suffer from premature greying.

Causes of Greying of hair

A lot of it depends on the genes of a person. some people are genetically prone to premature greying while other may not grey till a later stage. Regional factors like food habits and weather also have a bearing on the greying of hair. High levels of stress and anxiety coupled with a fast pace of life may also accelerate the process. Let us see what Ayurveda has to say about the process of greying of hair.

According to Ayurveda excessive passion, anger and psychic strain results in greying of hair. Persons with pittika type of constitution are prone to affected by this ailment. Persons suffering from chronic cold and sinusitis and those who use warm water for washing their hair are more likely to be victims of this condition.

According to naturopaths, premature greying can be an outward sign that something is wrong with the internal balance of the body, and that a number of lifestyle factors can contribute to the process of greying. These include factors like stress, alcohol consumption, smoking and recreational drugs because these lead to a build up of acidity in the body tissues, which makes it difficult for the body to process the B vitamins efficiently. These vitamins are directly linked to hair color and are important for the creation of color pigmentation cells.

High levels of stress  can contribute to the premature greying of hair sudden shocks can also accelerate the process since people under stress use up more B vitamins.

How to Retard the Greying Process?

This is question most of us would like to have answers to. Apart from using hair dyes, there are hair dyes, there are hardly any other remedies to the greying syndrome. But there are many medicines prescribed in Ayurveda that are said to arrest premature greying of hair.

Here are a few of the:-

• Take one-teaspoonful of Amrita(giloya), amla and gokhroo mixed in equal parts to which hone is added, thrice a day.
• Grind into powder two parts of Bhringaraja, one part of back sesame seeds, and one part of amla. Take a teaspoonful of the powder with milk and sugar. This however has to be continued for some months before the effects are visible.
• For the impatient who want faster results, Swarnamakshika Bhasma may be added in 240 mg does with the powders.
• Use Bringaraja Taila (Hair Oil) regularly. Eladi Taila can also be used for massaging the scalp.
• Grind into paste equal quantities of old mandur, amla, and jaba (Hibiscus rosa sinuses) flowers and apply it on the head.After the paste dries, wash hair with water in which amla has been soaked overnight.
• Grind together into fine powder Amla-2 parts, harada-2 parts bahera-1 part, stone of mango-5 parts, and old mandur-2.5 parts.  Make a paste of a teaspoonful of this powder with water in which amla has been soaked overnight. Keep this overnight in an iron vessel and apply it to the hair in the morning. After it dries, apply oil to the hair and then wash thoroughly.

The naturopathic solution to the problem lies in creating the right PH or acidity level in the body. This means reducing the intake of meat and animal fats and eating a diet rich in alkaline foods such as carrots, celery almonds, figs, endive, fruit, green vegetables and wheat-grass.

One also has to make changes in the lifestyle, which include giving up smoking, improving the diet etc. You can slow the greying process, and even restore the hair to its natural color through these changes, claim naturopaths. They also feel that there is a definite link between the deficiency of B  vitamins and greying.

An Anti Greying Diet

Diet has a very important role in preventing and arresting premature greying of hair.

Eating a lot of fruits and vegetables is absolutely essential to facilitate the supply of essential vitamins and minerals. Since the link between lack of B vitamins and greying has been established almost definitely. It is necessary to consume foods that provide these vitamins.

Foods like wheat germ and pulses, whole grains, brewer's yeast, nuts, fortifies breakfast cereals, liver, milk, kidney, dairy products, wheat bran, wheat germ, eggs, peanuts, legumes, meat and fish, dark green leafy vegetables, avocados, walnuts, pork, poultry, bananas, and potatoes which belong to the B vitamin group, should be taken in plenty to retard the greying process.

Where it is not possible to consume a diet rich in these vitamins, a supplement containing B vitamins can be taken daily, in order to compensate the shortfall. But one has to keep in mind that the supplement should contain all the vitamins in the B group.

The Anti-Aging Vitamin E

In the recent years, science has discovered a wonder called Vitamin E which can effectively slow down the aging process by keeping the skin healthy and glowing, the hair glossy and provide a boost to the immunity system.

A process called oxidation, which destroys healthy skin tissue, causes most of the skin aging and wrinkling. Vitamin E is an anti-oxidant and protects cell membranes and other fat-soluble parts of the body from oxidative damage. This can slow down the ageing process of the cells. The polluted air, chlorinated water, ultraviolent rays of the sun, all cause wrinkling and sagging of the skin. Vitamin E nullifies all these harmful and ageing effected through its anti-oxidative properties.

Apart from the skin benefits, the hair loss caused by the oxidation can also be reversed by using vitamin E. Thinning of hair, dryness or damage of hair and dandruff formation are a part of the oxidation process and the anti-oxidative nature of Vitamin E provides a barrier to the process.

Vitamin E can be found in wheat germ, corn, all raw nuts, egg yolk, green leafy vegetables such as spinach and asparagus, and vegetable oils like corn oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil and cottonseed oil. One can also take supplements of this vitamins if the required level is not available from the natural sources. A daily dose of 100 IU, going up tp 400IU in a gradual manner, should do the trick.

Although many beauty parlours use vitamin E capsules for facial massage treatments, the efficacy of external application of this vitamin has not yet substantiated.