Not just the skin, your hair too changes with age. Here’s why it happens

As a person grows older, their body becomes frail and there are visible signs of ageing on their skin too. However, that’s not it. A person’s hair too undergoes a huge change as age advances. The hair can become thinner and the individual can suffer from hair loss. In fact, different people may experience different changes in terms of texture, colour and thickness.

So why do these hair changes occur?

In a recent Instagram post, celebrity dermatologist Dr Jaishree Sharad, reveals, “As we age, follicles produce less melanin due to which our hair starts to lose its colour and turns grey. When less hair follicles are produced, it leads to hair thinning. Other reasons due to which hair shows early signs of hair ageing are stress, unhealthy diet, smoking, environmental factors, various hair treatments, hormonal imbalance, and nutritional deficiency.”

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What are the hair changes you can notice as you age?

According to Dr Sharad, there are three major hair changes that occur with age:

1. Hair thinning or hair loss

Most of us typically tend to lose between 50–100 hairs each day. It is a process that the human body sheds old hair as new hair keeps growing from the follicles. With age, when some follicles stop producing new hairs, automatically it leads to hair thinning and causes the hair density to decrease, which can also be termed as hair loss. In fact, hormone fluctuations through the ages can also cause a dramatic difference and can lead to decline and deterioration of scalp.

2. Hair turns curly, frizzy or grey

As people grow in age, their hair too becomes more weathered. The hair tends to be not as shiny or smooth as it was previously, and can be curly and frizzy. Certain environmental factors can be behind that, from ultraviolet (UV) light, humidity and wind.

Also, read: 5 home remedies to save your hair from harmful UV rays

Similarly, the chemicals in hair products and hair treatments can have a huge impact on the structure of the hair, resulting in hair that is not elastic. Over time, these issues cause larger damage making the hair more prone to breakage, eventually turning grey as well. Well, everyone certainly remembers their first grey hair, doesn’t it?

3. Reduced hair thickness and hair length

With age, an individual experiences a decrease in hair diameter, which causes a reduction in tensile hair strength. With a low tensile strength, the hair is weaker and more prone to breaking. More hair fall and weak hair means loss of hair thickness and hair length.

To say the least, everyone experiences some hair loss or changes in texture and quality with ageing, so the best you can do is to take care of their hair in order to reduce their chance of hair damage over time. Moreover, seeing a hair expert should always be an option.