[Mr Rayon]

Why do asians have grey hair? I've seen people in my workplace who are only 18-22 years old of Indian/Chinese origin having grey hair and I'm wondering why this is. Whenever I look at their hair I often seen these having little specks of grey hair. They mostly have black hair of course but they also have a minor amount of whitish/grey hair, just wondering if there are any scientific explanations for this? I thought people were supposed to have this colour of hair when they're older?

This post has been edited by Voltman: 8 October 2010 - 08:13 PM

[Moontanman]

Voltman, on 8 October 2010 - 08:09 PM, said:

Why do asians have grey hair? I've seen people in my workplace who are only 18-22 years old of Indian/Chinese origin having grey hair and I'm wondering why this is. Whenever I look at their hair I often seen these having little specks of grey hair. They mostly have black hair of course but they also have a minor amount of whitish/grey hair, just wondering if there are any scientific explanations for this? I thought people were supposed to have this colour of hair when they're older?

I was completely white headed by the time I was 30, I have a friend who was white headed at age 19, neither of us are Asians. I'm not sure why you would think only Asians get white haired early but it can happen in almost any human...

[Pat Kelley]

Voltman, on 8 October 2010 - 08:09 PM, said:

Why do asians have grey hair? I've seen people in my workplace who are only 18-22 years old of Indian/Chinese origin having grey hair and I'm wondering why this is. Whenever I look at their hair I often seen these having little specks of grey hair. They mostly have black hair of course but they also have a minor amount of whitish/grey hair, just wondering if there are any scientific explanations for this? I thought people were supposed to have this colour of hair when they're older?

I'd think you'd look a bit beyond the obvious - it's the dark hair.

If you have dark hair, anything other than dark hair will stand out, a lot. If your hair has a lot of internal reflection, it will show up as silver; if it doesn't, white.

If you have black hair it's a lot more noticeable than if you have blonde or even brown hair.

I'm a dark-haired Irishman... had my first silver hairs at 23.

[Mr Rayon]

I suppose that's possible. You know what I'll try snipping a strand of one of these grey/whitish hair from a colleague and seeing whether it really is from any reflection which makes it appear that way or whether it's the natural colour of the strand (i.e. still being grey in the absence of light). Hopefully, I won't get caught. I know people who's hair colour change, for example brown when a strand is placed upon sunlight however becomes a dull grey colour when many strands are looked at. Some Indians/Arabs also tend to have darker black hair after they have just wet it with water.