Hair actually ages in two ways: chronologically and hormonally. Caused by external factors, chronological hair aging affects hair from the mid-lengths to the ends. Years of brushing, blow drying, coloring, heat styling and environmental factors, such as sun, wind and pollution, leave hair dry, damaged and porous. Hormonal hair aging relates to the physical changes we go through as we get older. Signs of hormonal aging hair includes dryness, dullness, thinning, graying, fragility and changes in texture. What exactly is going on in our body to cause these changes in our hair?
Dryness and Dullness
Our hair peaks at age 30. It’s around this time that our scalp begins to slowly decrease sebum production–the natural oil that makes our hair so shiny and silky. You may experience dryness and dullness as the first signs of aging hair. Around menopause, sebum production drops further and hair feels less manageable without sebum to protect the hair, eliminate flyaways and control static build-up.
Thinning
If your hair feels less full, you’re not imagining it. The actual number of hairs on our heads starts decreasing in our 20s. By age 60, almost 40 percent of women will experience thinning hair, mostly around the crown. Aside from simply having less hair, the hair that’s left experiences changes. Beginning in our early 40s, the actual diameter of each hair strand starts to shrink. Researchers believe that this is linked to hormonal changes related to perimenopause and menopause.
Graying
By age 50, most women are 50 percent gray. As we grow older, we experience the decreased production of melanin which gives hair its color. Melanin also protects our hair from the sun’s UV rays; without it our hair’s protein absorbs the rays making hair weaker.
Texture Changes
New research has found that hair texture does change with age. Most of us will experience more texture in our hair but unfortunately not as waves or curls. Instead, hair becomes more wiry, kinky and less manageable.
Fragility
Hair weakens as we age for several reasons. Less sebum means our hair experiences more friction from combing and brushing and even contact with neighboring hair. The sun damages and weakens hair that lacks melanin and kinks lead to weak spots in the hair strand. Also, chronically aged hair is often fragile due to chronic environmental, chemical and mechanical stress.
Until recently, we didn’t see much information on aging hair when flipping through beauty magazines. Kasia is committed to specifically address our guests "anti-aging" hair and skin needs.
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