When one gray hair is plucked out, do seven more grow?

Although the so-called gray mix (appearance of graying hair) is increasingly present in women’s long hair, there are a large number of people (especially women) who at first White hair, they decide to get rid of it with a simple blow. However, one sentence can stop this impulse: “If you snatch it, you get seven more”. Far from this prescient argument, the truth is that the passage of time will cause this increase. But is that why cana what was ripped off? Or were they still going out?

Quique Sánchez, stylist and creative director of Espacio Q, Madrid, was candid: “We are dealing with a real myth that has always haunted stylists: the myth that if we pull out a gray hair, it will proliferate more in our hair. We think what can happen is that once we look at one of the gray hairs that start to appear, we are more aware of it and we start to see more of it, paying attention to that aspect”

The situation reported by the expert is based on a behavior studied by psychology. It is confirmation bias, one of many cognitive biases that humans can suffer from. In this case, it is when one tends to privilege, seek, interpret and retain information that confirms one’s own beliefs or assumptions, giving disproportionately less consideration to possible alternatives.

“Pulling out a gray hair doesn’t make it stand out more. Each hair is born from an independent follicle, so by pulling them out they will no longer come out,” he said in dialogue with GlobeLiveMedia specialist dermatologist and trichologist Miguel Marti.

In this sense, the Spanish dermatologist Cristina Paradelo also spoke, who pointed out that “it is not true that more gray hair comes out by pulling out a gray hair. What happens is that the follicle that has lost the ability to make melanin and transfer it to the hair shaft is not able to recover it. Therefore, when after pulling out this white hair, the same follicle forms a new one, it will be white the same”.

“Each follicle has its own melanocytes (the cells that make the pigment)”, continued the expert, pointing out that when a gray hair is pulled out “it has no influence on the neighboring follicles”. Whether it is because of this traction or not, it is the passage of time that causes the melanocytes to decrease their activity in the skin as well as in the hair. This means that, gradually, more white hairs will appear around those already identified.

Although it is not responsible for seven others, pulling out a gray hair is not recommended, according to experts. As Paradelo pointed out, “When a hair is pulled out (whether it’s gray hair or pigmented hair), the follicle (the structure that makes it up) can be partially or completely damaged, which will lead to the formation of thinner or thicker hair”. poorer quality if the damage was partial, or that a new hair is not produced if the damage was complete”. “The likelihood of this damage increases with the number of times it is ripped off, so it’s best to leave the gray in place,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, stylist Diana Daureo noted another aspect that must be taken into account when thinking about pulling out white hair. “If one gray hair is pulled out, the other hair comes out as a “thread” and this leads to more and more scamming them because their appearance is not pleasant,” he said. And he continued, “Ultimately what happens is that the follicle ends up weakening and that’s counterproductive.”

Additionally, despite these warnings, when this action is performed continuously, the damage will be complete: “Continued pulling on the hair, either by taut hairstyles or weighted extensions, or by pulling, produces damage which, when generated by As usual, they end up leading to the destruction of the follicle and its replacement by scar tissue. At this stage, the loss of this hair is already permanent”, warned the experts.

After dispelling this gray hair myth, experts decided to reveal more to dispel these popular beliefs. It is that, as indicated, The appearance of these white hairs is linked to genetics.

According to Daureo, “it is impossible to avoid or delay its onset, there is no way to achieve it. Hair, like our body, age and genetics are the main factor in its appearance. Paradelo agreed with this argument, who explained that “the age of onset and the rate of occurrence of gray hair are conditioned by hereditary factors such as phototype and family history”. An example of this is that they may “appear earlier in redheads and in white-skinned people who have little ability to tan.”

For her part, Marti added that “grey hair can appear due to a physiological process of hair aging or due to a genetic predisposition. Therefore, gray hair will appear gradually whether it is plucked out or not. He also stated that “it has been demonstrated that gray hair has a faster growth cycle than non-gray hairand specifies that “graying can usually begin in the third decade of life, although in some people it can appear at an earlier age, and this is called premature graying”.

But that’s not all, because as with the body or the skin, its appearance and rate of appearance can be influenced by certain external factors. In the words of Paradelo, “despite the weight of genetics, one can try to control some of the environmental and exposure factors (what is called the exposome) to partially modulate the rate of appearance of white hair . Between the external factors which have been linked to a faster or earlier appearance of white hair, we find the stresshe the tobacco and the nutritional deficitsit therefore seems reasonable to think that having a healthy, varied diet, rich in antioxidants, avoiding toxins (tobacco and others) and good stress management will at least help not to accelerate the rate of its appearance”.

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