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Gray Hair Information

There is not much that we can do about gray hair - or is there?

The reason that hair goes gray is because the follicles lose their ability to produce melanin; the pigment in hair and skin, as we age. Poor circulation to the scalp area is a major contributing factor, as is the decrease in hormone levels. The main hormones involved are probably growth hormone, melatonin and the sex hormones.

Hormones

It is a fact that we can use amino acids like arginine to stimulate the anterior pituitary gland to produce more growth hormone. When this happens more new hairs will grow, and they will never be gray, but "baby hairs". They can however turn gray eventually due to other factors. Probably the main factor is circulation to the scalp where your hair is going gray.

Circulation

In Traditional Chinese Medicine the herb Shou Wu is renowned for curing or lessening gray hair. It enriches the blood. Anything that can improve circulation to the head would also be greatly beneficial as this would also in turn stimulate the glands which produce the hormones. A great herb for this is Gotu Kola. Buddhist monks have been using it for ages because it focuses the mind while calming it. It also greatly increases circulation.

Other "tools" for reducing gray hair by improving circulation are; arginine, the red pigment in wine and cherries, aspirin and oil of wintergreen. Aspirin and oil of wintergreen are the same chemical but the latter is for the deep heat massage found in many sports products. I have found that a rash around my eyes correlates with a stiff neck and poor circulation. The deep heat massage in the neck area helps reduce the inflammation around the eyes. Vitamin e taken in large quantities is a powerful way of dealing with situations like this. I have taken over 15g of pure vitamin e a day (50 by 335mg pills). I am not saying that you should do the same, but I do recommend carefull experimentation with lesser amounts, and see how it can improve your sleep, general health and wellbeing, your circulation and a way of managing that gray hair.

Exercises

Of course exercise itself will improve the circulation to your scalp and assist with controlling gray hair. There are many hatha yoga exercises for the neck, and even for the eyes. One Indian healer says that all you need to do is rub your fingernails together for a 5 minutes each morning, or massage your forehead for 5 minutes around the hairline. The fingernail technique makes sense if you beleive in point reflexology, as that point coincides with the scalp.

Stress

As circulation is controlled by the nervous system, stress can reduce circulation. It is not a factor that you can ignore, but you need to deal with the sources of stress in a practical way. On the othe hand if you want to really stress, out visit the young jerk and see what he has to say about gray hair and circulation.

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