Restoring The Color Of Aging Hair

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Author: . Greg Maguire & Dr. Ahmed Al-Qahtani" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/dr.-greg-maguire-&-dr.-ahmed-al-qahtani/251550.htm">Dr. Greg Maguire & Dr. Ahmed Al-Qahtani

Developmentally, initially hair is white. The natural color of hair derives from a type of pigment called melanin that begins to form before birth. The natural color of our hair depends upon the distribution, type, and amount of melanin in the middle layer of the hair shaft or cortex. Hair has two types of pigments: dark (eumelanin) and light (phaeomelanin). They blend together to make up the wide range of hair colors. Pigmentation is under complex genetic control regulated by more than 150 alleles representing more than 90 gene loci, with tyrosinase activity the rate-limiting step among the melanogenesis-related enzymes. The biosynthesis of melanin and its subsequent transfer from melanocyte to hair bulb keratinocytes depend on the availability of melanin precursors and on a multitude of signal transduction pathways that are both highly complex and commonly redundant. These signalling pathways can be both dependent and independent of receptors, act through auto-, para- or intracrine mechanisms, and can be modified by hormonal signals. Despite many shared features, follicular melanocytes appear to be more sensitive than epidermal melanocytes to aging influences. This can be seen most dramatically in hair greying and this is likely to reflect significant differences in the epidermal and follicular microenvironments. The hair follicle pigmentary unit may also serve as an important environmental sensor, whereby hair pigment contributes to the rapid excretion of heavy metals, chemicals and toxins from the body by their selective binding to melanin; rendering the hair fiber a useful barometer of exposures. Melanin is made up of specialized pigment cells called melanocytes. They position themselves at the openings on the skins surface through which hair grows (follicles). Each hair grows from a single follicle. Hair graying is caused by defective self-maintenance of melanocyte stem cells. As the hair is being formed, melanocytes inject pigment (melanin) into cells containing keratin. Keratin is the protein that makes up our hair, skin, and nails. Throughout the years, melanocyctes continue to inject pigment into the hairs keratin, giving it a colorful hue. With age comes a reduction of melanin. The hair turns gray and eventually white. The hair follicle has a melanogentic clock which slows down or stops melanocyte activity, thus decreasing the pigment our hair receives. This occurs just before the hair is preparing to fall out or shed, so the roots always look pale. Hair turns gray because of age and genetics, in that genes regulate the exhaustion of the pigmentary potential of each individual hair follicle. This occurs at different rates in different hair follicles. For some people it occurs rapidly, while in others it occurs slowly over several decades. Recent studies show that a failure of melanocyte stem cells (MSC) to maintain the production of melanocytes cause the graying of hair. The MSC reside in the hair follicle and release a multitude of factors that that produce and process the pigments of the hair. Failure of MSC maintenance results in the breakdown of signals that produce hair color. Dysfunction of the MSC is due to both intrinsic factors (age, genetic defects, hormones) and extrinsic factors (climate, pollutants, toxins, chemicals, sun damage). A & G Hair Complex is a combination of factors derived from stem cells that mimic what the MSC produce. Thus topical application of A & G Hair Complex to the scalp reconditions the hair follicle so that all factors required for pigmentation of the hair are restored. With the restoration of the factors to the hair follicle, normal pigmentation of the hair is restored. About the Author:

Drs. Al-Qahtani and Maguire are Co-Founders of A & G Skin Solutions, Inc. of Irvine, California, USA www.agskinsolutions.com Both Al-Qahtani and Maguire are NIH-supported research scientists, professors at medical schools, with numerous peer-reviewed publications. Maguire was awarded the NIH's prestigious Fogarty Fellowship for his work in studying the nervous system, and Al-Qahtani has received numerous international awards for his work in immunology and medicine. Both professors have been working on stem cells dating back to 1997. Dr. Maguire is currently President of the San Diego Neuroscience Group at the Scripps Research Institute (http://www.scripps.edu/services/sdneuro/ )

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