Hair Aging and Oxidative Stress – Your Best Hair at Any Age

Hair Aging and Oxidative Stress – Your Best Hair at Any Age

Grey, Thinning Hair? Here’s How Oxidative Stress Is Aging Your Hair

Oxidative stress is one of the most widely accepted theories that scientists use to explain the aging process. Oxidative stress is believed to cause many visible signs of skin and hair aging, including grey hair, thinning hair, and many scalp health issues.1

 

 

I’ve never been a fan of the term ‘anti-aging’ because aging is a natural part of life and growing old is an immense privilege. I believe your laugh lines are proof of a life well-lived. And, as a Trichologist, I know that your grey and aging hair can still be your best hair with the right care.

 

What is Oxidative Stress?

Oxidative stress results from an overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) also known as free radicals.1 Free radicals are highly reactive molecules that can directly damage your skin and hair at a cellular level. 

 

 

Common signs of hair aging caused by oxidative stress:

    • Hair greying: oxidative stress impacts your hair’s ability to produce melanin (the pigment that gives your hair its color) resulting in dull, grey, or white hair.2

    • Hair loss: free radical attacks weaken your hair at the roots and appear to play a role in premature hair loss.3

    • Hair thinning: healthy hair comes from a healthy scalp and oxidative stress can cause an imbalance in your scalp’s microbiome. This has been linked to a decrease in the quality and thickness of your hair.

     

    The good news is that your body has natural defenses against oxidative stress from free radicals. Your cells generate antioxidants including anti-oxidative enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase) and non-enzymatic anti-oxidative molecules (vitamin E, vitamin C, glutathione, ubiquinone) to neutralize and detoxify free radicals.1

    The bad news is that your natural ability to defend yourself against free radical attacks decreases with age.1 That’s why your aging hair needs extra care.

     

    How You Can Reduce Hair Aging From Oxidative Stress

    Oxidative stress is caused by several lifestyle and environmental triggers.1 It affects your hair fiber condition from the inside at your hair roots (follicles) and by directly attacking your hair strands from the outside. 

     

     

    As a Trichologist I know that your lifestyle shows up in your hair. That’s why a great haircare system is more than just something you put on your hair – it should also address your overall health. And it doesn’t have to be hard.

     

    Four Trichologist Tips to Proactively Slow and Delay Hair Aging and Greying:

    Your hair becomes less resilient as you age and, like your skin, it starts to reflect your lifestyle. It’s never too early to get proactive about hair aging because it’s easier to prevent grey hair than it is to reverse it.  If you're noticing grey hairs or changes in texture it could be oxidative stress causing your hair to show its age.

     

    ✅  Tip 1: Fight Hair Aging From the Inside-Out

    Your best weapon against hair damage from oxidative stress is a diet full of antioxidant foods. That’s why Arey’s first haircare product is our antioxidant-rich nutritional supplement Not Today, Grey. It’s hard to get all the antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals you need through diet alone so we created Not Today, Grey to make it easier to do the right thing for your strands.

     

     

     

    The antioxidants in Not Today, Grey protect your new hair growth from oxidative stress from the inside-out. Our scalp serum To The Root™ boosts your results by protecting your hair follicles from the outside-in. For the best results, I recommend my clients combine these two – we call it The System.

     

     



    Shop Arey’s Most Popular Antioxidant Haircare Products:


    ✅ Tip 2: Stop Smoking-Related Hair Aging

    Scientists and Trichologists generally consider smoking and vaping is bad for healthy hair growth because it’s a trigger for oxidative stress.5 Nicotine enters the hair through your blood, and from exposure to smoke, causing a rise in cell-damaging free radical activity.

     

    Here’s how smoking damages your hair:

      • Inflammation: nicotine can cause inflammation in your hair follicles leading to slower and weaker hair growth and even hair loss.5

      • Hormone imbalances: nicotine may cause an increase in the  hormones that cause male and female pattern hair loss (androgenic alopecia).

      • Slower hair growth: studies have shown that nicotine causes your hair to grow more slowly. This can make your hair look thinner overall.

       

      The good news is that it’s never too late to quit – the negative effects of smoking and vaping can be reversed.6

        

      ✅ Tip 3: Prevent Hair Aging From Sun Exposure

      You may love beach life but do you love the effect it has on your hair? Dry, brittle, sun-damaged hair is easy to avoid with the right haircare. 

        

       

       

      Here’s how ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun1 can damage your hair:

        • Excess hair shedding: UV rays can damage your scalp and hair follicles – getting sunburn on your scalp can cause sudden hair loss. Don’t forget your sun hat!

        • Weak, brittle hair: sunlight can penetrate through several layers of your hair shaft and impact the chemical makeup that keeps your hair healthy and strong.

        • Rough, porous hair: oxygen radicals created by UV-B radiation break down the disulfide bonds in your hair shaft. The result is increased fragility, porosity, and surface roughness.

        • Faded color: UV-A radiation causes hair color changes by damaging the balance of amino acids in your hair. This causes slowing of melanin production (greying) as well as fading of your natural and dyed hair. 

       

      You may be used to using a hat and sunscreen to protect your delicate facial skin from the heat and sun. Your hair needs sun protection too. 

       

       


      ✅  Tip 4: Protect Your Scalp From Oxidative Stress

      As a Trichologist I start every client session checking your scalp’s health by looking at the scalp skin through a magnifying trichoscope. Why? Because an unhealthy scalp leads to oxidative stress and unhealthy hair.   

      An unhealthy scalp occurs when your scalp skin’s natural balance of yeasts and bacteria becomes unbalanced. Your naturally occurring scalp oils (sebum) break down into free fatty acids that auto-oxidize into skin-irritating lipoperoxides.3 The result – dandruff and an itchy scalp.

       

      Here’s how to keep your scalp in balance:

        • Use gentle balanced cleansers: choose a clean shampoo like Wash that is free from sulfates (harsh cleansers) and irritating artificial fragrances.

        • Soothe and rebalance your scalp: before and after chemical treatments or color, use Calm It Down™ to prevent and calm irritation and inflammation.

        • Exfoliate and detox your scalp: a regular exfoliation with Scrub will gently remove pore-clogging dead skin cells and excess sebum while restoring moisture and nourishing your scalp skin.

         

        Taking care of your scalp doesn’t have to be difficult. Just a few changes to your haircare routine can reduce potential damage to your hair follicles from oxidative stress. 



        Shop Arey’s Best-Selling Scalp Care: 


        Proactive Haircare to Slow, Delay and Reverse the Signs of Hair Aging

        Arey products are designed to proactively boost your hair and scalp health. Clean ingredients plus our science-backed Mela-9™ Complex help preserve your natural hair color by slowing new grey hair growth.

        Your scalp and hair health is important to us. That's why we offer 15% off on all auto replenish orders to help keep you on track with your aging hair health goals. Because we believe that science + consistency = results.

          We are Arey.

          We want you to feel happy and confident with your hair at every life stage. Any questions? Email us at hey@areygrey.com or browse our FAQ page.

           

          Jay Small with customer

          AuthorJay SmallJay Small is a sought-after hair stylist and Trichologist in Los Angeles with over 22 years of experience. His clients consist of high-profile business and creative leaders. He trained as an apprentice to the owner of Paul Mitchell and worked in education and product development for Paul Mitchell Systems. Jay is incredibly passionate about the creative process both in terms of styling hair and developing effective products.


          REFERENCES:

              1. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ics.12286 
              2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2929555/Int J Trichology. 
              3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6369642/
              4.  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/7e3d5692-62b9-4028-900a-240a10be71ce/ics12286-fig-0001-m.jpg 
              5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9069908/  
              6. https://tobaccobody.fi 
              7. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ics.12286 

           

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