Perhaps one of the most prominent questions our children ask us is: Why is your hair gray, Dad? Hoariness is the loss of hair its natural color and its transformation to white or grey. It is one of the manifestations of aging, but it can appear in young people after the age of twenty. The reason for the appearance of white hair is the loss of melanin, which gives the skin and hair their familiar colors.

The causes of hoariness are different.  Each factor has an important role in causing a change in the original color of hair, including genes that greatly control the production of melanin. Race also affects the time of hoariness. In addition, vitamins also play an vital role in controlling the performance melanin cells, including vitamin B12, a deficiency of which is linked to the early appearance of hoariness.

Many recent researches have noted that there is a correlation between the cause of hypothyroidism and the appearance of hoariness, in addition to the fact that addiction to smoking and alcohol negatively affects the performance of melanin cells and causes the appearance of hoariness.

Also, the use of shampoo and cosmetics negatively affects the body and increases the appearance of hoariness. These products often cause the destruction of melanin cells, as well as the presence of cases of anemia, which cause a lack of access to food and oxygen necessary for cell growth, thus weakening the natural growth of hair and the appearance of hoariness.

The physiology of gray hair is a complex metabolic pathway, as the original color of hair is white, but it acquires its color thanks to melanin pigment produced by melanocytes that secrete melanin pigment in the hair follicles to give it the color it appears in. Melanin pigment consists of two types, one dark and the other light, as a result of mixing these two types. In different proportions, different hair color gradations appear in humans, which is determined according to genetic characteristics, such that melanin cells begin their activity in the fetal stages of humans and continue until the age of the thirties, after which their activity begins to decline at a rate of 20-30% every ten years.

Recent research and studies from the University of Bradford in Britain indicate that the most influential reason for the appearance of gray hair is that with age, hair follicles begin to produce peroxide (H2O2), which acts as a natural hair color remover, as failure to destroy it leads to a significant increase in the speed of hair color removal and the rapid and significant appearance of gray hair.

It seems that as a person gets older, this leads to a decrease in the activity of the enzyme that works to break down hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen, and thus there is an increase in hydrogen peroxide in the hair follicles, thus inhibiting the formation of the coloring substance melanin in the hair and making it appear white.

Modern science has attributed the appearance of hoariness and weak bones, as liquid hydrogen peroxide is formed throughout the body as a result of various metabolic processes in small quantities, and with age, its production increases. In contrast, the decrease of the effectiveness of the enzyme that works to break it down and reduces its concentration decreases, and this increase in hydrogen peroxide also affects bone structure. It causes osteoporosis with increasing age, and reaching forty years means a setback in some important metabolic pathways in the body and a lack of cell efficiency in general. The Holy Qur’an has summarized for us the physiology of hoariness in a great Qur’anic aya on the tongue of Zechariah, peace be upon him, saying (He said, “My Lord, indeed the bones of me have weakened, and the head has burned with gray hair, and no I will be wretched in your supplications to my Lord.) Surat Maryam.

In terms of accuracy of the miracle is that the aya has described the head and what is meant by the hair, and described the process as combustion (i.e. burning without fire), and this is what hydrogen peroxide does to the hair by removing the dye, and it did not say (burned) because the process takes place in the absence of oxygen, as in complete combustion.

(Our Lord, You did not create this in vain. Glory be to You, so protect us from the torment of the Fire.)