Grey Hair at 25: Trichologist Santiago Cascero Says It Can Be Normal if Your Parents Also Went Grey Early

The first grey hair is usually greeted with panic in front of the mirror. Trichologist Santiago Cascero of the Hospital Capilar clinic has a calmer message: greying is a natural process, as inevitable as wrinkles, and if your parents went grey early, the odds that the same will happen to you are high.

What's actually happening

Hair turns grey when the follicles stop producing melanin, the pigment that gives it colour. With age, the pigment-producing cells, the melanocytes, work less well or less pigment reaches the hair. The stem cells that replenish them can also run out. Besides ageing, greying is influenced by chronic stress, nutrient deficiencies and genetics.

When it counts as "too early"

According to medical sources, greying is considered premature when the first white, silver or grey hairs appear before the age of 20. The clinic also gives other thresholds: before 25 in people of Asian descent and before 30 in people of African descent. The clinic itself calls these approximate figures and says each case should be looked at individually.

Cascero is even more specific: "These are guideline figures, not universal criteria." A few grey hairs at 25 or 30 can be ordinary variation, especially when early greying runs in the family. What matters far more is how fast the process is moving, what the family pattern looks like and whether there are other symptoms.

Genetics decides, but it isn't maths

Genetics, according to the trichologist, plays a decisive role in early greying. If your parents went grey early, the probability is high - but it's not a mathematical rule. A serious vitamin B12 deficiency, thyroid problems and other metabolic disorders can also play a part.

Do you need a blood test?

A healthy adult with their first grey hair doesn't need a whole battery of tests. A blood test makes sense if greying began in childhood or puberty, if it's progressing quickly, or if it comes with fatigue, weight loss, skin changes or hair loss. Then doctors check the blood count, iron stores, B12 and thyroid function. It's also worth seeing a trichologist when colour disappears in localised patches, or when hair is falling out excessively.

The miracle product doesn't exist

Here comes the sentence the cosmetics industry least wants to hear. According to the clinic, there is currently no medical treatment or cosmetic product with a proven effect that reverses greying or prevents it when it's the result of natural ageing. With a nutrient deficiency or a treatable illness, colour can sometimes partly return, but nobody can predict whether the original shade will come back.

Maybe that's why more and more women are giving up the fight. Andie MacDowell wears her silver hair at 68, and Queen Letizia of Spain doesn't hide her greys. Stylist Carlos Ortigosa says women today want their natural colour, cared for and healthy, rather than grown-out roots and wrecked, artificially dyed hair. How much money have we spent on dye before someone told us grey is a choice, not a defeat?