It’s normal for your natural hair to turn gray and white as you grow older. But how can you differentiate between these two?
The color of your natural hair results from the melanin in the hair follicles. Depending on your ethnicity, your hair can be black, blonde, brown, or red. With age, the pigment cells (melanocytes) that produce melanin begin to fail, and hair changes to gray and eventually white.
In short, gray hair is a mix of naturally colored strands and white ones, while white hair has no melanin left at all.
What Shade Is Gray Hair?
Gray hair appears light-colored but with darker shades. This color is due to the combination of naturally colored hair and white hair. When melanocytes in some hair follicles begin to die, they fail to produce melanin. As a result, hair strands lose their natural hue and turn white.
The remaining melanocytes in the other hair follicles continue producing melanin, resulting in naturally colored hair strands.
Genetics is the primary determinant of when hair begins to turn gray. However, premature graying may occur due to various illnesses, stress, and smoking tobacco.
What Shade Is White Hair?
Unlike gray hair, white hair is lighter than platinum blonde. When no more melanin-producing cells are in your hair follicles, your hair turns white. Hair follicles fail to produce new melanocytes, causing your hair to lose its natural color.
People sometimes use the terms white hair, silver hair, and gray hair to refer to any hair that has lost natural color or pigment.
What Do White Hair and Gray Hair Look Like?
White hair is lighter than gray hair. The difference in color between the two types of hair is due to the presence or absence of melanin in hair follicles. If you have gray hair, some of your hair follicles have active melanin remaining. This melanin is responsible for the naturally colored hair strands.
On the other hand, white hair means the absence of melanin in the hair follicles. With no remaining melanin, your hair loses its natural color and turns completely white.
Key Differences Between Gray and White Hair
Visual Appearance
The main difference between gray and white hair is in appearance. Gray hair looks light-colored but with darker shades. People refer to it as salt and pepper hair (a mix of black, gray, and silver hair).
You may also find some gray hair strands that appear white at the base but are colored at the ends. White hair lacks naturally colored hair strands, making the hair look lighter than platinum-blonde hair.
Formation
Melanin in hair follicles gives hair its natural color. Since hair color differs in people of different ethnic groups, you may wonder what causes these differences.
Melanin can be divided into eumelanin and pheomelanin. Eumelanin causes hair to acquire a black or dark brown color. The more eumelanin you have, the darker your hair is. Pheomelanin makes hair develop red and blonde shades.
When the melanocytes (pigment-producing cells) in some of your hair follicles die or become inactive, the affected hair loses its natural pigment. You’ll still have naturally colored hair strands where melanin is active. White hair forms when all your hair follicles lose eumelanin or pheomelanin. That means you no longer have melanin to give your hair its natural color.
Causes
Thanks to genetics, your hair might start to turn gray earlier than everybody else’s. If people in your family grow gray hair in their 30s, you’re also likely to have gray hair in your 30s.
Health conditions like thyroid disease and vitiligo can cause premature graying, while alopecia areata can make existing white hairs suddenly obvious by causing pigmented hairs to fall out. Other triggers are stress and tobacco smoking.
After your hair starts to turn gray due to genetics, health issues, stress, and tobacco smoking, it eventually turns white.
In some cases, people develop a concentrated patch or streak of completely white hair, known as poliosis. While often harmless and tied to genetics, a sudden patch of white hair can sometimes indicate an underlying medical condition (like a thyroid disorder or vitiligo), so it is always best to consult a doctor if it appears abruptly.
Age of Occurrence
Most people see their hair turning gray in their mid-30s or 40s. If graying results from genetics, illness, stress, or smoking tobacco, your hair might begin to gray in your mid-20s.
Below is the average age of onset based on ethnicity:
- Caucasian: Mid-30s
- Asian: Late 30s
- Black: Mid-40s
Once your hair begins turning gray, the time it takes to turn completely white varies widely depending on your genetics.
Texture
Your white hair may feel coarser, drier, and wirier if you touch it. As you age, scalp sebum production naturally decreases, which can make unpigmented hair feel coarser and drier.
Your hair follicles naturally produce sebum (oil) that coats your hair to lock in moisture. Dehydrated white hair will have a different texture from naturally colored hair.
On the other hand, gray hair consists of white hair and naturally colored hair that has yet to turn gray. As a result, your hair might have a mixed texture due to the coarse, dry, and wiry white hair and fine, medium, or thick naturally colored hair.
Below is a gray vs white hair comparison table showing how gray hair differs from white hair.
| Parameter | Gray Hair | White Hair |
| Structure | A mixture of naturally colored hair and white hair | Completely white hair |
| Formation | Lack of melanin in some hair follicles | Loss of melanin in all hair follicles |
| Causes | Genetics, age, health conditions, stress, and smoking tobacco | Genetics, age, health conditions, stress, and smoking tobacco |
| Age of occurrence | Mid-30s or 40s | It varies depending on the start of graying and genetics |
| Texture | Coarse, dry, and wiry depending on the degree of graying | Coarser, drier, and wirier |
Conclusion
You can now tell the difference between gray and white hair. If you have started going gray, it means melanocytes in some hair follicles are dying or failing, causing some hair strands to turn white.
On the other hand, white hair means the absence of melanin in your hair follicles. When this happens, all your hair turns completely white.
