This article is sponsored by Hair Biology

We all know our body changes as we age; whether it be wrinkles, loss in skin elasticity or slower mobility.

But did you know our hair undergoes significant aging changes too?

By knowing the causes and effects of these changes of aging hair in advance, you’re in a better position to manage and embrace them! P&G principal scientist, Jeni Thomas, explains what to expect, why it happens, and what you can do about it.

Density & Texture

Your hairline might recede, and your part may widen, though the hair at the crown of your head will probably remain full. Your hair may also be finer, so it feels like there’s less of it.

“Your hair’s growth cycle changes over time,” says Thomas. “The amount of time that your hair spends actively growing gets shorter as we age. And how many of your follicles, which produce individual hairs, are in that active growing phase at any one time, will decrease, as well.”

The thickness of hair fibers changes, too,” says Thomas. You start with “baby fine” hair that gets a lot thicker around puberty and continues to increase into your 30s; thickness then begins to decrease around your early 40s. “People don’t realize that they have fewer and fewer hair strands in their 20s and their 30s because the increasing thickness of each strand makes up for it,” says Thomas. But when fewer active follicles meet thinning strands in your early 40s? “That’s when people tend to say, ‘Oh my gosh. What just happened to my hair?’ That’s when it becomes really noticeable.”

 “Once a hair follicle decides to retire, it’s gone. You can’t kick-start it again,” says Thomas. You can, however, wake up sleepy follicles with minoxidil, a topical ingredient that works by prolonging the growth phase in follicles. Another option is to see a doctor for a blood draw to determine if you have a vitamin or mineral deficiency. “Doctors can look at levels of vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, biotin, oleic acid,” says Thomas. “And if you have a deficiency, there’s pretty good data to say if you top up that deficiency, you see the hair respond really well. But if you’re a very healthy person, and your levels are good naturally, then a supplement isn’t going to benefit you.”

There are also cosmetic thickening treatments: Hair Biology Thickening Treatment has caffeine, biotin, and niacin that get inside the hair fiber to lend support from within; then polymers attach to the outside of each strand for additional structure. The result: an increase in diameter in each strand, which adds up to your hair looking and feeling as if you have 6,000 more hairs on your head! You’ll also want to wash and condition with lightweight formulas, like Hair Biology Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner, that won’t cause your style to sag.

Graying

In women, gray hairs tend to start around the hairline, right where we can see them. There’s no evidence that stress, or diet, or whether your pluck them, can affect when or how much you gray – timing and totals are determined by your DNA.

“The onset of greying (when melanogenesis, or the pigment production process, ceases) is genetically controlled and linked to the hair growth cycle. Once a hair falls out and the follicle re-starts the growth phase, it receives a signal from your DNA to skip the melanin saturation and come back as a gray hair fiber. Over time, more and more hair stands receive their “grow gray” signal, and eventually, you’ve got yourself a head of gray hair.” says P&G Scientist Jeni Thomas.

More women than ever are embracing their grays, or at least entertaining the idea. To make your silver strands look brilliant, not blah, try Hair Biology Silver & Glowing Shampoo and Conditioner. They have pigments in the purple shampoo and the purple conditioner that cancel out any yellow tones that gray can collect.

Hydration

“Over time, we’ll produce about half the scalp oil that we had when we were younger,” explains Thomas. “Those oils are what keep your hair soft and manageable.” They also serve to keep your hair’s outer cuticle layer flat, reducing frizzies and flyaways to keep your hair smooth and shiny.

“At the same time, the curvature of your hair is becoming much more irregular,” says Thomas. “So one fiber might be smooth, and the next one has a complete twist to it. And then another one has a smooth part and then just kinks out.” These new curves account for stubborn strands and contribute to the dryness problem: scalp oils don’t travel down a twisty strand as easily as a straight one.

For women with fine, straight hair, restoring your moisture levels can be as simple as using a hydrating shampoo. But if you have thicker hair with more twists and turns, you’ll need to up the ante. Hair Biology has a trio of hydrating products—the Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner, which are the best shampoo and conditioner for fine hair and the Deep Hydration Mask— a hydrating hair mask which contains lipids that can penetrate your hair fibers and help your hair hold on to moisture. And if you still have stray strands that you can’t control, try Hair Biology Argan Oil Taming Serum, a weightless hair smoothing serum that will make them bend to your will.

As we age, so does our hair, in more ways than one. Don’t just show your age, embrace your age with Hair Biology.