The Glass is always half full!

All of us will get older at some stage and our hair will start to turn grey. Greying occurs as specialized cells in hair follicles called melanocytes lose their ability to produce pigment (melanin) over time. It's not that hair actually turns gray, but that new hair with less melanin grows in. White hair has virtually no melanin. Genes play a large role in greying, and there's wide variation among ethnic groups. Men tend to turn gray earlier than women.

Smoking is linked to premature greying. In rare cases, gray hair may be a sign of illness. Among other reasons of hair greying are excessive intake of tea, coffee and alcohol, of fried and oily foods, spices and sour and acidic foods.

Unfortunately, there are no proven remedies for gray or white hair other than colouring it, despite the claims made for some dietary supplements. Melancor-NH, for example, allegedly boosts melanin (and stops male pattern baldness to boot) with its blend of bromelain, collagen, biotin, inositol, and other ingredients.

No vitamin, mineral, or nutritional supplement is known to prevent or reverse age-related gray hair. The same goes for human growth hormone, yoga, removing mercury fillings, or any other touted therapy. In lab research white hair follicle cells have been stimulated to produce pigment again, and some scientists are hopeful that eventually a "cure" for greying will be possible.

In the meantime, hair colouring or learning to love the existing-grey-hair are the only options. However to prevent remaining hairs to turn grey; following can be practiced:

1. By eating protein rich foods. Proteins - Sources: sprouted whole grains, cereals, meat and soy in your diet.

2. By eating foods rich in iron, minerals and vitamin A and B.
   • Vitamin A - Sources: dark green vegetables & yellow fruits.
   • Vitamin B - Sources: fresh green leafy vegetables, bananas, tomatoes, cauliflower, cereals, liver kidney, yogurt, yeast and wheat germ.
   • Minerals like zinc, iron and copper - Sources: zinc - red meat, chicken & green vegetables
   • Iron - beef, dried apricots, red meat, parsley, eggs, wheat & sunflower seeds
   • Copper - sunflower seeds, cashews, almonds, crabs and oysters, egg yolk & whole grains.

3. By eating foods rich in iodine such as banana, carrots and fish.

4. By eating 1 tea spoon of this everyday: Grate some fresh ginger. Mix with honey and place it in a jar.

5. By rubbing Indian gooseberry (Amla) into the scalp regularly.

6. And massaging hairs with coconut oil and lemon juice everyday.

Sunday is the time for listening to my favourite celestial beauty of music. I generally share one. But let me do two, just for today! One slow and one fast. Why? Because it is free!

Let’s remember two things for the coming week as well. “ The glass is always half full” & “The dollar value of today is always greater than that of tomorrow”. Have a fantastic afternoon today and a brilliant week ahead.  SMILES PLEASE!