Greying of the human hair: a worldwide survey, revisiting the '50' rule of thumb.
BACKGROUND
While numerous papers have reported on the biological mechanisms of human hair pigmentation and greying, epidemiological descriptions of both natural hair colour and the greying process, worldwide, remain scarce.


OBJECTIVE
To assess hair colour and greying in a large world sample of human subjects, and to revisit the validity of the 50/50/50 rule of thumb, which states that 'at age 50 years, 50% of the population has at least 50% grey hair'.


METHODS
The natural hair colour of 4192 healthy male and female volunteers was assessed using a sensorial expert evaluation through the comparison of each volunteer's hair with standard swatches. Hair colour was studied according to age, gender and ethnic or geographical origin.


RESULTS
Overall we observed that between 45 and 65 years of age, 74% of people were affected by grey hair with a mean intensity of 27%. Men harboured significantly more grey hair than women. Both age at onset and rate of greying with age appeared to be clearly linked to ethnic/geographical origin. Subjects of Asian and African descent showed less grey hair than those of caucasian origin, at comparable ages, confirming previously reported data.


CONCLUSIONS
Calculating the percentage of people showing at least 50% grey hair coverage at age 50 years leads to a global range of 6-23%, according to ethnic/geographical origin and natural hair colour: well below that expressed by the '50' rule of thumb.
L'Oréal, Research & Innovation, 11-13 rue Dora Maar, 93400 Saint-Ouen, France. spanhard@rd.loreal.com
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Panhard
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Lozano
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Loussouarn
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D044466:Asian People; D044383:Black People; D005260:Female; D006200:Hair Color / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010858:Pigmentation / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D044465:White People