Visitors to a Dundee Science Festival event have been given the somewhat surprising news that grey hair does not exist.
Sonia Morrison, who gave a talk titled The Science Behind Hair at McIntyres in Union Street on Tuesday evening, explained why there was no such thing.
She said: ”Melanin is responsible for giving colour to hair. The production of melanin stops as we get older and that is what turns your hair white. It is actually colourless.
”When colourless strands sit next to your own natural colour of hair, that is when it can start to look grey. Dark natural colour next to white looks grey.”
Ms Morrison travels all over Scotland for her employer Wella, delivering education packages in salons.
She said: ”It’s exciting participating in the science festival. Talking to non-hairdressers is something a wee bit different.”
Why the sun lightens hair yet darkens skin, what makes some people blond and others brunette and what causes split ends were also discussed.
McIntyres hosts another festival event today. The Scalp Clinic will show how new scientific techniques can improve hair, with a specialist analysing hair and scalp.
How science fiction becomes science fact was the topic of another festival discussion on Tuesday, this time at the McManus Galleries.
Dr Keith Williams, a lecturer in English at Dundee University, spoke about the works of H.G. Wells.
Event organiser Dr Jon Urch said: ”Things that we take for granted in our lives these days were once the stuff of fantasy.”
To find out more about this week’s upcoming events visit www.dundeesciencefestival.org