About Grey Hair
Regardless of your age, there's very little you can do about grey hair once those first silvery strands begin to sprout from your temples. Grey hair is most commonly viewed as an inevitable part of getting old--or at least older. As television anchor Anderson Cooper so wittily put it, "Grey is nature's way of whispering 'You're dying.'" However, while it's true that most people grey with age, some people die with full, dark heads of hair while others, like Cooper, notice the first signs of greying in their early twenties. What is it about grey hair that evokes dread, discomfort and the desperate desire to reverse it? Does this Spark an idea?
-
Death of a Melanocyte
-
The greying process itself is fairly simple to understand. The color of each individual hair follicle is determined by a special stem cell called a melanocyte. These same melanocytes also regulate how much pigment, or melanin, is produced. Once a melanocyte dies, pigment production ceases, and the strand of hair grows out transparent or grey. However, various causes of grey hair have been thrown out on the table--illness, stress, smoking and even extreme fear or trauma. What really causes grey hair?
Genes & Gray Hair
-
How long your melanocytes live is largely determined by heredity. The presumption is that each melanocyte is "preset" to operate for a certain number of years, after which it ceases to function. Those who turn prematurely grey can rest assured: they won't die any sooner than their vibrant-haired peers, says Dr. Leo Clooney of Yale University School of Medicine. A New York Times article reported that results of a study of 20,000 men and women indicated that there were no links between grey hair and physical aging of the body. "I think the study shows that grey hair has something to with your genetics and very little to do with premature aging," Clooney commented.
-
The Stress Test
-
Certain genetic conditions, notably vitiligo, cause obvious patches of unpigmented hair and skin. Other medical conditions presumed to speed along the greying process are anemia and thyroid disorders. However, stress is often mentioned as a factor that causes hair to go grey. A 2009 study was undertaken to determine if irreparable damage to DNA caused by certain environmental and physical stressors can trigger grey hair. The Tokyo Medical and Dental University used mice, not humans, as their subjects. The mice were exposed to repeated full-body X-rays and chemical injections. The result? Their fur grew out unpigmented as a result of DNA weathering. According to the study's lead author, Emi Nishimura, results of the study suggest that genetic instability is a major factor in the aging process--which of course, includes grey hair.
Grey Hair Myths
-
The causes of grey hair have roots in urban and historical legend. Children's ghost stories are chock-full of protagonists whose hair goes white after a particularly frightening event. Legend also has it that historical figures such as Marie Antoinette and Sir Thomas More's hair turned white the night before they faced execution. The veracity of these tales is dubious at best. There is a medical condition called alopecia areata that causes pigmented hair to shed within a period of a few days, leaving grey hair intact. This could be one reason why a handful of people seem to go grey practically "overnight."
The Cure for Grey Hair
-
Unfortunately for those looking for a way to resuscitate dead melanocytes, there's no medical cure that can reverse the greying process. Various nonmedical consumer oral supplements, such as those containing the Chinese herb Fo-Ti, as well as supplements high in certain B vitamins, purport to cause grey hair to grow back to its normal shade. However, because there are no scientific studies to support these claims, they too can be considered dubious at best. The only way to "cure" grey hair is to resort to camouflage. For a sure cure for grey hair, simply reach for a box of hair dye.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit CNN's Anderson Cooper: grey at 20. (Photo: Greg Hernandez, Wiki Commons)
