News just in: stress can make your hair turn grey
Nearly everyone has heard a phrase along the lines of “You make me stressed – no wonder my hair’s going grey!” (and if it wasn’t said by your mother, you had a very different childhood from most of us). But until now, we were very much under the impression that this was a myth, banished to the list of Weird Things Parents Say, along with “Carrots make you see in the dark,” and “Watching TV will give you square eyes.”
Alas – myth no more. Scientists at Harvard have now proved that stress can in fact make your hair turn grey, and we’re looking into the details…
We’ve known for a good while now that hair turns grey as a result of natural ageing, or, more rarely, pigment disorders. But as well as that, it seems a specific type of stress that’s linked to the brain’s fight-or-flight response is to blame for hair greying.
When this type of stress is present in our bodies, it stimulates a nerve response that activates certain stem cells that turn our hair grey.
We’re sorry to say that, as with so many experiments today, scientists figured this out by lab testing on mice. They induced three types of stress on these mice: physical pain, physical restraint, and psychological distress. All three stressors led the mice to develop grey hair.
The scientists then needed to find out what was causing the greyness. They eventually found that a sympathetic nervous response was causing an overload in the stem cells accountable for grey hair. Once they stopped the nervous response, the mice’s hair stopped being grey.
Another couple of scientists who weren’t part of the study had an interesting theory about why stress might cause hair to grey. They believed that grey hair was a sign of experience, intelligence and leadership – basically that you’ve been doing this life thing for quite a while now. They thought that grey hair could be a sort of status sign that you only earned after facing life’s ups and downs… plenty of downs.
We quite like this way of thinking, as we’ve always been of the opinion that grey hair should be celebrated for what it is. Obviously, your hair is your own to do what you want with, so if you want to cover up your greys with another colour, you’re perfectly free to do so. But embracing your grey hair is equally as liberating – even if you’re almost certain you’ve gone grey because of stress.
If you’d really rather your hair didn’t go grey just yet, there are a few natural remedies supplied by the good ol’ internet that may or may not work for you. Apparently, making sure to get enough vitamins, including B12 and zinc, is essential for preventing those early greys.
It’s thought that if you have a zinc deficiency, you risk either going grey or bald, so stock up on your fish, seeds, nuts and dairy if you think you might be missing out. If you’re vegan, you might struggle to get enough B12 because it’s mostly found in animal products, although many milks and cereals are now B12 fortified. B12 plays a vital role in cell division, and is needed to produce melanin, which gives hair its colour.
If you really enjoy your home remedies, it’s thought that using egg oil, which is essentially just whisked egg yolk, BTW, as a sort of twice-weekly hair mask will help your hair retain its natural colour. This is because egg yolk contains antioxidant xanthophylls (try saying that one out loud), like lutein and zeaxanthin, which slow down premature greying of hair and even reverse signs of early stage grey hair.
This mask is best applied and left overnight, so if you think you can sleep with egg yolk in your hair, apply it evenly from your roots to your tips, then cover safely with a plastic bag (optional but essential if you want to keep your pillow clean). For a less invasive approach, just apply the mask on a day off work and leave it on all day, in the hopes that your neighbour won’t pop round for a chat…
Wash it off and follow with your usual shampoo and conditioning routine. For bonus points, stopping smoking, getting enough vitamin D, and putting a lemon by your bed (?) are also supposed to keep the grey away.
Image credit: Design Studio