Can Stress Turn Hair Gray? And Can It Turn Back?
Quantitative mapping of human hair greying and reversal in relation to life stress
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Human hair can naturally reverse graying without medication.
It was widely believed that hair graying is irreversible due to permanent loss of melanocyte stem cells. This study shows repigmentation can occur naturally in healthy adults, contradicting that assumption.
Practical Takeaways
Reducing chronic stress may help slow or even partially reverse visible signs of aging like gray hair.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Human hair can naturally reverse graying without medication.
It was widely believed that hair graying is irreversible due to permanent loss of melanocyte stem cells. This study shows repigmentation can occur naturally in healthy adults, contradicting that assumption.
Practical Takeaways
Reducing chronic stress may help slow or even partially reverse visible signs of aging like gray hair.
Publication
Journal
eLife
Year
2020
Authors
Ayelet M. Rosenberg, S. Rausser, Junting Ren, E. Mosharov, Gabriel Sturm, Todd Ogden, Purvi Patel, R. Soni, Clay Lacefield, D. Tobin, R. Paus, M. Picard
Related Content
Claims (7)
Some people's gray hairs can naturally turn back to their original color, and this can happen to anyone — no matter their age, gender, or where the hair is on the body.
When your hair turns grey, the cells in the hair might be changing how they use energy and protect themselves, turning up certain proteins that help with these jobs.
When people go through stressful times, their hair might start to grey — and when stress goes down, some might actually see their hair regain color. This has been noticed to happen around the same time as changes in stress levels.
When gray hair starts to regain color, it happens just as fast or a bit faster than when it turned gray in the first place — sometimes in just days or weeks.
Sometimes, multiple hairs on the same person's head go grey or even regain color at the same time — this might mean the body's internal systems are controlling hair color changes together.