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Hair comes in many different lengths, styles, colors, and textures. Yet just about everyone – no matter what kind of hair they have – falls prey to at least one hair problem at some point in life. When Marie Antoinette was captured during the French Revolution, her hair reportedly turned white overnight.
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Studies have cited DNA damage and a buildup of hydrogen peroxide in the follicles as possible causes of this disruption in melanin production. Without melanin, the new hair that grows in has no pigment, which makes it appear gray, white, or silver. "Hair that has already grown out of the follicle won't change color due to stress or any other external factors," board-certified trichologist Helen Reavey says. In the study, researchers provoked a stress response in the mice.
What are common types of hair loss?
Without stem cells left to create new pigment cells, new hair turns gray or white. In experiments on laboratory mice, the researchers found that hair-raising experiences cause sympathetic nerves to release norepinephrine, which causes excessive activation of stem cells. Those cells migrate from the storehouse and become pigment cells or move to the skin.
Stress can turn hair gray -- and it's reversible, researchers find
But a 2020 study on mice found that the body’s response to acute stress plays a key role in turning hair gray. The researchers eventually turned to the neurotransmitter noradrenaline, which, along with corticosterone, was elevated in the stressed mice. They found that noradrenaline, also known as norepinephrine, was key to stress-induced hair graying. By injecting noradrenaline under the skin of unstressed mice, the researchers were able to cause melanocyte stem cell loss and hair graying. To connect stress with hair graying, the researchers started with a whole-body response and progressively zoomed into individual organ systems, cell-to-cell interaction and, eventually, all the way down to molecular dynamics. The process required a variety of research tools along the way, including methods to manipulate organs, nerves, and cell receptors.
Why does hair turn gray? A new study says 'stuck' stem cells may be the cause - NPR
Why does hair turn gray? A new study says 'stuck' stem cells may be the cause.
Posted: Fri, 21 Apr 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Some people start to go gray young, known as premature graying. “We know that peripheral neurons powerfully regulate organ function, blood vessels, and immunity, but less is known about how they regulate stem cells,” Chiu said. After systematically eliminating different possibilities, researchers honed in on the sympathetic nerve system, which is responsible for the body’s fight-or-flight response. The study, published in Nature, advances scientists’ knowledge of how stress can impact the body.
Unless you dye, your hair eventually loses its color, usually beginning in your 30s or 40s. Though going gray is natural, many people dread it because of society’s notions about aging. Here’s what researchers know about how and why graying hair happens.
Are Grey and White Hairs Permanent?
Zinc pyrithione, an ingredient in many dandruff shampoos, can help a drying scalp even if you don’t have dandruff and may promote hair growth. Early evidence suggests that fish oil supplements can promote hair growth. Normally, our hormones change with age, leading our hair to shed more and grow back more slowly. That stress is prompted by an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in your body that can damage tissue, proteins, and DNA, Kasey Nichols, NMD, an Arizona physician and a health expert at Rave Reviews, told Healthline.
Blame the mind-mitochondria connection
Can Your Hair Turn Gray Overnight? - The Cut
Can Your Hair Turn Gray Overnight?.
Posted: Thu, 04 May 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The scalp contains a natural oil called sebum, which helps keep the skin lubricated. Sometimes these glands work overtime and produce too much oil, leading to a greasy scalp. Greasy hair can look dull, limp, and lifeless, and it may be more difficult to manage. To treat greasy hair, try washing with a gentle shampoo that is specially formulated to control sebum. As they age, men tend to lose the hair on top of their head, which eventually leaves a horseshoe-shaped ring of hair around the sides. It's caused by genes from both parents – the idea that men take after their mother's father is a myth.
Scientists have put a lot of effort into investigating the cause of gray hair, and they believe they've gotten to the root of the problem. Hair gets its color from a pigment called melanin, which is produced by melanocyte cells in the hair follicles. Researchers have discovered that melanocytes endure damage over the years, which eventually leaves them unable to produce melanin.
With fewer pigment cells, there is less melanin in the hair follicles. Eventually, your hair grows without melanin and it becomes grey and then white. Norepinephrine affects the melanocyte stem cells living there. It causes them to rapidly turn into pigment cells and move out of the hair follicles.
"Everyone has an anecdote to share about how stress affects their body, particularly in their skin and hair — the only tissues we can see from the outside,” said Ya-Chieh Hsu, a cellular biologist at Harvard, in a press release. Quantitative mapping of human hair greying and reversal in relation to life stress. This article discusses the causes of grey and white hair, how stress plays a role in this, whether it is permanent and some tips to help prevent those premature greys.
To connect stress with hair graying, the researchers started with a whole-body response and progressively zoomed in on individual organ systems, cell-to-cell interaction, and, eventually, all the way down to molecular dynamics. The process required a variety of research tools along the way, including methods of manipulating organs, nerves, and cell receptors. Hair growth demands lots of energy and while strands are growing, cells receive signals from the body, including stress hormones, the authors write.
Melanocyte stem cells, which live within the hair follicle at the base of the hair strand, make melanocytes. Hair color is determined by melanocytes which produce the pigment melanin. The authors highlight the need to further study the interactions between the nervous system and stem cells in different tissues and organs. The knowledge gained in this work will be useful in future investigations into the impact of stress on the body and the development of new interventions. Generally speaking, stress interferes with the normal hair growth cycle.
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