Health Editor’s Note: I do not have a problem with the scientific/medical process that stress can cause the body to stop producing melanin which is what gives color to our hair, eyes, and skin. I can easily see how that may or does happen. I do have an issue with someone’s hair turning white, even the part that is already grown out and has color, that is an impossibility unless someone has a dye job. Hair can begin to grow in white or a shade of gray, but what was there before the change to the melanocytes would stay the same, thus roots showing when hair has grown out after a color touch-up. I debunk the Marie Antoinette story…I bet she had a wig…Carol
When Stressed Out, Mice’s Fur Turns Gray Quickly
By Theresa Machemer/Smithsonianmag.org
On the night before her execution, Marie Antoinette’s hair is said to have turned completely white. John McCain, after enduring terrible conditions as a prisoner of war at age 36 in Vietnam, emerged with white hair, too. Age-old wisdom posits that stress can fuel such a dramatic loss of hair color. Now, a study published in Nature suggests that the adage might be true—at least when it comes to mice.
In each follicle of human hair are melanocyte stem cells (MeSCs), which differentiate into specialized cells called melanocytes. These cells, in turn, dictate hair color by injecting pigment into the hair’s keratin. Over time, a person’s stores of MeSCs are slowly depleted. For Nature, Shayla A. Clark and Christopher D. Deppmann explain that with age, pigment disappears from hair follicles, and a person’s hair gradually goes from “salt-and-pepper colored” to gray and then to white.
But scientists at Harvard University were interested in the processes that might fuel a more rapid loss of pigmentation. “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,” says senior author Ya-Chieh Hsu, a Harvard stem cell expert and regenerative biologist. “We wanted to understand if this connection is true, and if so, how stress leads to changes in diverse tissues.”
Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
ATTENTION READERS
We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully InformedIn fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.
About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
This phenomenon has different triggers:
1. One of my friends got gray hair when his dad died after Chernobil. Friend was 32 yo.
2. Another friend had to eject from the military training jet plane. Nothing serious. But got gray hait. He was 22yo.
3. My closer friend was a spetsnaz bro. After the clash with arab mercenaries during the 1st chechen war they were 2 left alive on the hill, surrounded by 60 terrorists, wounded. Machine gun and AK. No ammo. Asked by radio to open fire by howitzers on themself. Took little time. But he saw his comrade was throat cut by salafit bastards. Blew himself by the hand grenade, and the artillery blew them. Survived! Gray hair and no Ptsd. He was 31. Awarded the medal Hero of RF.
4. Another friend rushed in the street to save a little girl from a speedy car. Saved. All save and sound. Grey hair.
How it works?… I don’t know. I’m blond.
I have no doubt that stress causes white hair, all I have to do is look in the mirror!
nawlins, Also, genetics probably plays a big part in this. If you have parent (s) who had gray hair early on, you have a good chance of that happening to you.
I wonder if melanocytes have telomeres which are more susceptible to stress, causing them to shorten faster. Maybe they’re one of the first cell types to lose sufficient NAD+ ?
Edward, That sounds very plausible.
Comments are closed.