Cymet suspects that going gray is "genetically outlined, but stress and lifestyle give you variation of plus or minus five to 10 years." Blonds often appear to go gray later in life because white strands easily hide in a sea of light hair when in fact those who are likely to have the darkest hair (people of African and Asian ancestry) seem to retain their color longer.
In short, scientists are beginning to gather clues that stress can hasten the graying process, but there is no scientific evidence demonstrating a cause-and-effect relationship. So what happened to Marie Antoinette? There are at least three possible explanations: She may have suffered from sudden onset of the rare autoimmune disease alopecia areata, which attacks pigmented hairs, causing them to fall out, leaving the white (nonpigmented) strands behind. Or the stress of the situation could have generated a swarm of free radicals in her hair follicles, which traveled along the hair shafts, destroying pigment and creating a bleaching effect. Or maybe she just stopped wearing her wigs—revealing she had gray hair all along.Subscription Center
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Add CommentOne scientist from NEWZEALAND in 19th century conducted an experiment of temperature variation effect on hair on RABBIT. He found that at higher temperature as well as high fluctuation in temperature causes
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismore production of MELANINE pigment on skin and keratin in hair's. That means colden countries people are white
Is it possible that when you are under stress, your folicals stop producing the melanin/pigment; just like when stressed you lose or gain weight? I have often thought that. Many of my customers come into my shop, and complain about the hair graying and nobody in their family has gone gray that early, or that much.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would like to know if you take a pill called melancor, would it caused darkening in the skin, since it is a trigger for excreasing melanin? If you pull out gray hairs, would hair grow back there or baldness occures? Is there really something to correct premature graying?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi would like to know if there is a chemical pathway that connects melanin and adrenaline. a recent program about wolves on pbs stated that darker animals are less aggressive than lighter animals. can this possibly be true? if so, what are the ramifications for our "imperialistic" society, as mostly white americans who seem to have behaved aggressively to people with darker skin for most of our history as a country? are we a malignant race pre-ordained to clear the land of other less aggressive beings and take whatever resources we can find for ourselves?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe impact of stress is often a very individual experience. Given that, have you learned whether the their is a correlation between the type of stress, i.e. cognitive, physical, or emotion, and the graying of hair?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you.
Cathi
http://www.controlmystress.com/chronic-stress.html
I am 33 yrs old. Had a relationship for 2 years when i was in my early twenties and by the time my gf and I split up, my hair was turning grey pretty quickly. After we split up, I took it easy and didnt get into another serious relationship for almost 10 years. My hair went back to a dark blond. no kidding. Been in another long term relationship for nearly 3 years and my grey's come back! even worse than before just within the last 2 years! I believe without a doubt, stress or at least your surroundings can cause your grey. I don't know what that means for this relationship...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI will be 51 this year and only had a few, I repeat, a few strands of grey hair. Well, last year the atmosphere at my job began to change and I started stressing and dreading going to work, even moreso this year. Now, seemingly overnight, a multitude of grey hairs have appeared in my hair. I am amazed. I won't fully say that stress is causing my grey hair, directly, but the grey hairs are my body's reaction to stress. This makes their appearance an indirect cause of the what I'm experiencing. Someone in the above posts mentioned that our bodies react differently to stress. I agree.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisfrom the article: "Legend has it that Marie Antoinette's hair turned white the night before she was guillotined. Presumably the stress of impending decapitation caused her locks to lose color within hours. Extremely unlikely, scientists say, but stress may play a role in a more gradual graying process."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThose scientists wouldn't be saying that, if they'd been hanging-out with me last year.
Early in 2009 (61 yrs. old, then), my hair was brown, with enough gray present to lighten it to the point where some people perceived it as dark-blond. Late in February, I received some traumatic, devastating, life-changing news... and my hair turned entirely white... snowball-white... virtually overnight. Then, in June of 2009, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. I began chemotherapy, and within a few weeks, my hair had fallen-out... ALL of it. After a couple more months, though, my hair started growing back... surprise... BEFORE the chemo was complete. But there was ANOTHER surprise, along with that... my new hair was coming-in BROWN. I started 2010 with hair darker than what it was at the beginning of 2009.