• Question: does stress lead to grey hair

    Asked by diamondpwh to Helen, Jenni, Mark, Martin, Stu on 20 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by venusjwh.
    • Photo: Jenni Tilley

      Jenni Tilley answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      \this is an interesting question. Type ‘grey hair stress’ into google and lots of news articles appear telling you that yes, there is a link. However, the truth is we don’t know.
      The reason our hair changes colour is discussed here: /sportsj11-zone/2011/06/can-you-hair-colour-naturally-change-and-can-your-eyebrows-chage-colour. Briefly, grey hair is associated with your hair folicles stopping producing melanin, the natural dye that colours our hair. Some studies have shown that UV, radiation etc lead to production of stress hormones and stop stem cells from maturing into hair cells, but we’re not sure on the link with ‘life stresses’ yet.

      Whatever the answer is, I know that my mum’s hair was much greyer when I turned 18 than when I was 12… 😛

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