Yes, we can reverse gray hair. No, we don't know why it works. Just chill.
Want your hair color back? Show your scalp to your doctor — and your boss.
By
Chris Taylor
on July 9, 2021
Say goodbye to gray hairs, if you can reduce your stress.
Credit: Oleksiy Maksy menko / imageBROKER / Shutterstock
There are so many news stories this year that seem likely to give us gray hairs, you'd be forgiven for missing one that gives us hope that we can restore those gray hairs back to their regular color — no dye required.
In the first published study to find evidence of "natural re-pigmentation," researchers at Columbia University set out to create a computer model of how hair graying happens with age and in response to stressful events. First they identified 323 proteins that tell us whether a hair was gray, white, or colored at any point in its history. Then they snipped colored and gray hairs from 14 participants who listed and rated the stressfulness of their life over the past year. We know that there's a connection between graying and high stress; you only have to look at the hair of ex-presidents who don't dye it to see that in action.