While a small study from 2021 suggests that it may be possible in very specific, short-term scenarios, the definitive answer from experts in dermatology and trichology (specialists who study hair and the scalp) is probably not. At least not permanently.
"The arrow of time goes in one direction, and hair loses its color for a reason that doesn't seem to be reversible," says Martin Picard, associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia's Robert H. W. Bush Center on Aging. Butler" in New York.
Picard co-authored the 2021 study, published in the journal eLife, which examined the role of stress in the progression - and short-term reversal - of graying hair across a wide range of ages.
In the study, researchers examined people who had strands of hair with darker pigment at both ends but grey hair in the middle, and found that periods of reduced stress correlated with a temporary reversal of the greying process. In one participant, a two-week vacation resulted in hair repigmentation.
However, unlike the infamous story of Marie Antoinette, whose hair supposedly turned white overnight before her execution, it is important to remember that one or a few stressful days do not determine hair color. Instead, Dr. Antonella Tosti, a professor of dermatology and skin surgery at the University of Miami in Florida, said environmental factors can be more impactful than individual stressful events.
"Oxidative stress, such as that caused by smoking or air pollution, is something that definitely increases the risk of graying hair. It's still being clarified whether incorporating antioxidants into the daily diet through foods like blueberries or pecans can effectively combat these particular risks of graying hair," Tosti said.
.but there is some evidence to support the idea that a diet rich in antioxidants may reduce the effects of aging by helping to reduce damage to cells and DNA caused by unstable molecules called free radicals. Free radicals can occur naturally in the body and can also be caused by external factors such as smoking, exposure to ultraviolet rays and air pollution.
Unfortunately, reducing personal and environmental stressors still won't completely prevent graying hair. More than half of people begin to gray by age 50, and in people with a genetic lineage of early hair graying, genetics may play a bigger role than stress management, says Joshua Zeichner, MD, a dermatologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
"If you have a family history of early hair graying, you're likely to gray early, too. "I've never seen gray hair return to normal, which could mean there's a permanent change in the hair follicle itself," Zeichner said.
While there are still no fully effective treatments or solutions for gray hair, that doesn't mean experts are giving up.
One potential way forward lies in what happens to melanocytes - the melanin-forming cells in the hair responsible for color - in gray hair. Until now, scientists thought melanocytes die with age. But the results of a study on rats, published in the journal Nature in 2023, suggest that melanocytes may simply concentrate at the root of the hair follicle and not migrate up the strand to provide pigment.
According to Tosti, there is a possibility that through medical procedures these melanocytes could be reactivated to make hair dark again. However, there is currently no process that can achieve this.
Another option may be to treat oxidative stress, Zeichner said, by stimulating free radical-fighting enzymes in the scalp through topical application of antioxidants. But for now, non-medical treatments at the local beauty salon are probably the best bet for reducing graying.
"Right now, the only cure for gray hair is a good colourist," says Zeichner. | BGNES
