Where Does Gray Hair Come From?

Aging is an intrinsic part of life. Despite what certain Benjamin Button-esque celebrities would have you believe, expression lines, wrinkles, and saggy skin are a fact of life. Sometimes these signs appear earlier, sometimes later, but always—inevitably—they enter the scene. Faced with this irrefutable fact, there are two options: to understand aging as just another stage of life with its consequent physical and mental changes, or to deny it.

Gray hair is another one of those tell-tale symbols of aging—or, so we always thought. However, Robert H. Shmerling, senior teaching editor at Harvard Health Publishing, has some different ideas. After analyzing those pesky gray hairs’ origins, he’s found that there is more than one reason they appear.

To illustrate this, the doctor begins with a rather graphic example: the physical change of former President Obama before he ran for president and after he left office. If we contrast the before and after photos, the increased amount of gray on Obama’s head is pretty glaring. “It seems like the stress of governing a country would turn anyone’s hair gray,” notes Shmerling in an article on the university’s website. “But is stress really the culprit? And why does hair turn gray, even for those of us who don’t have a job as stressful as the President of the United States?” he asks.

According to the doctor, stress can definitely be a culprit—but gray hair actually comes down to genetics as well as certain diseases like vitiligo, vitamin B12 deficiency, alopecia areata.

Genetics, a key factor“Hair aging depends on both genetic and environmental factors, and has a key turning point around the fifth or sixth decade of life, where hair has less quality and volume, is frizzy, loses pigment and gray hair appears,” explains Judith Joseph, psychiatrist and ambassador for Vichy Laboratories.

Her argument matches Shmerling’s research. “The timing and depth at which gray hair turns white depends mainly on the genes we inherit from our parents. Although stress may play a role in the process, it would be more useful to look at past generations rather than our current stress levels to help us predict when or if we will turn gray. This is true whether we are the president of the United States or have a less stressful job.”

Stress, a covert culpritA hectic lifestyle can certainly cause hair to age, but it isn’t the direct cause of gray hair—it’s a little more round-about than that. “In humans, most gray hair is not related to stress. In fact, hair doesn’t actually ‘turn’ gray at all,” Shmerling says. “Once a hair follicle produces hair, the color is fixed. If a single strand of hair starts out brown (or red, or black, or blonde), it will never change color. Hair follicles produce less color as they age, so when hair goes through its natural cycle of death and regeneration, it is more likely to grow in gray from the age of 35. Genetics can influence when this starts.”

Although stress cannot change the color of individual strands of hair, it can trigger what is known as telogen effluvium, which causes hair to fall out up to three times faster than normal. “The hair grows back, so the condition does not cause baldness. But if you are middle-aged and your hair is falling out and regenerating faster due to stress, it is possible that the hair that grows back is gray instead of its original color,” Shmerling says.

Joseph explains it this way: “When we lose hair, we become stressed and release cortisol. This increase in cortisol can aggravate hair loss and alter hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, which would ultimately further exacerbate hair loss. It sounds like a classic case of the chicken or the egg, but this vicious cycle is well studied: we need to make sure we address both issues, stop hair loss and reduce stress levels.”

Aging consciouslyResearch shows that the way we perceive aging is also important, and can actually hasten or slow the process. “For example, those who see it as ‘bad’ or as ‘the loss’ of something they value end up manifesting more negative physical and emotional symptoms of aging. On the other hand, people who experience it as a natural process and feel grateful for living longer manifest fewer problematic physical and mental health symptoms related to aging,” the psychiatrist points out.

If we face it with a mindset of gratitude, enthusiasm, and curiosity, we age better in the long run. So… why don’t we? “Society tells us that we cease to be valuable as we age. However, many people feel that as they approach middle age, their skills and experiences have placed them at their peak performance. They feel confident, competent, and comfortable in their own skin. If they listen to the outside noise of the world, which often conveys the message that they should fear aging, they may miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to enjoy the process, with or without gray hair.”

Sounds like the best remedy for aging may just be to stop worrying about it—and possibly even embrace those grays.