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Like fine bank line on your nerve or aching joints , gray fuzz is conceive to be one of the many markers of sure-enough age . But for those of us not quite quick to embrace the grays , is it possible to reverse this operation ?
While a smallstudy from 2021suggests that this may be potential in very specific , light - terminal figure scenarios , the resonating answer from experts in dermatology and trichology ( specialists who study the hair and scalp ) is probably not . At least , not permanently .
When you go gray is not only determined by genetics but by environmental factors as well, experts say.
" The pointer of time run in one direction , and hair loses color for a reason that does not seem reversible,“Martin Picard , an associate professor of behavioural medicine at the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center in New York City , told Live Science in an e-mail .
Picard was a co - source on the 2021 study issue in the journal eLife that explored the function of emphasis in the advancement — and short - terminal figure turn around — of graying tomentum across a wide range of ages .
In the subject area , the researchers studied masses who had strands of pilus with darker pigment at either end but grey hair in the center , and found that catamenia of stress reducing correlate with a irregular turnaround of the graying process . In the case of one participant , taking a two - workweek holiday correlated with a repigmentation of hair .
When you go gray is not only determined by genetics but by environmental factors as well, experts say.
Related : Why does tomentum turn gray ?
However , unlike the infamous story ofMarie Antoinette , whose tomentum purportedly went white overnight before her execution of instrument , it ’s important to remember that one or a handful of nerve-wracking days does not determine your hair color . Instead , Dr. Antonella Tosti , a professor of dermatology and cutaneous surgery at the University of Miami in Florida , told Live Science that environmental factors can be more impactful than individual nerve-wracking event .
" Oxidative tension , suchas smokingor defilement , is something that definitelyincreases the risk of graying , " Tosti read . Whetherincluding antioxidants in your routine , such as antioxidant - fat foods like blueberries or pecans , can effectively battle these risks of gray hair specifically is still being make up one’s mind , she said . But there issome evidenceto support the idea that an antioxidant - rich diet can reduce effect of maturate by assist reduce cell andDNAdamage triggered by unstable molecules call loose radical . spare radicals can hap by nature in the body and they can also be triggered by outside factors such as smoke , ultraviolet radiation exposure and pollution .
More than half of men and women begin going gray by the age of 50.
Unfortunately , thin out personal and environmental stressors still wo n’t entirely prevent hair from turning gray . More thanhalf of peoplewill start go grey by the eld of 50 , and for somebody with a genetic lineage of early gray hair , genetics may bring a bigger role than stress direction , Dr. Joshua Zeichner , a skin doctor at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City , told Live Science in an email .
" If you have a kinfolk story of early graying then you are likely to go gray too soon also , " Zeichner say . " I have never seen grey whisker go back to normal , which may indicate that there is a permanent change to the hair follicle itself . "
While there are no amply effective treatment or solution to gray haircloth just yet , this does n’t mean that experts are give up .
— Why do men have facial hair but women do n’t ?
— Why do baby recede their tomentum ?
— Is it safe to apply hair dye ?
One possible path fore lies in what happens to melanocyte — a melanin - forming cell in the hair responsible for coloration — in gray hair . Scientists antecedently think that melanocyte die off with long time . But findings from a rat study published in the journal Naturein 2023 found that melanocyte may just become concentrated at the follicle rootage of hair , no longer migrating up the string to provide pigment .
Through aesculapian treatments , there ’s a possibility that these melanocytes could be reactivated , Tosti say , to make the fuzz dark again . However , there ’s currently no process that can achieve this .
A treatment for oxidative stress may be another avenue , Zeichner said , by hike free - radical fighting enzyme on the scalp through topical antioxidant program . But as for now , non - medical treatments at a local beauty salon are probably the best bet at deoxidize grays .
" Right now , the only cure we have for gray hair is a good colorist , " Zeichner said .
