Natural health: Stress and grey hair

Megan Sheppard answers your question on the causes of grey hair and how best to deal with it using natural methods. 

Q. Is it true that stress causes grey hair? Is there anything I can do to reverse it?

A. In a way stress certainly can contribute to grey hair — although, rather than causing it specifically to turn grey, it triggers a process that is already present in your genetic makeup.

There is at least one hypothesis suggesting that free-radical damage may be a factor in hair turning grey, indicating that these unstable molecules cause disruption to melanin production in the hair follicles.

Hair is built from the base upwards, eventually being largely made up of keratin, a colourless protein.

The melanin pigment giving hair its colour is manufactured by melanocytes, and only actually appears as two colour variations – eumelanin (dark brown/black), and pheomelanin (yellow/red).

Every time a new hair is constructed, the cells responsible for structure and colour must also be ‘assembled’ from the stem cells at the base of the follicle.

Melanocyte stem cells responsible for pigment production have been shown to have a shorter shelf life than the keratinocyte cells responsible for creating the hair itself, hence the tendency to sprout grey hairs before hair loss and thinning occurs.

The greying process has been observed to accelerate when an individual is under significant stress.

It has also been noted that the stress hormones can disrupt the signal between melanocytes and keratinocytes, which means that the melanin pigment is not manufactured to some hairs.

Once again, it is important to note that the likelihood of greying in the first place is largely genetically determined.

Blonde folk can carry non-pigmented hairs for many years before the numbers increase enough to appear white.

People of African and Asian ancestry with dark hair supposedly retain their natural hair colour for longer than blondes, however a non-pigmented or partially-pigmented hair stands out far more easily in dark hair.

Conventional hair colours in the darker shades are thought to be of a health risk, with clear links to Hodgkin’s lymphoma and leukaemia.

Repeated use of darker colours in particular is thought to be the issue.

Those opting to lighten up their hair will no doubt be relieved to find out that bleaches are considered to be relatively safe, with no significant long-term health risks.

Hair lightening that involves the use of highlights and foils (particularly where no contact with the scalp is made) reduces chemical exposure even further.

I have come across a number of natural methods for darkening the hair – which is not quite the same as reversing grey hair, but might be your best bet if your hair is naturally outside of the blonde/red realm.

BLACK WALNUT HAIR RINSE

3 tablespoons black walnut hull powder

4 cups of water

Gloves (to prevent staining)

Method:

1. Boil water. Mix walnut hull powder into the boiled water and leave overnight.

2. Strain the water and put gloves on.

3. Shampoo hair and then rinse with walnut mixture.

4. Leaving the rinse in, style hair as usual

SHAMPOO-IN COLOUR

1/2 cup Liquid Castile Soap

1 tablespoon Sage Leaf 1 tablespoon Rosemary leaves

1 tablespoon Peppermint leaves

2 teaspoons of black tea

1 teaspoon Olive oil

Method:

1. Boil water and steep the herbs in 1 cup of water for each herb. Infuse in a large glass jar with a lid for 45 minutes.

2. Strain all of the herbs and allow to cool.

3. Combine the liquid from the herbs and tea with the liquid Castile soap and oil, then transfer to a bottle.