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The great myth of beauty … does stress give you gray hair? This has been a mystery since childhood, I’m sure your parents would tell you that if you missbehave you’ll get gray hair.

There have always been myths concerning our hair, like brushing your hair more times during the day keeps it healthier, or wash your hair with cold water makes it more resistant, things like that… Some truths, other exaggerations of our culture. But our gray hairs have a scientific reason to exist … so the question is… What is the factor that makes it appear? 

Does stress really give you gray hair?

Obviously age plays an important role, because as we age melanin production is reduced. This enzyme is responsible for pigmenting our skin and hair, so when we are older spots appear and our skin becomes uneven. The same applies to hair when it starts to turn gray, then turns white.

Changes in our hair also depend on our genetics. If your parents were graying at 40 years, chances are that you also passes through it.

About Stress

Certainly stress can accelerate the disappearance of our melanocytes, which are cells that produce melanin. Stress triggers in our body a number of hormones that cause inflammation, and produce free radicals that could influence negatively to the melanin in our body.

Stress is not healthy for our hair or the rest of our body. It fills us with anxiety, makes us weaker, it makes us more likely to lower our defenses and anti bodies to fight disease.

So, we can’t say that stress give you gray hair, but it surely is a factor that contributes to this.