Let’s start with the basics: how does your black or brown hair even turn grey or white in the first place? The bulb-like root of your hair is covered with a layer of cells called the follicle. Now, that layer of follicle contains cells that create the melanin colour pigment that gives our hair the colour that it is.

When we age, the number of ‘colour’ cells dwindle – resulting in lesser colour pigments in our hair. Therefore, we get the appearance of grey, patchy white, or literally colourless and transparent hair.

So, when do people usually start getting white hair? In a research study of Caucasians, 74 per cent of men and women will only experience significant greying hair between 45 to 65 years old. For us Asians, the amount of grey hair reported in this research was lower as compared to Caucasians.

However, that’s just a general guideline. Greying hair is most commonly influenced by genetics. A popular research from 2016 found that a gene called IRF4 (which participates in the factory line of melanin pigment production) dictates the age at which hair greying starts in all of us.

So, if you need an accurate benchmark for the age your hair should start greying, you’ve got to call your folks or flip through their photo albums.

However, if you started getting significant amounts of white or grey hair at a young age in your 20s or 30s, then you may have to take a serious look at the cause of your premature greying of hair (or ‘PGH’ in research studies).

Wait, why? Is premature greying hair bad? Well, a study has found that if your hair started greying or turning white at a young age, it points to metabolism issues, “premature [ageing] disorders, atopy, and autoimmune diseases”.

If none of the above causes checks out, then your greying and white hairs may seriously be caused by… stress. Unfortunately, when you’re stressed, your nerves produce a hormone called noradrenaline (or norepinephrine) which basically causes your hair pigment cells to break down and die.

Most of us may not be aware that we’re living in chronic stress. But if this resonates with you, then your body may be trying to tell you something. Back off from that chronic stress lifestyle and be kind to yourself!

If your diet is largely made up of instant noodles, fast food, chips, junk food, and processed foods, you may want to listen up. Your hair can tell you lots about your daily nutrition intake.

Your hair needs nutrition to produce the colour pigment that you see. So, all the usual vitamins and minerals like the entire family of vitamin Bs, vitamin D, iron, calcium, zinc, copper, biotin etc. should be abundant in the foods that you eat.

So, if you think that your white or greying hair is caused by a stressful lifestyle, habitual smoking, or bad diet and nutrition, you can actually try to keep the situation under control, stave off any further damage to your hair follicles, and possibly even reverse the damage.

Are you saying that my grey or white hairs can become black again?

Traditionally, science will tell you that stress-induced damage to the hair follicle pigments are irreversible. However, according to Science Focus, a study found that when an individual went on a vacation to reduce stress, the greying hair “reverted back to dark during the vacation”. Yes, that sounds like hope for most of us!

This article was originally published on July 8, 2021 and updated on June 4, 2023.

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