The mission to reverse grey hair has been ongoing for decades. Hair greying affects 74% of people aged 45-65 [1], and men tend to develop more greys than women.
While hair greying is a natural part of ageing, many people are keen to restore a more youthful appearance. Adding colour to your hair or blending greying roots into dark brown hair is a temporary solution, but is there a more permanent fix? In this article, we’ll explore:
You may be able to reverse grey hair, especially if you’re under 40 and prematurely greying due to changeable factors like stress. A small study identified periods of stress-related greying and reversal in participants with an average age of 35 [2]. It’s also worth noting that stress and anxiety can cause hair loss.
However, reversing your grey hair is much less likely if you’re older. To reverse grey hair, you need enough melanocyte stem cells (McSCs), which produce pigment cells (melanocytes) for your hair.
These stem cells stop working with age, and hair greying is thought to be irreversible when they do [3]. However, current research is limited, and more studies are needed before the reversal of grey hair in older adults can be ruled out. If scientists can find a way to reactivate those stem cells, it may be possible to permanently reverse grey hair.
Greying hair is a normal part of the ageing process. McSCs often stop working as we age due to the products of oxidative stress [4].
Oxidative stress is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants. McSCs fail before our hair follicle cells, meaning that our hair keeps growing, but there is no melanin (pigment) [5]. This makes it appear grey.
However, several factors affect the speed at which this happens. Some people grow old and never get grey hair, while others go prematurely grey as young as 20 years old.
This variance is linked to a range of genetic and environmental factors. One of these is ethnicity—people of Asian and African descent have fewer grey hairs than Caucasians of the same age [1].
Some people also have a streak of grey, white, or discoloured hair called poliosis. This can develop from birth or later in life.
One study (conducted in Saudi Arabia) suggests the most common factors linked with premature greying are [7]:
Let’s explore some of these in more detail.
Genetic factors play an important role in hair greying. However, the exact impact of genetics on hair greying is complex and hard to predict [8]. Research is ongoing in this area to gain a better understanding of the impact of hereditary factors on greying hair.
There’s a significant link between smoking and premature grey hair [9], as well as smoking and hair loss. Smoking increases oxidative stress in the body, damaging melanocytes and contributing to the process that leads to greying hair [9].
Research suggests that certain nutrients are important to prevent premature greying. For example, a 2019 study found premature greying was significantly associated with iron deficiency [10].
A 2013 study suggests nutrients such as calcium, ferritin, and vitamin D3 may play a role in premature greying [11], however, it only included 35 participants. There is also low-quality evidence to suggest that supplementing with vitamin B complex can promote the darkening of grey hair [12]. However, many studies in this area are not robust enough to draw firm conclusions about the role of vitamin deficiencies in premature greying.
Some medical conditions can cause white or grey hair. In alopecia areata, white blood cells mistakenly attack hair follicles and cause patchy hair loss. This condition may target only pigmented hair in some cases, sparing grey hairs and creating the appearance of rapid greying [13].
In other cases of alopecia areata, previously pigmented hair may grow back white when hair loss stops. Some people’s hair eventually returns to its normal colour, while others have hair that remains permanently white. The reason for this difference remains unclear to scientists [14].
A 2024 study suggests that an underactive thyroid may also be linked to premature greying [15]. However, this study was conducted in India with only 75 participants, and limited research supports this further. The link is not yet as clear as the one between thyroid dysfunction and hair loss.
Vitiligo is another condition that can cause white or grey hair. It can develop anywhere on the skin but usually starts on the face, arms, hands, or feet [16].
Vitiligo can start at any age but often begins before age 20, making it a condition that can affect individuals from a young age [17]. This condition damages pigment cells, so the areas affected will lose their skin pigment and hair colour. This results in patches of lighter skin, and the hair in those areas turns grey or white.
Emotional stress may add to oxidative stress, damaging hair follicle melanocytes and contributing to premature greying [18]. A 2018 study based in India explored this link and found that 83.59% of patients with premature greying had high stress levels, compared to 29.51% of controls [19]. This underscores the importance of managing stress for overall health, including hair health.
There are several ways to potentially reverse or delay grey hair. However, research on reversing grey hair is limited, so these will remain potential treatments until further studies prove their effectiveness.
Premature greying may be reversible by reducing stress [2]. A 2021 study aligned patterns of greying and reversal to periods of emotional stress, suggesting that reducing stress may reverse hair greying in these people [2]. However, the study size was very small, involving only 14 participants.
Here are some stress management techniques that could help reduce premature greying.
Regular exercise
Getting moving is one of the best ways to reduce stress. Regular exercise can significantly improve stress and anxiety [20], which could potentially delay or even reverse greying hair if you were going grey due to stress in the first place.
Healthy sleep habits
Sleep quality affects psychological stress, and stress affects sleep [21]. When you’re tired or chronically underslept, it becomes harder to regulate your emotions and you can become stressed more easily. When you’re stressed, you may lie awake and struggle to sleep, worsening the problem.
Addressing your sleeping habits can help you feel more calm and relaxed. Try to wake and sleep at the same time each day, create a bedtime wind-down routine, and keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet.
Mindfulness and meditation
Practices such as meditation may help to reduce stress [22]. Other mindful practices include deep breathing exercises and activities like drawing, painting, yoga, or gardening, which combine mindfulness with gentle exercise.
Social support
Building a strong social network of family, friends, or co-workers can reduce stress. When faced with stressful life events, having a trusted network to support you helps to reduce the stress you experience [23].
There are several medications that have been linked to repigmentation of grey hair. However, these drugs are not suitable for generally healthy people in most cases. Types of drugs that have been linked with hair repigmentation include [3]:
The way in which these drugs cause hair repigmentation is poorly understood. But the fact that medications can have this effect means that specific anti-greying medication may be developed in the not so distant future.
Eating a balanced diet for healthy hair may help to reverse grey hair. However, this will likely only be the case if your greying was due to nutritional deficiencies in the first place.
There are very old studies that report the repigmentation of grey hair through vitamin supplementation, but these have not been replicated or verified [12]. The current scientific opinion is that vitamin supplementation is unlikely to reverse grey hair except, possibly, in the case of severe deficiencies [12]. Further research is needed on the role of supplements in delaying or reversing grey hair.
A hair transplant is not a treatment to reverse grey hair, as transplanted hair will have the same characteristics as the donor hair. If you are going grey, your new transplanted hair will continue to go grey in the same way.
However, a hair transplant works well for grey hair if you have male or female pattern baldness. While it won’t change your hair colour, a transplant can restore thick, healthy hair growth to areas of thinning or balding. This procedure works just as well whether you have grey hair or not.
If you’re under 40 and experiencing grey hair, seek advice from a trichologist. Our expert hair doctors can conduct hair loss blood tests and other diagnostic trichology tests to identify any issues that may be causing your greying. They’ll then recommend a treatment plan to restore your locks to the healthiest condition possible.
If you have grey hair and you’re seeking a more youthful appearance, you may also be a candidate for a follicular unit extraction (FUE) or follicular unit transplantation (FUT) hair transplant. These procedures are highly successful for people with grey hair and can restore thick, healthy locks to areas of thinning or balding. To learn more about your options, book a consultation at one of our clinic locations today.
Keen to learn if you can reverse grey hair? Explore our frequently asked questions for expert insights on restoring colour and boosting hair health.
Several natural methods, particularly those that reduce stress, may help you to naturally reverse premature grey hair. These include exercise, mindfulness practices, healthy sleep habits, and building a supportive social network. A balanced diet may also help if your grey hair was caused by nutrient deficiencies.
There’s some research to suggest that supplementing with vitamin B complex (which often contains B12) may make grey hair darker [12]. However, this research is low-quality, and further studies are needed to confirm this possible link.
The average age to start going grey is in your 30s [24]. When you reach 30, your chance of developing grey hair increases by 10-20% every decade. However, this varies by many factors including ethnicity; Caucasian people usually develop grey hairs earlier than people of African or Asian descent [1].
Grey hair has some melanin left in it, while white hair has none at all. Usually you first develop grey hairs, which gradually turn white as pigment production slows down then stops completely.
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