Stress may or may not cause graying.
When President Barack Obama went gray his first term in office, was it stress? According to scientists, the verdict is still out. In 2011, a study by Nobel Prize winner Robert Lefkowitz discovered that long-term productions of the body’s fight or flight response—the instinctive ability to mobilize energy in response to a threatening situation—can damage your DNA and cause premature aging, like gray hair.
Meanwhile, Rachel Grante, Colour Director at Arthur Christine salon, tells BlackDoctor.org graying is caused “mostly by stress.”
“If an individual goes gray before their time (my mother went gray in a day after she received a heart transplant) it is likely due to a high level of stress or internal issues like diet, depression, being gravely ill and neglecting to take your vitamins or eat enough protein,” she added.
Blame your genomes!
“Genetics is also a factor,” Grante said of clients she’s seen who have gone gray as young as 17-years-old. According to NCBI, Grante is spot on. From birth, your genes are already hardwired for when and how your hair will turn gray. Dermatologists go by the 50/50/50 rule of thumb: by age 50, half the population will have at least 50 percent gray hair. Although a worldwide survey showed that number was much lower, with only 6 to 23 percent of people half gray by age 50.
While you can’t change your genes there are several things you can do to avoid becoming an accidental victim of early onset salt and pepper strands. For example, eating foods such as liver, carrots and foods packed with vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants. Not only do these foods help prevent heart disease, cancer and other ailments, some researchers believe they also prevent gray hair. Nice!