Grey Hair Gene

Grey Hair Gene
Grey hair may not be inevitable in the future

Grey hair is something we can all look forward to.  That the genes have something to do with it is pretty clear.  Some people go grey in their twenties – a few put it off until their fifties or even later.  And it is very rare that someone goes grey and then turns back again.  So it is a pretty safe bet that this is not strongly an environmental thing.  

And in fact a detailed study in Latin America has now revealed the details of that genetic mechanism.  The surprise is that at first sight it looks a lot simpler than might have been expected.  There is a gene for hair greying.  I wasn’t expecting that.  I was rather assuming that it would turn out to be the result of some subtle and complicated interplay of several genes.

Things look a lot simpler now, with what looks like a single gene being responsible for grey hair. This means that if a way can be found to block the expression of this gene, then there could be a ‘cure’, and we can keep our natural hair colour much later in life.  This is all very much at the initial stages right now.  A product won’t be appearing on the shelf anytime in the next few years.  And there is no indication, at least not in public, of just how the blocking could be done.  It might not be possible to deliver it in the form of a pill – it might take a lot more intervention than that.

I am very aware of this because I once saw a demonstration of a cure for greyness based on a very sound bit of science.  A dermatologist suggested that there might be a simple way to prevent greying.  One misconception you still see is that grey hair is grey because the body has stopped producing melanin. This isn’t quite how it works.  The melanin is still produced but it is produced in a less organised way so that it reflects light differently.  The proposal was that this disorganisation resulted from overproduction of hydrogen peroxide.  This is a mild bleaching agent that is produced in the body, so that was believable.  She had taken it a stage further and come up with a system that soaked up the hydrogen peroxide.

It sounded like a plausible theory.  She was confident enough to try it on her greying husband’s hair.  Sadly, it just didn’t do what it was supposed to and he remained exactly as grey as when the trial started.   Nature doesn’t give up easily and I suspect that even with a big clue from the genetics this is going to be a tough problem to solve.

But even allowing for that, I think this is a remarkable bit of research and quite a turn up for the books.  It is amazing that we are even this close.




https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0316/010316-first-grey-hair-gene-discovered

5 thoughts on “Grey Hair Gene”

  1. My grandmother supposedly went gray in her early 20’s. Her husband wasn’t even 100% in his 90’s. I spent much of my 20’s being terrified every time I looked closely in the mirror and watching how it was becoming harder and harder to find that bluing stuff my grandmother always used to make it “prettier”. I finally gave up in a way and started watching my parents. They started during the more traditional ages. At 45, I think I have a few but they blend so well with my dishwater hair that I actually have to yank them and put them on a white sheet of paper to tell.

    I have no idea why I’m saying all of the above. Like you said, it happens to everyone at some point. On some it looks good and on some it doesn’t add much to their overall looks. It’s part of life, a sign of wisdom, hopefully, if not that, at least a sign of experience. Thank god they don’t use that bluing stuff much anymore, I haven’t seen it in years!

  2. Really interesting! Especially because I have a weird personal experience. My dad kept his dark hair till his fifties – until he was operated and treated for brain tumor 🙁 (he didn’t receive chemo but other treatments) When his hair grew back after operation, it was white! Pearly white!! But that wasn’t all. Over the next three years, the hair returned to brown. First in patches (like Cruella De Vil 😀 ), then solid brown. And it has remained brown ever since. Never heard of anything like… Anyone else got in their mind the old belief that you could get so scared your hair turned white…?

  3. Pingback: The Best Beauty Bloggers to Follow in 2017 - Dr. Leslie Baumann

  4. I search for everything that will work for reversing age and there are videos I watch where people are taking specific foods for juicing to reverse aging as well as hair and also applying certain food mixes often that supposedly do that. It does have a great deal to do with organic foods and fresh foods. Also other countries have foods that are healing to the body. Lest we forget that the medical industry doesn’t want people to be well!!!!

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