On the one hand, you often hear in personal conversations and in the memories of people such phrases: “he took off his hat, but his hair is all gray”, “he came out all gray”, “and after that he turned all gray”. This usually refers to some kind of tough moments in life associated with tremendous fear, stress or moral stress. Military events are often accompanied by such stories. But was it really? Maybe this is some kind of exaggeration associated with stressful situations, including for witnesses? The hair was dusty, the light fell wrong and it seemed that the man was suddenly all gray all of a sudden.
But if you approach from a purely scientific point of view, then gray hair cannot very quickly spread along the entire length of the hair and discolor them. After all, living cells, where it is formed, are only at the base of the hair and a time equal to the growth of the hair must pass for it to become white.
Let's try to answer the questions and "can you turn gray from fear?" and "can you turn gray in 5 minutes?"
To date, this topic has been studied quite well. Hair color is determined by two pigments - yellowish pheomelanin and black-brown eumelanin. Accordingly, the entire gamut of possible shades of human hair is determined by the ratio of the production of these pigments by the body. The less eumelanin is produced, the more yellow the hair becomes. An increase in the concentration of eumelanin together with pheomelanin gives a consistently redhead, brown-haired or brunette. And with a low concentration of both enzymes, we get colorless hair. What actually happens when the hair turns gray.
When a person experiences intense fear or some other form of stress, a spasm of the blood vessels that feed the hair follicle occurs. As a result, the flow of melanins into the hair stops. The process is instantaneous, so the growth of gray hair begins immediately, and, as a rule, continues on an ongoing basis. Although in rare cases, spontaneous restoration of the color of hair that has turned gray from fear is possible. The likelihood of color restoration is somewhat increased if high-quality psychotherapy is carried out in a timely manner, which will remove the somatic consequences of fear.
However, you can turn gray not only from fear. In most cases, early gray hair is inherited. If the parents turned gray early, then the child is likely to have a similar situation. Another cause of early gray hair can be diseases that affect the hormonal system. These include mainly diseases that disrupt the functioning of the pancreas (diabetes) and the thyroid gland (thyrotoxicosis). Avitaminosis or the use of certain medications can also provoke early gray hair. Separately, it should be noted the cases of forced or voluntary reduction of protein in the diet. For the synthesis of melanin, certain amino acids are required, and in case of a protein deficiency, the body can begin to save on hair dyeing, which can also provoke early gray hair.
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Interestingly, graying hair cells often divide faster - especially in the core. The hair grows faster, its core becomes less dense, voids, air bubbles form in it. Light "bumps" into these voids, scatters in different directions, and because of this, the hair appears white (for the same reason, the foam, consisting of transparent water, appears white).
Well, we found the answer to the first question. But can you turn gray very quickly? Literally overnight or an hour? Moreover, these questions are connected: a person entered an abandoned house, got scared there and left it completely gray. Is it real?
From the point of view of official medicine, it is impossible to turn gray overnight. At least so far there is no theory that would admit and explain the possibility of such a phenomenon. After the hair stops receiving melanin, it grows colorless, that is, gray. But starting from the place that corresponds to the time of the experience of fear. The part of the hair that was formed earlier remains colored, since the pigments from it do not go anywhere.
However, there is and is constantly replenishing a huge mass of evidence of graying from horror in a few hours or a night. What attempts are being made to explain this? We can say with confidence that gray hair on short (almost bald) hair can become noticeable very quickly. Especially if the natural hair color is black, or the scalp is well tanned. The latter is often found among soldiers - they have a bald hair and their heads are very tanned in summer. And they quite often fall prey to stress. Therefore, even one millimeter of gray hair on their heads is already clearly visible, which gives food for talk about instant gray hair.
Another purely psychological explanation for rapid graying says that a strong fear can cause not only a malnutrition of the bulbs, but also hair loss. In medicine, sudden graying is called canities subita. The best explanation for this process is not that the hair changes color, but that pigmented hair falls out. A condition called alopecia areata causes hair to fall out rapidly, resulting in hair loss. It is believed that an autoimmune reaction leads to it - when the body's defense systems harm the body itself. Stress can be an aggravating factor, potentially explaining the relationship between gray hair and frightening events. In some cases, gray hair is not affected by this condition.
It turns out that a strong shock can lead to the loss of exclusively colored hair, and then a person who has already begun to turn gray will only have gray hair. Or the immune response may interfere with the pigment-making system. This could explain why unpigmented hair follicles do not experience alopecia. But this theory has many critics.
In general, the topic "turned gray in 5 minutes", although very often encountered in artistic creation, medicine cannot yet give any definite answer to this.