Why Does Hair Turn Gray?

As with vitiligo in the skin, buildup of hydrogen peroxide kills the pigment cells in hair follicles.

This is the first video in a two-part series on graying hair. Stay tuned for Reversible Causes of Prematurely Graying Hair ( ).

What about hair loss? Check out this three-part series:
• Supplements for Hair Growth ( )
• Pills for Hair Growth ( )
• Food for Hair Growth ( )

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-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

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Leroy Johnson
 

  • @crowdofdissidents155 says:

    Better gray than dye

  • @alexraptor1347 says:

    And here i am having gray here since 17 years old 😢

  • @curtishenschen7311 says:

    Better gray than gone.

  • @aurorajones8481 says:

    So is there a way we can take the antioxidant enzyme to help rebuild the colorizors?

    • @radeklatal810 says:

      Unlikely unfortunately, since enzyme are sort of micromachines made of protein and we know what happens to protein in the digestive tract…

  • @STERNWAERTS says:

    i’m 31, have all my hair and healthy hair, i eat well and take supplements, but there’s quite a few grey ones in there too. i blame it on a solid amount of emotional stress that i went through between age 25 and 30. distress of any kind will lead to oxidative stress on a cellular level…

  • @eng.miroslavmanahilov1944 says:

    I had graying hairs in school, but after I become vegan in university they were gone, colleges started asking if I dye my hair.

    P. S. I am not a junk food vegan, the opposite.

  • @katvillain says:

    I started getting grey hairs around age 25 (as a Caucasian) but once I went vegan a couple years later, I’ve developed next to zero new grey hairs in the past 10 years. I just have the same ones I noticed over ten years ago. I was eating like crap before, and switched to a wfpb diet. I really believe it has to do with nutrient consumption (at least until we’re much older).

  • @dianeladico1769 says:

    My mother claimed all her grey hair was because of me.

  • @joefriendly says:

    Long ago I witnessed at an MIT lecture neuro-anatomist Walle Nauta report he had observed from several dissections of embryos that each region of the brain has a dendrite that migrates around the skull to a particular scalp hair follicle. So graying and baldness are result of changes in particular parts of the brain.

  • @lint8391 says:

    Oxidation strikes again!
    Let me guess, eating lots of anti-oxidants may reduce the rate at which we go grey. Therefore an unprocessed plant based diet is the best counter to going grey?

  • @disolverofsouls says:

    I’m almost 48 and have no grey hairs, except if I let my beard grow, that’s where the greying has started. I have been eating mostly plantbased for the last 10 years, and i take some B vitamins.

  • @soSEW-COB says:

    My hair was thinning and going grey. In 2021 my doctor was very concerned with my blood work, on my own I went whole food plant based & S.O.S. free eating. Now, I still hv some grey, tucked under my natural colour that has returned.
    Our bodies repair when fed with real food ! 🥬
    👋 Dr.Greger, sad I missed ur talk when u were in Toronto, recently.
    Chris, Ont 🇨🇦 👋

  • @JaneDough-i2c says:

    Im glad I quit coloring my hair. I love my gray hair😊 Being WFPB I get asked where do I get my protein. I have just as much hair as I always have, and it grows superfast. So, not worried about my protien at age 72.

  • @bobbyjones9461 says:

    So good answer to the first of two questions you said you would be answering. How it occurs…But now we are just missing, ‘what can you do about it?’

  • @VeganPrepper says:

    I remember getting my first gray hair at 15, and I went significantly gray in my 20s. Now I’m 41 and most of my hair is gray. One of my sons now has his first gray hairs at 18, and my 23 year old son has some nice salt and pepper coming in at his temples already. Apparently my grandfather did the same thing. I remember his hair being almost white in his 50s. I actually hope my hair turns completely white. That would be so cool. My husband has almost no gray hair in his mid forties. It’s interesting how it all comes together.

  • @Jamesnebula says:

    Dr Gregor’s next book is titled. How not to dye. 😃

  • @KinaStaru says:

    So I love to dye my hair with vegan friendly hair dyes. BUT you have to first bleach your hair to get it to the right tone so that the cute pastel colors can be used. Otherwise they won’t show. BUT this process requires to bleach so this means let the hair fully exposed to hydrogen peroxide and high levels even upto 40% and let it sit for 40 min. This is crazy, because it means it would also cause gray hairs to permanently show there. Didn’t understand why so many gray hairs show up and now it’s too late. It’s funny because the only 2 hair sections that I bleached, those sections got overrun by actual gray hairs. Didn’t even think it was due to the hydrogen peroxide. I just thought, damn I’m getting old must dye this gray hair before they are more noticeable and turns out, I end up making things worse…

  • @debstayblessed9549 says:

    I heard grey hair is usually a copper deficiency. Double checked it could also be a deficiency of b12 and folate. 🎉

  • @michaelwatts1186 says:

    It’s a vitamin and mineral deficiencies. When micronutrients are depleted or low levels in human body you get grey, hair loss, skin is dull, and bad oral teeth. When you have a lack of fat and protein in your diet these variables will happen sooner than later.

  • @offilawNoone says:

    Almost all the Koreans I know went gray before they were 30. I started getting gray hair in middle school, and 10-20% of my hair went gray before I was 30.

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