Why You've Got Gray Hair—and What to Do About It
By Jake Woolf.
I'm 25 years old, and until a few months ago, I never had a gray hair. I had platinum hair once by choice, but no naturally occurring white strands. But recently, a few gray hairs sprung up on my head, and I took it as a not-so-subtle reminder that my youth was officially dead. Like any rational human being, I immediately became obsessed with these stray grays and wanted them not only to go away, but to stop them from growing at all. There's nothing wrong with being a silver fox—in fact, I know a lot of people who enjoy the sophisticated appearance of a gray-haired gentleman—it's just something I would be more comfortable embracing in a decade or two. And between the fear of going gray and going bald, it's the latter that truthfully scares the shit out of me.
So, rather than trust the hypochondria-inducing world of Google and Web MD, I decided to reach out to a real-life dermatologist for some expert advice on going gray. Unfortunately, it turns out even the world's foremost scientists know a lot less about why the hell our hair stops making pigment than I thought they would. Which is a bummer. But there was some insight that Dr. Evan Rieder, who is an assistant professor in the Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU, was able to give me about the graying process and what scientists do know about it. He also updated me on the latest advancements in hair replacement, should my biggest hair fear—the loss of hair itself—ever becomes a reality.
GQ: Let's start with the obvious: Why does hair go gray?
Dr. Evan Rieder: There are two different cells in the skin. Keratinocytes and melanocytes, which make up the pigment. Melanocytes have two types of pigment, one called Eumelanin which is a dark pigment and one called Pheomelanin which is a light pigment. Those pigment cells from the skin end up transferring their pigment to the hair. Between the two types of pigment, they sort of blend together to create the range of colors you see in the hair. So if you think about gray hair, it basically has less melanin, and white hair has none. The thing is we're not exactly sure why this happens, but the general thought is that it's multi-factorial.
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Wait, doctors don't know why we go gray?
Well, age certainly plays a part in this, but it's not a uniform process for everyone and it's not uniform for people across different races. So there are also genetic factors that play a role in this as well, meaning some people are just more pre-disposed to go gray. There is also some thought that there are environmental factors like stress, but that's a little bit controversial.
Why is it controversial?
My understanding is that is that the studies have been inconclusive. There was a study that came out a few years ago that said scientists had discovered that stress played a major role in going gray, but a competing group of trichologists, who are the hair experts, said it was kind of bogus. So there are probably lots of things that play a role, but the main things are age and genes. There was also a big review article about ten years ago that found that the earliest people to go gray on average were Caucasians, then Asians, and then Africans.
READ MORE: Gray Hair Gods Who Prove That Getting Older Ain’t all That Bad
I saw an article that said scientists had located the specific gene that makes people go gray and were testing to see if they could somehow "turn it off." Do you know much about that?
I saw one paper in Scientific American talking about that, but I don't think it's been widely accepted.
Is there any way to slow down the process of going gray?
I wish, but I don't think there's anything out there. But doesn't GQ say it's stylish to be a silver fox these days? Really the only thing to do is dye your hair, but I wouldn't recommend plucking them because you can do trauma to the hair follicle.
Have you heard of the vampire facial?
Is there any link between grayness and baldness?
I don't believe there's a connection. When you're talking about gray hair, you're talking about the loss of pigment in the hair. The process of balding is the process of miniaturization of the hairs over time. There's what's called terminal hairs which are on the top of our head, and they become much smaller over time for some men. So it's not that the density of the hair becomes less, it's just that the thickness of the hair itself diminishes.
Have there been any scientists advancements in the world of treating baldness recently, and if so what are they?
Some of these things are kind of controversial, but I usually tell people to start with Rogaine. It has been clinically proven to grow hair, and it's usually well tolerated. The only thing is you have to use it every day or the gains you've made will be lost over time. Most hair medications are lifelong medications.
The only thing that can actual permanently stop the process is a hair transplant. There have also been discoveries that a few medications originally intended to treat the prostate can actually stop the conversion of a couple male sex hormones. It's called Propecia, though there are some reported side effects with it. The guys have been few and far between, but they've reported low mood and some sexual side effects like decreased drive. There's actually a class-action lawsuit going on right now, but I'm not sure it has any merit.
There have also been advancements in hair transplants in what's called follicular unit extraction. They can take hairs from the back of the hair, and you can put them on the top of the head to give a more natural appearance. And now they can do it using a robot, which will do the extractions and place them back on the scalp. The last thing is called platelet rich plasma... have you heard of the vampire facial?
I have not.
Kim Kardashian had it done a couple years ago. What happens is that you extract some blood, some of your own blood, and you extract the growth factors in this serum. We've found that injecting this serum can help with a lot of different things. Kobe Bryant got injections in his knee to help replace the cartilage there, and Kim Kardashian got it for facial rejuvenation, decreased wrinkles, and evening out the skin. So we've also seen that when it's injected into the scalp, it can actually regrow hair. We know that these growth factors are very important to getting hair to grow. It doesn't work for everyone, but it has been effective in many people. People also feel comfortable with it because it's their own growth factor from their body instead of some foreign substance.
Last question: Who are some of your gray hair icon?
A good friend of mine has gray hair but he's not a style icon. Not yet. Let me see... oh Nick Wooster, he's got gray hair, right? Yeah, Nick Wooster.
This story originally appeared on GQ.
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