Can gray hair happen overnight?

Do people really gray hair overnight? The most famous representative in the record of overnight gray hair is Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. Because of fear of being beheaded the next day, her hair turned gray the night before the execution. The historical story may be the addition of artistic exaggeration, but will there really be white hair overnight in reality?

The first thing to be sure is that there is one night of hair loss in the current scientific records, but there is no record of one night of gray hair. Let’s take a look at how the hair turns white.

Scientists have discovered that the whitening of hair does have a great relationship with psychological emotions. When people are more anxious or stressed, the capillaries of the scalp will continue to shrink, which will lead to the low function of hair mother cells. Hair mother cells have the characteristics of stem cells. They continue to divide, proliferate and continue to grow during the hair growth process. Differentiation; the ability of melanocytes to produce melanin is also reduced, and the reduction of melanin directly affects the color of the hair. This leads to the appearance and increase of gray hair, so bad mood and stress directly affect hair.

Psychologists have discovered that when a person is long-term anxious, nervous, or subject to greater psychological stimulation, it generally causes endocrine disorders. This will cause the hair follicle to produce melanin disorders, or even if the hair follicle produces melanin, it will produce a lot of gray hair due to the obstruction of the output channels. At the same time, hair follicles are damaged or aging and die, unable to produce melanin, and black hair will turn into white hair. This is the reason why many people have gray hair gradually or increase in gray hair after facing grief and pressure.

In addition, more gray hair also refers to new gray hair. The average person’s monthly hair growth is only about two centimeters, and the hair that has grown will not suddenly turn from black to white. This is because the hair that has grown out possesses melanin, and the lack of melanin in the later stage will only make the color gradually lighter and whiter. In short, this process will never be completed in a day.

Therefore, white hair overnight is actually artistically exaggerated, but people’s mood and emotions do have a lot of influence on the color of the hair. In a long-term negative emotional state, it is very likely that the hair will turn white within a period of time.

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