# GRAY HAIR AND STRESS.......

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-hair-and-stress/49260>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 10, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-hair-and-stress/49260 "2001-01-10T01:46:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-hair-and-stress/49260/1 "2001-01-10T01:46:04Z")

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Once and for all, _IS_ there any scientific evidence that stress can turn a person’s hair gray? A friend made the comment that once a person is elected to the presidency, it isn’t long before we see them with gray hair. I maintain it would have gone gray anyway. Which one of us is right? And while we’re at it, is it possible for a person’s hair to turn white from fright? Has it ever happened or is it the stuff that makes good novels?

Thanks  
Q

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**Author:** ![Carina42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Carina42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carina42)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-hair-and-stress/49260/2 "2001-01-10T02:07:00Z")

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Personal anecdote, so take it for what it’s worth:

In 1985, age 27, I was involved in an arson fire. Lost my truck, my dog, damn near everything I owned including my life (just like a country western song). Within a month, I had two big swatches of grey hair; not because of burns…The extent of my grey hair remained at those two areas until about four yaers ago, age 39.

Far as I can tell, a very stressful incident turned at least part of my hair grey. I don’t see, physiologically, how hair can turn white overnight. Hair is already dead cells once it squirts out of your skull. But I will tell you categorically, my hair came in grey within a month of a traumatic incident.

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**Author:** ![Carina42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Carina42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carina42)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-hair-and-stress/49260/3 "2001-01-10T13:50:24Z")

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In 1985, age 27, I was involved in an arson fire. Lost my truck, my dog, damn near everything I owned including my life …

That should be, almost lost my life. Sheesh.

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-hair-and-stress/49260/4 "2001-01-10T15:40:57Z")

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[Can hair turn white overnight from fright?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_315b.html)

> [@](#):
>
> Still, as you say, there does seem to be one way that hair can appear to turn gray in a very short period of time. What happens is that a condition called “diffuse alopecia areata” may occur in somebody with a mix of normal and gray hairs.
> 
> Alopecia can result in sudden, substantial hair loss. For unknown reasons it seems to affect mostly pigmented hairs, leaving white ones untouched. The impression one gets, therefore, is that the patient has become suddenly gray.
> 
> The sequence of biological events resulting in alopecia is not well understood, but it’s thought emotional stress can contribute to it.