# Will extreme stress really cause rapid premature greying of your hair **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-extreme-stress-really-cause-rapid-premature-greying-of-your-hair/439973 "2008-03-04T00:22:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-extreme-stress-really-cause-rapid-premature-greying-of-your-hair/439973/1 "2008-03-04T00:22:22Z")
Its a line from quite a few stories and anecdotes, about people who come out of stressful situations, having been around the dead and dying and what not, with their hair turned grey in just a few months, or one or two years. Can stress do this to a person? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-extreme-stress-really-cause-rapid-premature-greying-of-your-hair/439973/2 "2008-03-04T00:41:45Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Its a line from quite a few stories and anecdotes, about people who come out of stressful situations, having been around the dead and dying and what not, with their hair turned grey in just a few months, or one or two years. Can stress do this to a person? [/QUOTE] My guess would be no. Genetics is the key. I’ve been stressed for years and have little grey hair to show for it. Coincidentally my dad never had much grey hair either. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-extreme-stress-really-cause-rapid-premature-greying-of-your-hair/439973/3 "2008-03-04T00:50:39Z")
Related from Cecil: [Can hair turn white overnight from fright?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_315b.html) Synopsis, not really, but stress or fright **can** very occasionally make all of your hair that hasn’t turned grey or white already fall out rather suddenly. Read the whole column for full details. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-extreme-stress-really-cause-rapid-premature-greying-of-your-hair/439973/4 "2008-03-04T00:51:24Z")
ETA: Somebody already posted the link I was gonna post. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-extreme-stress-really-cause-rapid-premature-greying-of-your-hair/439973/5 "2008-03-04T02:07:22Z")
[QUOTE=brazil84] ETA: Somebody already posted the link I was gonna post. [/QUOTE] Wow, I’m think I’m _somebody!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-extreme-stress-really-cause-rapid-premature-greying-of-your-hair/439973/6 "2008-03-04T02:28:16Z")
Anecdote isn’t data but … I went from the same dirty blond color I had at age 5 to solid grey in ~18 months at age ~32. Nobody else in my family male or female is, was, or has since been an early turner-grayer. Those same 18 months I built my first start-up. 15 hour workdays 7 days a week for 18 months. Now 20 years later my hair is the same color it was when it finished turning back then, and is just as thick. Could be coincidence. It wasn’t the first time I’d busted ass for a year or more; it was however the hardest. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-extreme-stress-really-cause-rapid-premature-greying-of-your-hair/439973/7 "2008-03-04T02:31:31Z")
I’m one of those “prematurely grey” types. Just two weeks short of 30, I’m solidly salt and pepper. People have been telling me I have grey hairs since I was in 9th grade (about 14 or 15). It’s something I get from my mother’s side of the family. Based on my experience, I’d say genetics are an overriding factor (much like with baldness, which I am fortunate to not show any signs of). ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-extreme-stress-really-cause-rapid-premature-greying-of-your-hair/439973/8 "2008-03-04T02:35:17Z")
Well, my mom had curly hair as a child, got Scarlet Fever, it fell out and grew back in straight. Myself, I get alopecia areata every few years or so. A patch of hair falls out, grows back in white, then gradually returns to its normal color, which these days is increasingly grey. The docs don’t know exactly what causes it, but stress could sometimes maybe kinda be a factor. How’s that for a factual answer? I’m proof hair can abruptly change color. Not the hair that’s already there of course, but the new hair growing in.