As a redhead in my late 20s, I was concerned that my hair was beginning to turn white earlier than expected. By the beginning of last year, I had noticed more white hairs than I was comfortable with. Being involved in research, I decided to investigate the biological processes responsible for melanin production in hair. Once I identified several nutrients and pathways involved, I began supplementing accordingly and was surprised to see a significant reversal of my white hairs.
You could say I conducted a small self-experiment. Needless to say, your article was particularly interesting because it highlights findings that align with my own observations—namely, that reversal of gray or white hair can occur relatively quickly under the right conditions.
On a related note, one of the most important conclusions from my experience was that nutrient and vitamin deficiencies appeared to be the underlying cause of my hair depigmentation. While my experience is purely anecdotal, I believe this is an area that warrants further investigation, as nutritional status may play a larger role in premature graying than is often appreciated.
Very interesting.. I have also helped patients of mine reverse greying by restoring mineral and vitamins imbalance. After Covid lots of people complaining of more grey hair, sure there was lots of stress but there was also lots of intake of zinc supplementation, which threw off peoples copper levels. Then iron goes awry and energy can drop. When B12, iron and copper are low it’s a perfect storm for greying to begin. But of course we Must Test and Not Guess!
And that is exactly what I took! Copper weekly and ferritin everyday I wasn’t taking the copper. This also helped with anemia, which I still monitor. However, my levels are back in the normal range now.
That's makes alot of sense - when you say you took ferritin, do you mean lactoferrin? I love lactoferrin because it fixes dysregulated iron so well, unlike iron which often makes things worse.
Interesting. I'm a redhead and I retained most of my pigmentation right on through most of my 50s but started greying quickly over a 5 year period about 4 years post hysterectomy, being put on high dose estrogen replacement, and being on "the Root Cause Protocol" that requires weekly beef liver. I developed Subacute thyroiditis and turned totally grey...and gained 100 lbs. My underlying catalyst was the estrogen. High estrogen without progesterone makes women accumulate copper. Women naturally retain copper half their cycle and release and excrete it the other half. It's when this cycle becomes disturbed copper and zinc become unbalanced. I have enormous copper overload and a severe zinc deficiency. Like my serum copper is over range and zinc is just below. Needless to say, I'm a very sick person and no one really knows how to treat copper toxicity like this unless you have Wilson's Disease, which I don't have. Many Wilson's patients have totally grey hair. Ironically my skin has very dark pigment staining in many areas. Copper is integral in creating melanin, but too much and it goes awry. If you look into the history of birth control pills, women died during the trials, and after it was released on the market. They died from copper toxicity. So, the drug company just reduced the strength of the estrogen and put them back on the market. Anyway it looks like both high and low copper causes grey hair.
I'm unable to cook. Often, this leads to bad eating habits. My hair was over half grey at 40, which I attributed to genetics and stress. I got help with cooking and an increase in stress. I was enjoying huge piles of vegetable dishes, homemade lentils and more wonderful dishes. Within a year, most of the grey was gone. I decided that my grey hair had been from poor eating and genetics. There were confounding variables, but the only real improvement was from food.
Yes, lots of stories of hair greying and reversal with food. The energy and micronutrients we consume determine the flow and availability of energy in our cells. Hair color may be a marker of certain deficiencies.
I have very little if any grey hairs and I’m about to be 60. When I’m stressed, i can start to see grey hair but im able to turn it back to brown as soon as i notice it. So i have these hairs that are stripes of grey and brown like the rings of a tree😊
I have not seen direct impact from supplement. I do see a huge difference in hair loss if I don’t supplement correctly! Thanks for posting!
I think it may have something to do with H2O2 which our body produces. We lose pigment when that H2O2 is able to affect the hair. I’d love more info on this! Thank you for the article.
As a 65 yr old liver transplant recipient, I may have stumbled upon something significant. In late 2024, three years after my transplant, I argued with my team to switch my immunosupression med from tacrolimus (calcineurin inhibitor) to sirolimus (rapamycin; mTor inhibitor). I became aware of the growing body of evidence for rapamycin's superior anti-cancer properties, and my docs approved. Now, almost two years later, my hair has turned significantly darker than it was five years ago. Its quite dramatic, in fact.
This article linking mitochondrial function to hair color, is consistent with my observation as rapamycin's inhibition of mTor kinase is the critical first step in initiating cellular macroautophagy, which includes the process of mitophagy - the consumption of aged and damaged mitochondria and replacing them with brand new ones.
What a fascinating article! I appreciated the way your piece moves beyond viewing grey hair as merely a cosmetic change and instead frames it as a visible manifestation of aging biology, stress responses, and cellular energy dynamics. Everyday phenomena often offer remarkable windows into complex physiology. One aspect that particularly stood out to me is the growing evidence that hair follicles are metabolically active mini-organs whose pigment-producing melanocytes are highly sensitive to oxidative stress, mitochondrial function, and neuroendocrine signaling. The observation that psychological stress and systemic physiology can influence hair pigmentation underscores how interconnected seemingly separate systems really are. Hair, in a sense, becomes a biological archive reflecting the body’s internal environment over time.
As a physician-scientist, I would love to add that the reversibility of hair greying observed in some studies is especially intriguing. While age-related greying is largely driven by depletion and dysfunction of melanocyte stem cells, transient changes in pigmentation suggest that at least some aspects of the process may be dynamic rather than strictly irreversible. This raises fascinating questions about resilience, cellular plasticity, and whether certain aging processes represent permanent damage or reversible shifts in biological state. Such questions are central to modern longevity science.
At the same time, it is definitely also important to distinguish visible biomarkers from underlying mechanisms. Grey hair itself is unlikely to be a direct cause of aging or disease, but rather one of many outward signs reflecting cumulative influences from genetics, oxidative stress, metabolism, and environmental exposures. Understanding those mechanisms may ultimately prove more informative than focusing on pigmentation alone.
Thank you for sharing such a thought-provoking piece!
I read an anecdote of somebody reversing their grays through OMAD diet style. I guess short eating window had a big role to play. But yea, one of these days someone will grow a lost limb and we'll be amazed :)
As a redhead in my late 20s, I was concerned that my hair was beginning to turn white earlier than expected. By the beginning of last year, I had noticed more white hairs than I was comfortable with. Being involved in research, I decided to investigate the biological processes responsible for melanin production in hair. Once I identified several nutrients and pathways involved, I began supplementing accordingly and was surprised to see a significant reversal of my white hairs.
You could say I conducted a small self-experiment. Needless to say, your article was particularly interesting because it highlights findings that align with my own observations—namely, that reversal of gray or white hair can occur relatively quickly under the right conditions.
On a related note, one of the most important conclusions from my experience was that nutrient and vitamin deficiencies appeared to be the underlying cause of my hair depigmentation. While my experience is purely anecdotal, I believe this is an area that warrants further investigation, as nutritional status may play a larger role in premature graying than is often appreciated.
You did the most useful experiment to discover something about your health. Congratulations.
We all have the capacity to live more scientifically-informed, energetically-inspired lives.
Very interesting.. I have also helped patients of mine reverse greying by restoring mineral and vitamins imbalance. After Covid lots of people complaining of more grey hair, sure there was lots of stress but there was also lots of intake of zinc supplementation, which threw off peoples copper levels. Then iron goes awry and energy can drop. When B12, iron and copper are low it’s a perfect storm for greying to begin. But of course we Must Test and Not Guess!
Many vitamins are key to energy transformation
And that is exactly what I took! Copper weekly and ferritin everyday I wasn’t taking the copper. This also helped with anemia, which I still monitor. However, my levels are back in the normal range now.
Grey/ white hair is a sign and symptom !
That's makes alot of sense - when you say you took ferritin, do you mean lactoferrin? I love lactoferrin because it fixes dysregulated iron so well, unlike iron which often makes things worse.
Interesting. I'm a redhead and I retained most of my pigmentation right on through most of my 50s but started greying quickly over a 5 year period about 4 years post hysterectomy, being put on high dose estrogen replacement, and being on "the Root Cause Protocol" that requires weekly beef liver. I developed Subacute thyroiditis and turned totally grey...and gained 100 lbs. My underlying catalyst was the estrogen. High estrogen without progesterone makes women accumulate copper. Women naturally retain copper half their cycle and release and excrete it the other half. It's when this cycle becomes disturbed copper and zinc become unbalanced. I have enormous copper overload and a severe zinc deficiency. Like my serum copper is over range and zinc is just below. Needless to say, I'm a very sick person and no one really knows how to treat copper toxicity like this unless you have Wilson's Disease, which I don't have. Many Wilson's patients have totally grey hair. Ironically my skin has very dark pigment staining in many areas. Copper is integral in creating melanin, but too much and it goes awry. If you look into the history of birth control pills, women died during the trials, and after it was released on the market. They died from copper toxicity. So, the drug company just reduced the strength of the estrogen and put them back on the market. Anyway it looks like both high and low copper causes grey hair.
I have a related anecdote.
I'm unable to cook. Often, this leads to bad eating habits. My hair was over half grey at 40, which I attributed to genetics and stress. I got help with cooking and an increase in stress. I was enjoying huge piles of vegetable dishes, homemade lentils and more wonderful dishes. Within a year, most of the grey was gone. I decided that my grey hair had been from poor eating and genetics. There were confounding variables, but the only real improvement was from food.
Yes, lots of stories of hair greying and reversal with food. The energy and micronutrients we consume determine the flow and availability of energy in our cells. Hair color may be a marker of certain deficiencies.
I have very little if any grey hairs and I’m about to be 60. When I’m stressed, i can start to see grey hair but im able to turn it back to brown as soon as i notice it. So i have these hairs that are stripes of grey and brown like the rings of a tree😊
I have not seen direct impact from supplement. I do see a huge difference in hair loss if I don’t supplement correctly! Thanks for posting!
So what did you supplement to see the reversal?
Vacation, physical activity, and love were the ingredients that preceded the reversal of my hairs.
I think it may have something to do with H2O2 which our body produces. We lose pigment when that H2O2 is able to affect the hair. I’d love more info on this! Thank you for the article.
Interesting, I thought that red hair was absent of melanin. What did you supplement to reverse the gray?
But I like my grey hair.
Me too! Saving energy to put it where it matters most 😀
Copper worked for. 60 yrs old and barely any grey hair.
As a 65 yr old liver transplant recipient, I may have stumbled upon something significant. In late 2024, three years after my transplant, I argued with my team to switch my immunosupression med from tacrolimus (calcineurin inhibitor) to sirolimus (rapamycin; mTor inhibitor). I became aware of the growing body of evidence for rapamycin's superior anti-cancer properties, and my docs approved. Now, almost two years later, my hair has turned significantly darker than it was five years ago. Its quite dramatic, in fact.
This article linking mitochondrial function to hair color, is consistent with my observation as rapamycin's inhibition of mTor kinase is the critical first step in initiating cellular macroautophagy, which includes the process of mitophagy - the consumption of aged and damaged mitochondria and replacing them with brand new ones.
Rapamycin is for real, folks ...
What a fascinating article! I appreciated the way your piece moves beyond viewing grey hair as merely a cosmetic change and instead frames it as a visible manifestation of aging biology, stress responses, and cellular energy dynamics. Everyday phenomena often offer remarkable windows into complex physiology. One aspect that particularly stood out to me is the growing evidence that hair follicles are metabolically active mini-organs whose pigment-producing melanocytes are highly sensitive to oxidative stress, mitochondrial function, and neuroendocrine signaling. The observation that psychological stress and systemic physiology can influence hair pigmentation underscores how interconnected seemingly separate systems really are. Hair, in a sense, becomes a biological archive reflecting the body’s internal environment over time.
As a physician-scientist, I would love to add that the reversibility of hair greying observed in some studies is especially intriguing. While age-related greying is largely driven by depletion and dysfunction of melanocyte stem cells, transient changes in pigmentation suggest that at least some aspects of the process may be dynamic rather than strictly irreversible. This raises fascinating questions about resilience, cellular plasticity, and whether certain aging processes represent permanent damage or reversible shifts in biological state. Such questions are central to modern longevity science.
At the same time, it is definitely also important to distinguish visible biomarkers from underlying mechanisms. Grey hair itself is unlikely to be a direct cause of aging or disease, but rather one of many outward signs reflecting cumulative influences from genetics, oxidative stress, metabolism, and environmental exposures. Understanding those mechanisms may ultimately prove more informative than focusing on pigmentation alone.
Thank you for sharing such a thought-provoking piece!
Grey or gray. That’s what stresses me out.
About 1000 years ago, Avicenna described the greying of hair as follows:
In the first stage of burning/heat (metabolism), organic matter turns dark. Just as when you take a piece of wood and burn it (coal).
When this matter (e.g. coal) burns again, it turns white.
So, the whitening of organic matter is a reflection of something burnt twice.
Whether this is driven by acute high stress or under-nourishment of the scalp/follicle to survive this stress, the result remains the same.
And yes, it can be reversible.
I read an anecdote of somebody reversing their grays through OMAD diet style. I guess short eating window had a big role to play. But yea, one of these days someone will grow a lost limb and we'll be amazed :)
what about hair loss, baldness?
My grandad always says he went gray and then regained his colour, we always said he regained it from a bottle.
🙂
A great read, thank you!
Thanks, Ben.
Sign me up!
What about animal haircolours, aboutie , more colours on one hair.
Animals have different hair cycles and hair biology than we do