Stress as the cause of grey hair?
Even though it is said to have happened to French Queen Marie Antoinette and some people feel this has happened to them: nobody’s hair has ever turned grey overnight. At least not without the use of a chemical hair colour. However, physical and mental stress are actually some of the causes of grey hair. But they don’t happen suddenly, but rather gradually. But how exactly does stress affect our hair colour, and how can we combat it?
What is stress and how does it affect the hair?
There are different types of stress. On the one hand, our everyday routine is becoming more and more stressful: at work we are expected to perform better and better and faster and faster, on our way to work we are stuck in a traffic jam or stuffed into crowded public transport, and the time for peace and quiet becomes shorter and shorter.
As we are constantly rushing from A to B, we also don’t find any time to cook healthy meals with fresh food and to enjoy our meals together and in a relaxed atmosphere. And despite all this rushing to and fro, most people still don’t get enough exercise.
The constant pressure to function professionally and socially thus offers no room for further unpredictable stress factors. Blows of fate, financial pressure and the fear of losing your job or family and relationship problems can quickly end in mental problems such as burnout and depression. To add insult to injury, this lifestyle also weakens our immune system. And illnesses can directly or indirectly result in grey hair as a result of taking medication.
We are constantly exposed to external influences that put our body under stress. And at some point our body reacts to these. We feel exhausted and irritated, our stomach seems nervous, we are often ill and: our hair gets greyer and greyer.
Stress influences both our metabolism and our nervous system
Stress negatively affects our metabolism. Once this is impaired, metabolic by-products such as hydrogen peroxide can no longer be properly broken down. In a healthy body, enzymes such as catalases assume this key function.
We refer to oxidative stress when the body is no longer capable of breaking down these metabolic by-products. If the cells are overtaxed with the detoxification and can no longer keep up, reactive oxygen compounds such as hydrogen peroxide attack them and damage them even more. This affects all cells in our body, and thus also the cells in the hair roots. In addition, hydrogen peroxide inhibits the production of melanin, our hair’s colour pigment. It attacks the enzyme tyrosinase, which is largely responsible for the formation of melanin. Consequently, the melanocytes deposit less, or in the worst case no, melanin in the hair, and this looks more and more grey or white to our eye.
And the nervous system also suffers from a massive amount of stress. Under stress the nerve endings release more of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. As the hair roots are surrounded by a finely woven net of nerves, and the nerve endings end in the hair follicles, where the hair is formed and is given its colour, stress also affects the hair roots and thus the natural hair colour via the nervous system.
Does stress reduction help combat grey hair?
Avoiding stress factors, as well as the active reduction of stress through sport, a healthy diet and the conscious enjoyment of food and activities with our friends and family positively affect our health – both physically and mentally. Cutting out nicotine and alcohol relieves the body of their damaging influence, in a word: oxidative stress. Regularly balancing out our stressful everyday life improves our body’s metabolic processes and thus the production of melanin in the hair roots.
Consequently, stress reduction can also positively affect the maintenance of the natural hair colour by enabling a whole chain of vital processes in the body:
- The improved metabolism enables sufficient production of the enzyme catalase, and thus the damaging hydrogen peroxide in the cells can be broken down.
- As hydrogen peroxide is no longer attacking the enzyme tyrosinase, this can properly perform its task of producing melanin.
- The optimum supply of the hair roots with all vital nutrients, minerals and vitamins, as well as melanin, enables the melanocytes to incorporate melanin in the hair’s keratin, and thus maintain the natural hair colour.
How does Anti-Grey Elixir help combat grey hair?
In addition to a healthy lifestyle through sport, a varied diet and stress reduction, the scalp lotion Anti-Grey Elixir supports the scalp and thus the hair follicles to combat grey hair. The cleverly conceived supply with vital components for a healthy cell metabolism reactivates and maintains the hair’s natural pigmentation from the roots down. The hair is thus naturally revitalised, and its healthy strength and youthful radiance is restored.
