Can trauma cause hair to change color? (2023)

Does hair change after trauma?

TELOGEN EFFLUVIUM

If the body experiences some sort of trauma or shock, as many as 70 percent of scalp hairs may shed — but the effect isn't immediate, Friese shares. Instead, the loss usually manifests about two to three months after the 'trauma' occurs.

A new study shows that stress really can give you gray hair. Researchers found that the body's fight-or-flight response plays a key role in turning hair gray. Your hair color is determined by pigment-producing cells called melanocytes.

Changes in hair color in kids and teenagers are most likely due to changing hormones. Hormones are chemical signals that the body uses to send messages between body parts. Changes in hormone levels can cause pigment genes to be turned on or turned off. This can happen in adults too!

The researchers discovered that acute stress triggers a release of norepinephrine from SNS neurons. This neurotransmitter subsequently activates the mass migration of stem cells from the base of a hair follicle, and it is this process that directly connects stress with hair graying.

That is usually the case when your hair is falling out due to stress, anxiety or trauma response. This refers to the long-standing stress signals that cause your hair follicles to pass into a resting phase. This may cause hair to fall out when you brush, comb or wash it.

Telogen effluvium is a form of temporary hair loss that usually happens after stress, a shock, or a traumatic event. It usually occurs on the top of the scalp. Telogen effluvium is different from the hair loss disorder called alopecia areata.

And while it may seem intuitive that stress can accelerate graying, the researchers were surprised to discover that hair color can be restored when stress is eliminated, a finding that contrasts with a recent study in mice that suggested that stressed-induced gray hairs are permanent.

Telogen effluvium occurs when a substantial amount of anxiety and stress can cause the hair follicles to resume a resting phase which can, over a prolonged period of time, cause the hair to either fall out in clumps or weaken significantly in structure, causing it to break and look dull and lifeless.

Usually, our hair will turn darker because eumelanin production increases as we age (until we go gray, that is).

Waardenburg syndrome is a group of genetic conditions that can cause hearing loss and changes in coloring (pigmentation) of the hair, skin, and eyes.

What illness can change hair color?

Vitiligo. This autoimmune disease causes pigment losses in your skin, where you may have noticeable white patches. Such effects may extend to your hair pigment, making your hair turn gray, too. Vitiligo is difficult to treat, especially in children.

According to Halaas and Skjoth, there are a variety of reasons. "We unsurprisingly put our hair through a lot: heat from straightening and curling tools, chemicals in styling products, chlorine from pools, [and beyond]. All of these things affect the keratin in your hair, making your natural hair lighter," says Halaas.

For centuries, people have believed that a sudden fright, scare or traumatic experience could turn your hair white overnight. It is in fact medically impossible.

Re: Can stress and grieving cause a person's hair to grey/whiten? There are evidences that stress may have the potential for a person's hair to turn grey or white faster due to oxidative stress in the hair follicles, but no direct link can be found.

Harvard researchers have found that acute stress hyper-activates the sympathetic nervous system, which rapidly depletes the stem cells and leads to hair graying. (Image: Hsu Laboratory, Harvard University.)

Yes, stress and hair loss can be related. Three types of hair loss can be associated with high stress levels: Telogen effluvium. In telogen effluvium (TEL-o-jun uh-FLOO-vee-um), significant stress pushes large numbers of hair follicles into a resting phase.

We can conclude that trauma may play a role in development of both trichotillomania and skin picking. Increased duration of trichotillomania or skin picking was correlated with decreased presence of post-traumatic stress symptoms.

These results suggest that stressful life events may prompt body image dissatisfaction and underlie motivations for changes in body appearance to promote self-image. Successive or dramatic appearance changes may be an important signal of stressful experiences.

Fever is a common symptom of COVID-19. A few months after having a high fever or recovering from an illness, many people see noticeable hair loss. While many people think of this as hair loss, it's actually hair shedding. The medical name for this type of hair shedding is telogen effluvium.

Does trauma to the head cause GREY hair?

The idea that acute stress can cause hair to turn gray is a popular belief. But until now, that link wasn't scientifically proven. Hair color is determined by cells called melanocytes, which produce the pigment melanin.

Changing one's hair color can be a way of changing the game by giving you more confidence and the boost in self-esteem that comes from self-expression.

While experts haven't found evidence to suggest depression directly causes hair loss, depression may have a more indirect role in thinning hair. And, of course, a sudden or significant increase in hair shedding can easily create a new source of stress or worsen an already low mood.

It helps us embrace another side of ourselves during trying times. Cutting our hair is also an easy way to achieve instant gratification. When everything feels like it's falling apart, we can have some control over our new look. And it acts as a sort of release.

Cortisol is known to affect the function and cyclic regulation of the hair follicle. During periods of stress, cortisol dysregulation can disrupt cell signaling, and oxidative stress can disrupt the normal transitions of the hair growth cycle.

Phobias are extreme fears of certain objects or situations. The term trichophobia comes from the Greek words that mean “hair” (trichos) and “fear” (phobia). A person who has trichophobia has a persistent fear of hair, particularly seeing or touching loose hairs on the body, clothing, or elsewhere.

Your heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and your senses become sharper. These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, speed up your reaction time, and enhance your focus—preparing you to either fight or flee from the danger at hand.

The reason for this change is because the amount of eumelanin in your hair increases as you mature, according to some research.

Graying reversal won't work for everyone

If strands are about to go gray anyway — perhaps near middle age — a stressful event might push hair cells past that threshold earlier, the study noted. Then when the stress ends and the hair is just above the threshold, it could revert back to dark.

In fact, the researchers found evidence that a hair can turn completely gray, or undergo a full reversal of that process, in as little as 3.7 days, although on average it takes about three months for these changes to take place.

Can a hormone imbalance change hair color?

"All hair is different and hormones affect everyone differently, but they can certainly impact the colour of both dyed and natural hair," says Siobhan Jones, Creative Director at Blush and Blow London.

Your hair is mostly getting lighter due to your hair products, excessive heat styling, sea salt and chlorine, the sun's UV rays, or genetic changes.

Sun: Because white hair still contains pigment, that pigment can be bleached by the sun and the natural molecules that contain more blue are removed leaving the molecules with more yellow to become more prominent. Sun damage unfortunately, cannot be removed or undone.

This is more common than you think. During development a hair follicle may be located in a place that seems out of place. This single hair follicle normally lacks the message to produce pigment in the hair so you don't notice it until it is long.

What Is Poliosis? Poliosis, also called poliosis circumscripta, occurs when you have a white streak in your hair, contrary to your natural hair color. This can affect hair on any part of your body, including your eyebrows and eyelashes, as well as the surrounding skin.

The hair loss is temporary, and should return to its pre-effluvium density, although this process is generally slow. It can take months (but generally less than 6) before the shedding stops, and then months to years for lost hair to grow back at the sluggish rate of ~½ inch per month.

It's more common for hair to be shed temporarily as a result of intense physical trauma, than to disappear permanently, Kobren says. "In 99% of cases hair will grow back. I've worked in the field for 20 years and only come across three cases caused by trauma - and only one of those was permanent."

Stress and hair loss don't have to be permanent. And if you get your stress under control, your hair might grow back. If you notice sudden or patchy hair loss or more than usual hair loss when combing or washing your hair, talk to your doctor.

Ever since people's responses to overwhelming experiences have been systematically explored, researchers have noted that a trauma is stored in somatic memory and expressed as changes in the biological stress response.

How does trauma show up later in life?

Childhood trauma has been strongly linked to depression, substance use disorder, anxiety, eating disorders, and other mental health disorders that are present in adulthood.

Trichodynia (cutaneous dysesthesia syndrome) is a painful sensation at the scalp some. It is defined as discomfort, pain, or paresthesia of the scalp. The cause of trichodynia is not known, but it is suggested to be of multifactorial origin.[1] It is commonly believed that trichodynia correlates with emotional upset.

Telogen effluvium (stress-induced hair loss) usually causes diffuse thinning, a type of hair loss that affects your entire scalp. If you have telogen effluvium, your hair will normally look thinner and less dense than normal, especially under bright light.

Unfortunately, the more traumatic your heartache, the more neurotransmitters you release, which, depending on genetics, can continue to interfere with the life cycle of your hair and encourage slow hair loss. This phenomenon is called telogen effluvium.

Studies have shown that people who have dealt with traumatic experiences in the past are more likely to deal with hair loss issues like alopecia areata in the future.

Hair loss due to stress typically occurs three months after a stressful incident. It may take several weeks to a few months to grow back hair after a traumatic or stressful event.