Haircare experts are going for a silver metal.<\/p>\n
Emerging research says that it may be possible to reverse the effects of greying hair<\/a> without dye-ing for a solution. That\u2019s according to Spanish doctors who recently noticed that as their lung cancer patients began to recover thanks to new immunotherapy drugs, their hair began gaining pigment, too. <\/p>\n At first, the scientists thought it was a fluke \u2014 until they realized that even patients outside their care were getting their hair color back after taking new treatment drugs like Keytruda, Opdivo and Tecentriq. That led University of Alabama scientist Melissa Harris to start digging into ways to help anyone with an automated Clairol refill on Amazon. <\/p>\n Pigment cells called melanocytes give hair its unique color, but the stem cells that keep them recurring deteriorate over time, eventually leading to colorless hair. Volodymyr \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n So, when will going grey be pass\u00e9? Sooner than you think.<\/p>\n For starters, less than 25% of people have a significant amount of grey hair by age 50, according to a 2012 study in the British Journal of Dermatology. But nearly 90% of us do have some pigment loss before hitting the big 5-0. <\/p>\n That\u2019s due to melanocytes, the pigment cells living inside your hair follicles that pump color into every strand as it grows. They\u2019re supposed to keep getting fueled by a backup crew of melanocyte stem cells, but factors like stress, fatigue, and our bodies\u2019 aging repair cycles get in the way. Eventually, the pigment cycle gets depleted beyond repair, and the body doesn\u2019t create new melanin, the colorful cell byproduct that also determines our skin and eye color.<\/p>\n Another big factor is genetics, which means if your grandmother was Cruella de Vil, you\u2019ll inherit more than her spotted fur coat \u2014 you\u2019ll also get her signature shock of white hair. (Speaking of dogs, they, too, can go grey, getting a \u201csugar face\u201d around the muzzle or, in the case of some huskies and hounds, a white streak along their back.)<\/p>\n Scientists think that immunotherapy drug treatments help with greying hair because they\u2019re designed to reawaken and strengthen the body\u2019s existing stem cells, which act as tiny maintenance men that clear debris, repair damage, and restart natural healing cycles. (Think of it this way: If your body is an apartment building, stem cells are your supers.) While the drugs were created for the crucial work of helping stop cancer, a side effect is rebooting the pigmentation process for hair strands. <\/p>\n At the University of Alabama, Harris and her team are isolating the immunotherapy treatments for hair pigment alone. But they haven\u2019t yet tested their findings on human subjects, which means it\u2019ll be months \u2014 at minimum \u2014 before we know how this can apply to the average shampoo-er.<\/p>\n Until then, some new supplements have hit the market, promising to reverse our grey matter. In 2021, a supplement called Arey<\/a> hit the market with claims that it could \u201crepigment\u201d hair beginning to desaturate by reducing oxidative stress, the main cause of early hair greying.<\/p>\n Tech guru and longevity junkie Bryan Johnson told followers<\/a> in March that he was using a blend of the melanin-stimulating GR-7 serum<\/a> that claims to be a superfood for melanocytes, along with Mayraki<\/a>, a peptide serum made from fo-ti root, a key ingredient in herbal Asian medicine that showed some promise in 2015 studies to keep strands in living color.<\/p>\n \u201cSex & The City\u201d icon Sarah Jessica Parker, 61, recently departed from her signature blonde locks to embrace her naturally salt-and-pepper strands. GC Images<\/p>\n Of course, some people see grey hair as a sex symbol \u2014 and with good reason. <\/p>\n In the 1920s, baseball pitcher Jessee Petty earned the nickname \u201cthe silver fox\u201d due to his grey hair and sleek physical form; the term is now an easy descriptor for dudes who get hotter as they age, including actors like George Clooney and Idris Elba. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Andie MacDowell and Salma Hayek continue to maintain bombshell status even as they become grey ladies. In January, 50-year-old model Stephanie Cavalli opened the Chanel couture show with her natural grey hair on full view. (The upstate New Yorker told Vogue<\/a> she was \u201cwalking on clouds\u201d from the experience.)<\/p>\n Scientists also think grey hair has an evolutionary advantage: Male silverback gorillas are seen as the most powerful in their troop because they have earned the trust of their peers and the lived experience of battle.<\/p>\n And in 1998, a research journal proposed the \u201cgrandmother hypothesis\u201d that older-looking women were prioritized in early human tribes because their ancestral knowledge and social adeptness boosted the entire community\u2019s odds of survival.<\/p>\n The character Queen Charlotte on \u201cBridgerton\u201d (played by Golda Rosheuvel) rocked the grey renaissance wig in the hit Netflix series. LIAM DANIEL\/NETFLIX<\/p>\n The silver-tressed fan favorite Queen Charlotte on \u201cBridgerton\u201d would agree. So would Jennifer Lopez and Sarah Jessica Parker, both of whom have rocked grey hair on recent red carpets. <\/p>\n But if you\u2019re not ready to white-out your roots just yet, know that science will soon have your back. Or rather, your scalp.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t