Stressed? Your hair really will turn grey

By Elizabeth Heathcote on Monday 15 June 2009

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Stress - News - Marie Claire

Worry really can make your hair turn grey, scientists have found.

As you become more stressed, the stem-cells that provide the colour pigment for your hair become damaged. But this process may also protect you from cancer.

Studies on mice at Kanazawa University in Japan showed that stress forced stem-cells in the hair follicles to mature and stop producing melanin, the source of colour pigment for hair and skin.

But Dr David Fisher, chief of the department of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, said that blocking these stem cells is beneficial, according to the Mail. If they have damaged DNA, they could be a source of cancer.

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