I wish I had thought of this one before Halloween: can a fright actually turn your hair grey or white in an instant?
Literature and even history has tales of folks whose hair went white overnight. The earliest account comes from 83 AD, and describes a seventeen-year-old student whose hair went white overnight. Experts of the day determined that his strenuous studying was to blame. Marie Antoinette’s hair supposedly woke up with white hair on the morning of her encounter with the guillotine. Western legend Annie Oakley’s hair is said to have turned white after a train accident.
The shock or fright or stress has long been blamed for the phenomenon, but modern experts have at least one alternate explanation.
There are forms of hair loss that affect only colored hair: alopecia areata. Hair follicles with any sort of pigment can fall out, while white or grey hair stays behind. If the change happens quickly, it may seem or feel as if your hair went white “overnight”.
And guess what? Stress can trigger a flare up, causing colored hair to fall out even faster — like in a matter of days or weeks. So while the fright may not be the cause of your hair changing color, it can contribute to a pre-existing condition.
Some other possible causes for a quick change in hair color: hormonal events (like pregnancy), certain medical treatments.
Keep in mind that the hair on your head now is dead. Outside of hair dye, there’s very little way to instantly change your hair color! If you’ve ever had a bad haircut, you know how long it can take for your hair to grow out… which is probably why these cases of white hair developing overnight have such a mysterious feeling to them.
Some hair loss on a daily basis is normal. If you are concerned about your hair loss (pigmented or otherwise), talk to your doctor.