Treatment to stop your hair from going grey is on the way
This is a public service announcement: a real treatment for greying hair could be coming soon.
Yes, you read that right.
Scientists believe they have discovered why our hair turns grey as we age - which could help them to create a treatment to pause, or even reverse it.
Advert
The research is still in the early stages, but a new study from New York University Grossman school of medicine has discovered that our stem cells might be getting stuck as we age, which could be stopping them from their ability to maintain our hair's colour.
There's one stem cell in particular, known as the melanocyte stem cell (McSC), which is responsible for this.
McSCs aren't responsible for growth like other stem cells, but more focused on pigment-making.
Those same McSCs just so happen to be found in the skin of mice.
So, a team of scientists got researching and made a pretty big discovery that could be groundbreaking for your hair game.
Typically, the McSCs can transition between growth compartments in follicles, spreading through our hair to give it its beautiful colour.
But, new research has found that, as the body gets older, those cells seem to lose their mobility, resulting in a loss of hair colour.
And scientists believe that their findings on mice McSCs would directly translate to the McSCs in humans.
Commenting on the findings, lead investigator Qi Sun, a postdoctoral fellow at NYU Langone Health, said: "The newfound mechanisms raise the possibility that the same fixed-positioning of melanocyte stem cells may exist in humans.
"If so, it presents a potential pathway for reversing or preventing the greying of human hair by helping jammed cells to move again between developing hair follicle compartments."
Another researcher, Mayumi Ito, a professor at the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Cell Biology at NYU, added: "It is the loss of chameleon-like function in melanocyte stem cells that may be responsible for greying and loss of hair colour.
"These findings suggest that melanocyte stem cell motility and reversible differentiation are key to keeping hair healthy and coloured."
Dr Ito noted that she and the research team now plan to investigate how to restore motility and movement in our McSCs to get them back producing pigment in our hair.
So if you're hoping to keep your natural hair colour for the next few decades or so, the future isn't looking so grey anymore.
Ali Condon