Gray hair turning brown

[jenny317]

Has anyone experienced gray hair turning dark brown??? I am 40 years old and am having an unusual regeneration of brown hair. I started going gray when I was in my early 20's. (No I am not coloring it brown!!) I have a significant amount of brown hair growing in between what was previously completely gray!! I am not taking any medications and I have not changed my diet... I am perplexed as to why it is changing back to brown??? I am perfectly healthy. I am not taking any vitamins either... Has anyone ever heard of this???

[Kani420]

My mom does not eat healthy whatsoever, and when she turned 60 in June, her hair started turning back to black. So i think it has nothing to do with what someone is eating but something to do with the hair follicles and regeneration. Im going to research this more to see if i can find an answer.

[aphillips99]

It happened to me, jenny317. I went to a dermatologist as suggested by my primary doctor and she told me that I was losing hair. The doctor said I had alopecia from the heat products and techniques I used on my hair with heat. She gave me some medication and a special shampoo to use for a few weeks. I could never again use heat on my hair. My hair grew 8 inches after that process. See a dermatologist.

[CalgaryEast]

I stopped dying my hair last year, went thru the process of growing out my hair and cutting several times. The front of my hair went white, and the back is a was growing out a mixture of white, grey and blonde. Since growing it out, IIM noticing that it's getting darker at the roots, haven't quite figured out the colour yet..lol..the combo is coming in nicely. I love it. Using Red Krill Oil, Vitamin Do Magnesium, and more rest.

[DennyBear]

Same here! Somehow instead of having more grey hair, now I have less. Incredible, but true. I always thought it could only get greyer and greyer with aging, but what's happening to me proves ... Maybe those ugly white were like dry leaves which die and fall to give place to new leaves to grow in place?
All i know is that 4 years ago I stopped working for corporations, no more salaries I mean. I am working doing my own things. And have refused to progress my career sitting at a desk with monitors. I was a digital designer with a master degree and have totally abandoned that career path. Now I'm all hands on. I have no bosses stressing me out. And a few more interesting changes... I think I'm definitely poorer, but happier. And much less grey hair! Yours sincerely. Denny x

[KikiLane]

I started getting grey hairs at my temples when I was 34 and taking antideppressants and antipsychotics,I also lost about half my hair...now several years med free its growing back curly and light brownish blonde like when I was a kid,Im just happy it grew back,I was really worried....but I do lead a less stressful life and exercise and take fish oil pills though.

[plantdoctor]

Sorta. I am totally brown  I am 59 and my husband asked me if I dyed my hair. I said no, not since I had grey hair. I was coloring hair due to grey. I am a nine year ovarian cancer survivor that has been on nine years of chemo. Some how, despite thirty two weeks of Topotecon, I have hair and it is brown. The drug usually causes hair loss. Go figure

[aphillips99]

I am 67 years old. My hair has been turning white for 15 years. My hairdresser and I have been trying to figure out why it is turning cinnamon brown. My original hair color is dark brown.  I have been swimming for the last two years. I am very happy in retirement. I had a high stress job before I retired (high school principal in Chicago). I take vitamins and am not on any medication. I have no idea why my hair is turning darker.

[Lovelyblack]

Im 36 yrs old & my hair has been turning gray for a couple of years. But now there is a lot of cinnamon brown hair. My original  hair color is dark brown. I have added more herbs & spices to my diet in the past 3yrs. A lot of ginger root. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

[bucarpino]

I'm an AA woman who really started to turn gray in my late forties. Now I'm 73 with gray hair that's finally turning white. I'd hope to turn completely white like my parents. A few months ago I started to notice what appeared like light-brown streaks in my hair (it's long and I pull it back into a bun or ponytail. At first I thought I was seeing my scalp through my wet hair. Nope! Light-brown streaks. My hair was dark brown with bleaching tendencies in the sun. It's good to know I'm not losing it.

[jericho71]

I had very light brown hair all through my early 20s when it started going grey. I had a lot of grey by 40. Now I am 45 and all the grey is gone but my hair is nearly black. I have no idea why this is.

[NGO7]

Interesting thread. I am a 9-year cancer survivor. Started life blonde, then darker reddish blonde, then some grey, then cancer/chemo/no hair, came in white, turned back to my teenage blonde color, then (I'm 57) some white and some gray, but blended with my blonde/red. (Lucky. And lucky to be alive and to have hair at all). Anyway--now some dark brown roots have come in. My first thought was CANCER, again. Mild panic/mild disbelief. So... I'm very glad to read here that it might instead have to do with going gluten free about 4 months ago, which relieved YEARS of GI distention, misery, etc, and I started sleeping better, so maybe it is my hair follicles making color again for a good reason, so I will keep that hope. I will start taking D and fish oil again too. Thanks everyone. Peace.

[Wonder38]

If anyone finds out why gray hair turns brown after almost 50 years of being gray, let us know. I would rather be gray than this color of brown.

[beckytopcat]

Well I too am shocked..but what I see amongst us ..is a couple of common factors..some folks are taking fish oil & vitamin D..less stress .more exercise. As I too have done exactly the same....Some one also told me to eat liver...

[marlac2012]

I had the same happen. I have less stress now, better sleep and nutrition. Beats and whites started falling out and brown came in.

[marlac2012]

That's grays and whites fell out NOT beats and whutes.

[specialmom]

Hi marlac2012.  What do you think happened that this happened for you?  I want that to happen for me, lol.  

[lyo84]

My natural hair color is a very dark brown. I first noticed white hairs when I was 17. I am now 31, probably about 1/8 of my hair is white now, sprinkled all throughout my head like highlights. (At first people wonder how I get those highlights because a hair stylist couldn't do it, lol, then I tell them it's just my white hair, haha).

I have noticed some of my hairs grow back in dark brown from time to time too. More so in the last 6 months or so. I went through a very traumatic event about a year and a half ago and I drastically changed the way I was living my life. I started eating healthier, managing my stress levels, doing less, busy less, pray and meditate more, etc. 12 step programs have helped with this a lot actually, staying serene and calm as much as possible, keeping a better mindset in stressful situations. I think my hair turning back to dark brown would be a result of better stress management and eating healthier. Exercise levels have been about the same my entire adult life, so I don't think exercise is part of my equation for white hair turning back, but exercise helps with health overall, so either way, it's good.

With the research I've done on this it seems that eating healthy (B vitamins, copper, and other vitamins and minerals, etc) stress reduction, and exercise seems to change hair back to natural from white. So basically, living healthy, which would help us all in all aspects of our lives! :)

[scoiby]

I've also noticed black hairs appearing through my white hair seems weird I'm 61and been white for about 20 years don't know if I will like the look off two tone hair again

[Flunkey]

I have been totally grey for 13 yeas following chemotherapy and hair loss.  I am 77.  Now I have lots of dark hair coming in to the point that I am beginning to have the salt and pepper look.  I have no idea if this is good or bad. Pat

[luannw7]

In the past month, some of my white roots are growing in black- real black. I never had black hair in my life!! My hairdresser and I laugh at all of my back streaks.

[SharonS11157]

I've heard that once you're not in a stressful lifestyle and eat right and exercize, Your hair can go back to it's original color. Dr.Joel Fuhrman mentioned it in his Eat to Live book.

[samsabug]

It's happened to me too.  I'm 49 and fairly gray, having begun the process in my 20s.  But over the last year I've occasionally found, on my sleeve or the floor, hairs that were gray at the tips but blondish-brown (my childhood color) closer to the root.  It's never a gradual color change, always a clear demarcation, like dye grow-out.  My hair has been changing texture too.  It went from my youthful wavy to outright curly in my 40s, and now I'm going Klingon-style frizzy, maybe heading toward straight/wavy again.  I've had significant health problems over the last decade and went on disability a year and a half ago.  Being on disability has definitely reduced the stress levels a bit.  Hmmmmm.......

[Delia63]

I have had white hair for at least 10 years and in the past week to ten days my hair is turning a very light blonde.  It is a lovely color and it is not just in patches it is the entire head.  I am on very few meds and nothing that you would attribute to hair color change.

Personally, I like the white better and would love to know what is going on.  I am under a fair bit of stress but the only time I have heard of stress turning hair a different color is for the hair to go grey with stress.

This is weird and would love to know he cause

[JljK]

I too am finding that my very white hair (totally white for about 10 years) is beginning to turn brown. It has been turning for about 6 months, but more so over the last 2 months.  I was noticing it and then people in my office began to notice it as well.  I have become the topic of much conversation.  Causes?  I have a very stressful job, I take Vitamin D every day, I take fish oil every day.  I don't know if these supplements have anything to do with it.  Maybe it is hormonal?  I am 56 years old.  If anyone has a good answer I would love to hear it.  I was told that I should see a Dermatologist about it.

[chimer]

I am almost 60, and I and my husband have noticed my grey hair turning dark brown. It's fascinating to watch as I get new hairs popping up brown. I started going grey when I was very young, my parents used to drink alot and they fought all the time and I was beaten by them both. A lot of stress.
I take fish oil everyday, and calcium, only half of what the bottle says. I eat more than 5 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. I look for the sunshine in everything and thank God for my life.

[Grasshopper222]

I am 39 and I have a few gray strands here and there. I just noticed one hair that is gray at the end, but brown the rest of the way up to my scalp! I have never seen anything like it before, but from reading these comments, it seems to be normal. About 3 months ago, I started exercising a LOT more than I had been before. I wonder if that played a part in this.

[ladyvictoria44]

I am 42, I got gray hair at 14! I  have had to die my hair since then. I have been every color, brown, black, red, blonde etc. about 2 weeks ago I noticed that my gray regrowth is now blonde! I was a blonde when I was a toddler. I am shocked. My oldest daughter even noticed. My hair was WHITE not gray. I currently die my hair an auburn. I have done nothing different. I am going through an extremely stressful time right now-possibly the worst 4 months of my entire life so this is a nice surprise.

[Joycelaine]

I have been growing some white hair since in my 20's when I started dying it it's natural color of almost black. I am 70 and have been dying it various colors since I turned 40. Everyone thinks I am younger because it gives me a solfter look. I even had some strays in my eyebrows. Now the eyebrows are all growing in black and my white roots are turning dark. This is a miracle to me, I would love to stop dying my hair. I was about to color it when I discovered this. I think I will let it go and see what happens.
Basically, I have noi stress in my life since I no longer work. I take plenty of suppliments.

[juliett007]

The same with me! I am just 25, but I had a couple of very stressful months, after which my life came back to normal again. Recently I pulled out a short hair - half white half brown. Assuming hair grows 1 cm per month, the grey part dates back exactly to those two months when I was stressed, but then 2 cm later the hair turned brown - time when I relaxed. I really think the stress was the reason! I was really freaking out getting grey hair in my 25s coz that's too early, but now I see how to avoid it! Sleep, exercise and don't worry about things! :)

[Dumbdeldore]

I'm in my late 20's and have started seeing a couple white hair growing here and there. Kind of normal for my age. It looks funny so I pull them if I see one then I'm fine for another few months. The other day I pulled one, and to my surprise, it was brown at the root and faded into white at the tip, meaning that it had been white before and came back to its normal color! I can tell you that even though there was another 100,000 brown hair on my head, I regretted pulling this "regenerated one". My explanation is that this temporary white coloring is induced by stress and lack of sleep (which are very volatile and common in my job on Wall Street). I saw my first "burst" (i.e. 4 or 5) white hair at the same time shortly after a very intense month of on-campus recruiting and interviewing my senior year of college (eating junk fingerfood, not sleeping, and being stressed out). This verifies the stress induction phenomenon. They most likely came back to brown as I only saw new white hair over the past year or so (5 years later). Bottom line: If stressed induced, and if stress is followed by rest shortly after, the hair folicule can regenerate its original color. Well, at least it's what I'd like to believe!