Some assume them, others compete in subterfuge to camouflage them.
Whether they appear in their twenties or much later, white hair always ends up showing up.
The cause of their appearance would also finally be elucidated, according to a study by the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University.
Published April 19 in the scientific journal
Nature
, the researchers' work focused on the mechanism of graying hair.
The scientists' findings and their work could provide a basis for creating a treatment that would reverse the process of hair aging.
In video: these celebrities who assume their white hair
Reduced mobility
According to the study, the culprits are the stem cells of melanocytes, the cells that produce hair pigment.
When all is well, these move continuously back and forth from the hair follicle throughout normal hair growth, eventually producing its natural color.
With age, these cells are less and less mobile and slow down their activity.
As hair ages, falls out, and then grows back, a number of these stem cells get “stuck” in the follicle bulge.
They remain in their primitive state, do not mature and therefore do not become melanocytes in their own right.
They lose their ability to maintain the color of our hair.
Read alsoIs it normal to have white hair at 20?
Reverse the process
These conclusions were observed on cells taken from the skin of mice.
They must now be certified on humans.
"The discovered mechanisms raise the possibility that the same fixed positioning of melanocyte stem cells may exist in humans," says the study's lead researcher, Dr. Qi Sun, in a press release.
And to conclude: “If this is the case, it presents a potential way to reverse or prevent graying”.
Soon an anti white hair elixir on our shelves?
These personalities who assume their white hair
In images, in pictures
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See the slideshow17 photos
