Hair turning white

[Frank McElroy]

Michael, what are you basing your statement on “Hair doesn't just turn white "Overnight”, on personal experience or what? You say it is physically impossible? Well take it from one who did.
When my mother died a few years ago, it was on a Monday and when I woke up on the Tuesday morning, I was white as snow (see my profile) my family and friends were shocked and still talk about it to this day, so please do not say your hair cannot go white or grey overnight, it can, I can only speak about my experience, but I have heard about it happening to other people, loosing ones mother can cause a great degree of shock, and it was that they said turn my hair, the shock of loosing her.
So please take it from one who knows.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>so please do not say your hair cannot go white or grey overnight,<<

Please provide evidence from peer reviewed clinical studies which support this. Otherwise, for all I know, you were swimming in hydrogen peroxide. Anecdotal evidence, being as notoriously unreliable as it is, I'll go with the science.

 

[Eric Longo]

Hi All,
well Michael, it did happen to Jo Beth Williams in Poltergeist

Billy

 

[Fiona Nitschke]

In all seriousness, diffuse alopecia areata combined with stress can cause dark hair (pigmented) to fall out seemingly 'overnight', leaving a predominance of white hair (unpigmented) behind, with a resultant memorable visual effect. This is medically documented. See also Mike Herbold's posts above from 27 April 2002, with information from Proctor and Gamble and about alopecia areata.

Frank, I'm not claiming this as your experience, merely providing a documented medical example.

 

[Noel F. Jones]

A curious incident occurred on the upper Irrawaddy in 1888 (1889?) when the sternwheel steamer Kahbyoo of The Irrawaddy Flotilla Company got caught in a whirlpool at the upper end of the Second Defile between Katha and Bhamo.

She spent three days going round and round before she could be got free. It is said that during this incident her captain's hair turned white! His name is variously rendered as Clausen or Klassen.

Incidentally, earlier in the decade, this vessel, still under the command of Clausen/Klassen, formed part of the invasion fleet (Kipling's "old flotilla") into Upper Burma in 1885 when she carried the commisariat and postal service.

Noel

 

[robin ayotte]

i will say i went gray when my daughter turned 16 and got her driving license, cant really say for sure that was it but the hair dying company's are making lots of money off me.

 

[John Rutherford]

Just been watching a documentary about UK TV Presenter Gail Porter who has recently suffered stress induced Alopecia ( complete hair loss ). Surely this Tonsurial ailment would be more prevalent amongst Titanic survivors than the unproven and largely mythical Overnight Hair Whitening.

 

[lisa-marie mackay]

hiya

hair turning white is caused by a high salt level in the sea air, my uncle was in the navy in ww2 and his hair went white within a matter of days. Its not a myth but actually completely true!!

 

[Michael H. Standart]

I'm afraid it's still a myth! I served in the Navy for 20 years and half of that was solid sea time. My hair never turned white during any of that. Time itself is taking care of that but still hasn't finished the job.

 

[Grant Carman]

When I was about 2, I had a double hernia, which needed to be operated on. My parents said that before the operation, my hair was red. After the accident/operation, my hair grew in white. It remained white until I was about 6, and then gradually changed colour to a light blondish red.

Now it's going back from red to white. I blame it on the good times in the 1970's.

I don't remember hair colour, just the darned curls that I couldn't wait to cut off.