What Your Hair Is Telling You About Your Health

By Sally Wadyka for MSN Health & Fitness

 

A healthy head of hair is easy to spot. It's full, shiny and lustrous with no flakes, frizzies or other visible damage. But what about when your crowning glory isn't quite so glorious? In some cases, it might be a harbinger of health problems—or it could simply mean that you're spending too much time with the blow dryer.

 

White overnight?

We've all heard horror stories of someone who, in the aftermath of some terribly traumatic event, woke up to find their formerly brown, red or blond hair turned shockingly white. Well, don't worry about it happening to you, because, according to Dr. Arielle Kauvar, a New York dermatologist, it simply can't happen. "The only way for hair to turn gray is a gradual decline in melanin production at the root," says Kauvar. "There is no biological event that can remove pigment directly from the hair shaft." However, a physical or emotional trauma can cause a change in the hair. The illness or stress sends actively growing hair into a resting phase, and a couple of months later, all those strands in the resting phase may fall out. So, if the dark hairs fall out and the already white ones remain, the result is hair that looks suddenly grayer.