If you, like me, spent a portion of your morning delicately pulling out gray hairs from the crown of your head, you’re going to want to hear about this. Science! Yes, the same science that told us that boobs shouldn’t wear bras and that there’s a neurological reason you can’t get Rihanna’s “Diamonds” out of your head, has figured out why hair goes grey as we age. It’s “massive oxidative stress,” silly.
According to the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology — FASEB to you and me — as hair ages, it accumulates hydrogen peroxide, and that causes it to go white. But scientists from the Bradford University School of Life Sciences have created a proprietary solution that reverses greying at the root. What’s even better, the gray-hair-stopping treatment also works on the skin pigment disease vitiligo. The treatment is being described as “a topical, UVB-activated compound called PC-KUS (a modified pseudocatalase),” which means virtually nothing to me.
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“For generations, numerous remedies have been concocted to hide gray hair,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, “But now, for the first time, an actual treatment that gets to the root of the problem has been developed.” Weissmann is really excited about the possibilities for treating vitiligo. ” This condition, while technically cosmetic, can have serious socio-emotional effects of people. Developing an effective treatment for this condition has the potential to radically improve many people’s lives.”
The proprietary topical treatment will hopefully be available within the next year. [FASEB]
Original by Julie Gerstein
