OpenTube

If You Gray Early — DNA Finally Revealed Where You Really Come From

DNA Files

16,772 views

For generations, people blamed stress, heartbreak, and aging for gray hair. But genetic research has revealed that the timing of graying is strongly influenced by your DNA. Scientists identified IRF4 as a major gene associated with earlier graying, with the relevant variant found predominantly among people with European ancestry.

Researchers have since identified other genes, including KIF1A, FGF5, NSMCE1, BCL2, and MITF, that influence hair pigmentation and the survival of melanocyte stem cells. Studies also show that genetics explains a very large share of the differences in when people begin going gray, while factors such as oxidative stress, smoking, nutrition, and psychological stress can also play a role.

Your first gray hair may be more than a sign of getting older. It can be a tiny visible clue written into your genetic history, connecting your appearance to the ancestors and environments that shaped your DNA thousands of years ago. Watch until the end, and don't forget to Like, Subscribe, Share, and Comment with your thoughts!
#grayhair #GrayHairDNA #genetics #dna #HairGenetics #humangenetics #ancestry #IRF4 #science

20 Comments

@GailGregory-u8r 1 month ago

Well I think White hair is kinda Pretty 😊

@Speakupfortheplanet 1 month ago

I’m Italian and Irish Scottish I know that hereditary we got white hair pretty early. I started getting it in my 30s, there’s another reason that sometimes people will go great early and it has to do with fighting something in your body and your body puts all its energy into fighting whatever it is that’s going on in your body so your hair goes gray. I can’t really explain it very good.

@kathygraham6251 1 month ago

my hair bleaches out in the sun, goes from red to blond in summer. my husband too, now my boys are the same.

@enckidoofalling2883 1 month ago (edited)

My mother was grey before 30. She was a member of the Grey family. Yes the royal one. She lived to 94. She had stunning blue eyes. Her blood type was A+. She didn’t get her period until she was 16. That is really late. Nobody has studied that. Hopefully this will help someone.

@lyndaconrad4549 1 month ago

My grandmother on my dad's side had dark hair well into her 60's. My grandfather on my dad's side started going gray early (not exactly sure at what age). My dad started going noticeably gray in his 30's. My first gray hairs started popping up in my 20's.

@sharonclark8700 1 month ago

I’m still learning, again so so 🤔

@JohnHankins-t8z 1 month ago

65 and still waiting to get beautiful white hair. My little sister has 100 times more, and a cousin that is 30 years younger, has much more than I.

@caljv1 1 month ago

Found the first grey hair at 17 yrs old, salt and pepper grey by late 20s and white by late 50s. Like my Irish grandmother.

@AmandaLeeFarrell 1 month ago

I was 17

@FrancesBritain 1 month ago

In one of mainstream DNA testing providers says I am genetically likely to grey early and same for both my parents. My Dad and I did not get any grey hair until our 50s. At 60 I have some grey but am mostly dark. My Dad at 89 is still 50% dark.

@charlottecampbell8183 1 month ago

77 years old and still only have "salt and pepper" in the front but the rest is still dark. Where on earth did I get that?

@mesamom62 1 month ago

I am in my mid 60's, had white blonde hair at birth. By my teens I had golden blonde hair. Y menopause, dark blonde hair. I have some gray hair, with a touch of yellow to them. They blend pretty well with my regular hair. When considering recent ancestry, all European. But the Slavic and Germanic parts of me, ancient ancestry from Asia, and in the Welsh part of my ancestry, which gives me a yellow cast to my skinn, there is ancient history from North Africa-in particular from Berber peoples. My darker haired siblings developed gray hair at a much younger age, as my nearly black haired mom did. My dad started out with white blonde hair, but his hair became medium brown hair by his twenties. He became gray at a later age than my mom.

@victoriakidd-cromis1124 1 month ago

I found y first gray hair when I was 22. My maternal grandfather was completely white0headed by the time he was 30.

@kaysuddeth2028 1 month ago (edited)

My hair has not gone gray but all of my children went grey early. My grandmother had small amounts of gray at her temples when she died at 94. I am 82. According to my DNA study, I have totally european ancestry. I am very skinned, dark blond hair and dark brown eyes,.

@bryanwaters6098 1 month ago

I started turning gray when I was around 30. Started on the right side of my mustache. By the time I was 40, beard and hair were gray and I started loosing the hair on my chest and legs. no at 65 I have no hair on my chest and very little on legs. I was in cardiac arrest for almost an hour when I was 36.

@desrender4893 1 month ago

On my first visit to Asia, they treated me like I was a geriatric, even though I was in my 40s. I dyed it for a while, looked like the orange man. But now, being bright white, I get accused of bleaching it, and the ladies keep wanting to stroke it

@jewleeroseseidl1440 1 month ago

I began getting gray hair at the age of 11. By the time I was24 I had white streaks at my temples. I have aburn hair

@terrellfstephens 1 month ago

Me, a Black person that started growing grey at 17, watching this knowing the story of why I have a gene that is predominantly found in people of European ancestry is most likely a very, very hard one.

@janetMckinnon7552 1 month ago

I got hrey hair when i was about 9 underneath my hair. Im 44 now all my hair is going whote.
I had strawberry hair as a kid. Blue eyes and lot of freckle when i was younger. Im from Scotland'.

@deborahcohen7070 1 month ago

I developed a grey steak after a difficult child birth it grew to about 20 cm and then then disappeared as i continued to heal .

Later i developed some grey in my mid 50s .... disappeared when i went carnivore. Now late 60s no grey