L’Oreal Pill To Prevent Grey Hair?

Apparently there have been whisperings for nearly 10 years about a new pill in development by L’Oreal to stop your hair going grey, but I heard about it for the first time when I was having lunch in Toronto, on my way to the New Orleans Boots Latest Finds trip. I think that L’Oreal may be looking in to patenting the cure.

It seems studies that have revealed the cause of grey hair, have now made it possible to create a pill that can treat the issues that make us go grey. L’Oreal are on the case with a revolutionary fruit extract supplement / pill that is set to launch some time in 2015 and will completely shake up the hair colour market. Exciting no?!

Tiny bit of science for you – basically grey hair occurs due to oxidative stress that leads to a build up of hydrogen peroxide in the follicle which effectively bleaches the colour out of hair from the inside out. At the same time, this makes us less able to produce the enzymes which repair oxidative stress and create melanin (which is responsible for the pigment in hair).

Both these things happen in the normal course of ageing, hence, grey hair. I haven’t quite worked out why some people go grey earlier than others, but I think I shall leave that to people more inclined to scientific musings!!

The L’Oreal drug will work to counteract this ageing process and the greying of hair by boosting levels of the enzymes that are in decline and making us able to repair oxidative stress and produce new melanin.

Looking at it though, I don’t think that it’s a case of reversing grey hair. Once the damage is done it’s done, but it should be able to stop the greying process from making you any more grey than you are already. Looks like it’s something you will need to start early before you’ve even gone grey!

Having said that, I have a few grey hairs and, depending on trials and safety studies, I’d be up for taking it to make sure I don’t get too much greyer!

I think it’s a case of  ‘watch this space’ as I’d imagine there won’t be any solid news on a L’Oreal anti-grey hair pill for a while yet with rumours of a 2015 launch. Apparently there’s another supplement called Go Away Gray kicking around but there’s no evidence as yet to say that it works.

What do you think?

Ree

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