GOING GRAY? NOT SO FAST.

Cutting-edge tech might reverse how your hair looks as you age. Really.

- BY GARRETT MUNCE

PITT. CLOONEY. DENZEL in Gladiator II. There's certainly nothing wrong with leaning into silver fox status. But who among us hasn't wondered, as the hair collects on the barber cape, if there is a way to trade out some salt for more pepper? Dye is temporary. (And messy.) Supplements are shady. (And $$$.) Cue-balling is an option. (But cold.) Why hasn’t science fixed this yet? Actually, researchers are zeroing in on a solution. The result could mean slowing, and one day even reversing, gray hair. Here's the idea behind all the geeky science—and what to do until it becomes reality.

WHY HAIR GOES GRAY

DON'T BLAME THE HAIR ITSELF. Within a hair follicle (the part of the hair attached to the skin) lives a type of cell called a melanocyte. These cells determine skin and hair color. As you age, melanocytes "become less active, leading to hair that lacks pigment and looks gray, silver, or white," says New York-based dermatologist Morgan Rabach, MD.

How to reverse graying remains one of those bodily mysteries that no one has quite cracked yet. What's complex is that the melanocytes in a hair follicle don't show the same pattern of aging as the ones in our skin, Dr. Rabach says. "We believe the reduction in activity is a mixture of genetics, oxidative stress, and the depletion of the melanocyte stem cells over time."