Whether you think you've seen a ghost, been terrified by a giant spider, or just creeped out by a scary movie, you're (probably) not going to wake up with white hair – unless you already have white hair.
Although no one can prove that it can't happen, except for some longstanding myths and other fictions, there's never been a scientifically corroborated case of hair suddenly going white or gray overnight. Interestingly, what is possible is for stress or a sudden shock to cause hair loss. It has been theorized that in some cases, only the pigmented (darker) hair will fall out, leaving just the gray – so it looks as if you have suddenly gone gray (or white). Your hair can also go gray in a relatively short time if you are under a great deal of sustained stress – just not overnight.
Fun with follicles:
- On an average day, you lose up to 150 strands of hair from your head.
- At a given time, 10% of your hair "rests" while the other 90% is growing.
- Hair is so strong that one person's hair could theoretically hold up two elephants.