My original post on a grey hair cure has gotten out of hand due to the constant new updates. I am therefore moving all the most recent grey hair reversal related developments into this post.
Grey Hair Reversal: Latest Updates
Update: September 6, 2023
A new South Korean company named YJ Lab is raising funds to start a large-scale clinical trial for its unique melanin restoration technology. The company recently developed a regenerative material that restores the pigment of grey hair. It re-activates damaged melanocytes and removes active oxygen in order to restore hair color. It has already conducted successful internal trials.
Interestingly, YJ Lab is developing a specially made comb equipped with its refillable solution. Consumers can then conveniently apply this melanocyte regeneration material into the scalp.
Update: June 3, 2023
A very detailed new study from China in regards to the genetics of hair greying with age. One of the past sources they mention is the important hair genes study from Adhikari that I covered in 2016.
Update: May 22, 2023
Per a new study from Takahiro Suzuki et al, topically applied Rapamycin could reverse grey hair via mTORC1 inhibition. Rapamycin elevates the production of melanin and pigmentation. I covered rapamycin in my post on autophagy.
Update: April 19, 2023
Cause of Grey Hair may be Stuck Cells
The has been yet another breakthrough on finding the reason behind hair going grey. Scientists from New York University (NYU) found that melanocyte stem cells (McSCs) stop roaming around the follicle and become fixed or “stuck” in limbo as we age. As a result, they fail to mature into fully-fledged melanocytes that give hair its pigment.
The scientists conclude that modulating McSC mobility may represent a new approach for the prevention and even partial reversal of hair greying. The study lead investigator was Dr. Qi Sun and the senior investigator was Dr. Mayumi Ito, who I have mentioned before in this post. I like her quote in Guardian:
“It is the loss of chameleon-like function in melanocyte stem cells that may be responsible for greying and loss of hair colour.”
Update: March 31, 2023
An interesting one-off case of a male patient from Oman who got cyclosporine A induced hair repigmentation in his scalp, moustache and beard hair. Make sure to also read my past post on cyclosporine and hair growth.
Update: December 29, 2022
The Thymus Gland and Reversing Grey Hair
A new article on anti-aging has several items of interest in relation to grey hair reversal. A 72-year-old scientist named Gregory Fahy injects patients (as well as himself) with recombinant human growth hormone in order to rejuvenate the thymus gland. This could help reverse aging to some extent. Dr. Fahy is described as “having thick dark brown hair and being in enviable shape for a guy of pension age.”
One 70-year old patient named Hank Pellissier claims that “his hair, previously white, began growing in brown”. Note that Dr. Fahy’s prescribed regimen also includes dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and Metformin. More details can be found on his company website and via their clinical trials page. Also of interest, Dr. Fahy showed several of his before and after patient hair repigmentation photos at a Ted Talk in 2020. See after 13:20 mins in this video.
Update: June 22, 2022
Gene Therapy
A new gene therapy treatment for a rare genetic disease (cystinosis) resulted in major hair darkening as a side effect. Four of the five patients have gotten significantly darker hair, and the fifth just started re-growing his hair post treatment. Of note, this gene therapy entails modifying blood cells, and only changes the DNA of a small fraction of the patient’s cells.
Update: May 2022
Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN)
An interesting new video on NMN potentially reversing hair greying and skin aging. Do note that both the interviewer and interviewee are involved in the sale of NMN products. The viewer comments in there are very interesting. Make sure to also read my popular post on NAD and NMN supplements.
Update: May 2022
Minoxidil and Reversing Grey Hair
Well known dermatologist Dr. Rodney Sinclair (a big proponent of oral Minoxidil) said the following in a new Reddit AMA:
“I have seen hair darkening with minoxidil in my patients.”
Moreover, on Reddit, I have read a few posts from people stating that oral Minoxidil caused their grey hair to become dark again. In November 2022, one person even posted that after just one month of 2.5 mg/day oral Minoxidil use, his chest and beard hair become dark again. In my other grey hair cure post, I also discuss topical Minoxidil causing grey hair reversal in some cases.
Update: February 2022
Hair Graying Regulators Beyond the Hair Follicle
A really interesting study from China analyzes hair graying regulators both within and outside the hair follicle in causing the depletion and dysfunction of melanocyte stem cells (MeSCs). Emerging evidences shows that nerves, adipocytes and immune cells outside of the immediate hair follicle environment (bulge, bulb and dermal papilla) also play important roles in the regulation of MeSCs.
Update: June 2021
Stress and Premature Greying
A new experiment mapped human hair greying in relation to recent life stress events. I am very skeptical about stress causing premature hair greying in most people. I have devoted a whole section to this popular subject in the second half of this post.
Note that in 2020, scientists from the US and Brazil also found that excess stress can turn pigmented hair white. Moreover, when cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) protein was suppressed in mice, their fur did not change color.
Update: April 2021 — Harvard University scientists and a team from South Korea are developing a treatment for grey hair using pigment stem cells in hair follicles.
Update: September 2020 — Japanese scientists discovered an unexpected side-effect of dupilumab: reversal of hair graying. Dupilumab is a dual inhibitor of interleukin 4 and interleukin 13. It is used to treat allergic diseases such as eczema, asthma and nasal polyps.
Update: August 2020 — Make sure to listen to this interesting podcast on reversing gray hair.
Update: June 2020 — Chinese scientists found re-pigmentation of hair in a majority of Alzheimer disease patients after prolonged cholinesterase inhibitor therapy.
Update: June 2020 — South Korean researchers presented the first case of Ustekinumab-associated hair re-pigmentation. Ustekinumab is a monoclonal antibody medication that targets interleukin 12 and interleukin 23. It is used to treat Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
Update: April 2020 — A new synthetic melanin nanoparticle coating method was deemed as a safer, nontoxic and longer lasting way to dye hair.
Update: March 2020 — Eirion Therapeutics had its patent for a grey hair treatment published. It entails using plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (pai-1) inhibitors to prevent hair graying. Eirion’s pre-clinical product candidates for hair loss and grey hair prevention are ET-02 and ET-03.
Update: January 2020
Not Irreversible
A review of medication-Induced repigmentation of grey hair:
“As evidenced by the many cases of gray hair repigmentation in the literature, the development of gray hair may not be an irreversible process. Gray hair is a natural course of aging; however, it may not be an inevitable or permanent process.”
Great news, just need hair now lol
I could use it! This summer, most of my remaining hair that had any hint of its former dark-brown color turned white as a sheet. When the man goes grey, the ladies stay away.
Hopefully YJ Lad get their funds to start their large scale clinical trial. I’m guessing because this will be more a cosmetical that they don’t have to go through 3 phase trails and FDA approval either which could hopefully see this on the market sooner rather than later? Trying not to get too excited..
Admin, great work! Seems like the YJ Lab product could come to market reasonably soon, any perspective on that?
I doubt they can do it without finishing at least one major trial as announced. Perhaps they can skip the next phases, but not sure about local regulations.
Works with beard too?
I hope it works on the face too and it doesn’t need to be used super frequently.
What’s interesting is that I only have some gray on my head (maybe 5%) but my beard is 75% gray. It’s wild. And none of the crap works that they sell (just for men shampoos = junk).
Cosmetic puts me off, really doubt it can be that effective.. smacks of Reboost, Brotzu and CosmeRNA etc
Is there any updates on stemsons therapeutics ?
I emailed them in July and surprisingly I got a response that they’ll provide an update soon enough I haven’t heard anything since but usually they provide an update minimum twice a year so hopefully something soon? Plus they said they’d need a couple of years for R&D before raising capital for clinical trials and they’re scheduled to give a speech this month and next month. Hopefully we hear some exciting news.
@yoyo thank you for the info I hope they talk about steps there taking to finally start human trials because they did say they needed two more years of R&D but the CEO had said that exactly two years ago,that’s why I’m like what’s going on with stemsons therapeutics human trials it should be starting sometime already.but thanks again yoyo very helpful. Yoyo what do you think of junji Fukuda/trichoseeds didn’t he say human trials this year and Dr tsuji said his tech will be out in 2026 but shouldn’t he be doing human trials already? Again yoyo thank you for responding to me. So most likely Dr tsuji is not coming out in 2026 or what do you think?
No worries Marc, I don’t know much about Fukuda and Tsjui so I don’t want to say anything and give you any misinformation lol. I’m trying to figure out what exactly is Fukuda’s way of curing hair loss. I’m mainly following Stemson and Epibiotech. Epibiotech is like having a hair transplant but on steroids, very good funding and a strong team behind them and they recently confirmed they will initiate clinical trials towards the end of this year. What’s also good about them is that they have a real possibility of being released in market around the 2026/2027 timeframe because of the South Korean Regulations (and are funded by the government too). Not to sound too optimistic but Amplifica could also release their AMP 303 around that time too which seems to be a very potent hair growth formula so there are things to look forward to combat/significantly decrease hair loss (it seems anyway but this is the hair loss business we are talking about lol).
There is a detailed Fukuda post on this site. Ben just posted a link in there of interest:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S138917232300186X
@yoyo so your saying EPI-001 would be better than stemsons therapeutics cloned hair ? What’s the difference? EPI-001 is an injection of stem cells that grow hair right? But stemsons therapeutics is actual follicles they grow and transplant right? Thanks yoyo for your time if you get this message.
No no, Stemson would definitely be the better of the two, infinite hair supply is the ultimate goal. Epibiotech timeline is much earlier (if Stemson chooses not to do clinical trials in Japan, S. Korea or Australia where the trials would be shorter than in the US). Epibiotech is massive replicating of donor hair which would do some serious coverage but based on what I’ve read it doesn’t seem like it is permanent i.e. top ups would be required making it a hassle. But apparently it makes the surrounding hair thicker too. The goal for me is to (hopefully) have good treatments such as Epibiotech and Amplifica (which is essentially a cure) help with some coverage and IF all goes well with Stemson towards the end of the decade have that done. I’m not sure about timeline or success but one thing I can be sure is that if you look at the hair loss space now, it’s more robust than ever before. There are way more attempts at treatments and cures now. HOPE, Olix, Stemson, dNOVO, Epibiotech, Han Bio, Amplifica, Kintor and many more, it’s hard not to feel a sense of assurance that the possibility of a cure/better treatments is possible. Compared to what was promised in the 80’s/90’s I feel like we have the best chance based on better science, developed technology and more willingness to actually invest in hair loss. That’s why I have a good feeling for 2026/2027 but alas what do I know lol.
I noticed you didn’t mention Dr. Tsuji.
@yoyo thank you again for explaining it to me where I can understand the science better. I want to say, you don’t have hopes in Junji Fukuda, or Dr Tsuji huh? And you mentioned dnovo what’s going with them have you reached out to dnovo because I feel you can ask them questions way more elegantly then I can. Isn’t dnovo science better than stemsons therapeutics? Again thank you for your time I know I can be annoying.
No worries don’t mention it, I simply need to understand Fukuda method’s properly I just don’t know enough. One good thing about them is that their projected market release would be much sooner compared to a company here in the US. With Tsuji I’m not that excited because I read somewhere that the cost of it is going to be somewhere around $250,000.
And I very much doubt dNOVO would reply back to me, they have been inactive since 2021, if I had to guess they’re still trying to acquire the right science and money to get their project up and running before making an announcement.
@yoyo cool thanks let’s see and hope what the new update that stemsons therapeutics has for us God willing they’ll say that there ready for human trials.,but the chances of that happening is not so good in my humble opinion. But at least you got a response from them good work dude.
It still lacks vital information, no sign of the clinical trials they have already completed, doesn’t disclose the raw materials used and safety, how frequently will this need to be applied, every day? Target date for large clinical trail, next year, years away? I really hope all they stated is true and they have truly found something and that it will be out soon but hard to believe for now, until more info or before after pics etc.
I would love to reverse my white and grey hair, almost as much as I would hair loss! Very encouraging post.
I have seen the YJ Lab website and I have not seen any comments about a treatment to cure gray hair.
The news says they need about 7.5 million dollars to do the clinical trials. It doesn’t seem like that much money. I think the problem is that they haven´t detailed on their website or anywhere else how it works and the results they´ve obtained, because if it’s true I don’t think it will be very difficult for them to find investors for that amount of money.
If it was the real deal, they would get that investment in a heartbeat. My guess is it’s not the real deal. Something that reversed grey hair naturally would fly off the shelves. Sales would be astronomical.
Couldn’t find a website for them, could you send a link through?
I have confused it with other laboratories that have the same name but do not do the same thing.
It makes no sense that they don´t have a website, it´s as if the company didn´t exist.
Two names appear in the news, Park Young-jo and Dong-seop Shim, I will look for information about them to try to find the company.
The funding part always makes me sceptical too, if it worked or had solid evidence behind it investors would throw money at it- 7.5M is childs play in the funding game.
https://www.cosmeticsdesign-asia.com/Article/2023/09/06/korean-study-finds-that-hijiki-displays-potential-for-functional-application-to-improve-vitiligo-and-grey-hair
Another recent study on grey hair from Korea..
I don’t mean to be negative, but there are already other products out there that similarly claim to do what YJ Labs is claiming. Most (if not all) seem to have mixed user reviews. They seem like they basically have the same effect as hair dye (i.e. coloring), and do not actually restore resting melanocytes. I agree that if it was the real deal then they would have little issue getting funding and it seems odd they don’t have a website given they launched in 2015. Being a pharmaceutical company as opposed to cosmetics, Eirion Therapeutics seems like it is currently making the most legitimate attempt at restoration as opposed to just hair coloring. But there haven’t been any updates on their trials that were intended to happen this year. I could well be wrong and am open to discussion.
If you actually read that properly YJ lab is not coloring it is a new melanin restoration technology that fixes melanocyte stem cell function ie restoration melanin production from the cells and the root unlike hair coloring that just darkens the existing hair so if is completely different what a stupid comment to make. Also they are getting funding for a large clinical trial to prove this before releasing it to market.
Hi Andy, melanin restoration at the hair root was the exact understanding I took away fron the article. They make that claim quite clear so Im not confusing it with merely hair colour but. But it seems you didnt read my comment properly. The point I was making was that there are already other products currently out there that make the same claim, I.e melanin restoration at the hair root, yet the user reviews often report their experience of these products as just coloring their hair or they just don’t work as claimed. I won’t list the products as I don’t want to risk violating any site rules but they’re easy to look up on Amazon and the like. I acknowledge it’s something to be excited by and I look forward to seeing their large scale clinical results should they get funding. But until then I’d spare myself getting overly excited. Especially given they don’t seem to have a website, don’t ndicate the raw materials being relied on, provided no evidence of the results from their own clinical trials, and are a medical cosmetics company which are known for making bold claims to market and sell their products.
I understand what you’re saying Lukas regarding products making claims that they can restore melanin at the hair root. However the products you’re referring to especially the one’s off of Amazon are cosmetic products designed to lure buyers into thinking they have the intended effect. However, we’re talking about a company with scientists behind, who are working on restoring melanin in a scientific fashion and not some bold claims like the sellers on Amazon. Obviously I too would feel more optimistic behind this company if they were a little more established (ie a website, proper funding, more information etc) but this company and Eirion Therapeutics (which now seems like they’ll start clinical trials next year) are the best chance we have at reversing grey hairs, (due to actual science like I explained).
Hi Yoyo, thanks for your reply. I certainly look forward to seeing how things develop. As someone who has tried (and not had success) some of the products I am referring to, I remain skepitical. But it’s highly encouraging and I will watch this space with keen interest.
I’m using darkenyl and can update anyone later if it works. Suppose to reverse 30% grey. I have like 8% roughly. I’m spot testing it on those areas. Claim is 4 months. It’s in clinical 2 FDA trials and also in Japan. So I winged it. Using 2 weeks. Seems some positive effect but want to make sure it’s a bias effect. Note I take nothing else for hair. I do take catalase and I bought extended release empty pills I put the catalase pills in to block its breakdown from stomach acid.
Will be doing TRT for low T after I start a hairloss prevention protocol, probably topical fin. I don’t want to do minor bc it doesn’t address issue and I think effects of MInox go away after a few years? Idk if that’s true.
I’m a diffuse NW 2.5 ish near 3 hair loss. So idk how far fin topically I could get back. If my diffuse thinning gets filled, then I’d be happy. My widows peak isn’t that horrible. It’s more diffuse and right temple.
Very interesting Derek. Never heard of Darkenyl before.
Being sold in 1% concentration on Amazon:
https://amzn.to/3PMpyks
https://amzn.to/3ZtBGd9
i‘ve seen that Bryan Johnson (Blueprint) is recommending GR-7 and Mayraki for grey hair reversal. do you guys know anything about that?
That guy is superb at marketing himself, but I am not sure about his hair related theories. And natural products will have very limited effects at best in my opinion.
I’d suggest reading user reviews on them before trying them (the ones not on their websites) and weighing them up first. They claim grey hair reversal but the user reviews tell a slightly different story. A lot of them also claim their hair got wrecked as a result. So maybe not the best if you are experiencing some form of thinning or hair loss. Bryan Johnson also seems to do many other things for his hair protocol – red light therapy, duasteride injections, minoxidil and a host of other supps that have been reported by users to reverse grey to some extent (NAC, rapamycin, Spermidine, etc). So really hard to tell what’s working for him (if anything). Or he’ just simply dyeing it like he’s openly admitted to in the past.
I am also very skeptical about those products. they claim to bring back the pigmentation but according to the reviews it is not more than a color. what do you guys think which companys might be the ones to watch regarding a real grey-reversal in the future?
Maybe this Japanese company and definitely Eirion Therapeutics.
the approach from YJ Lab sounds interesting. if I am right there has been no news or movement in Eirions research this year. Hope there will be an update soon.
Yea I think we’ll hear from Eirion later this year, but most likely next year.
I’m not sure they are testing their ET-02 for gray hair reversal initially. Around a year ago this was announced:
“Eirion also plans to file an IND for its small molecule ET-02 for the treatment of hair loss in the first quarter of next year, with the goal of having ET-02 in clinical trials in the first half of the year.”
https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/eirion-therapeutics-announces-initiation-of-first-in-human-clinical-trial-evaluating-next-generation-ready-to-use-liquid-injectable-neuromodulator-ai-09-for-the-treatment-of-wrinkles/
It mentions ET-02 specifically in relation to hair loss without mentioning hair greying, so I imagine that will be the primary focus to start. Hopefully they’ll assess ET-02 for both issues at the same time given it’s intended to be used for both.
I think it’s use is for both hair loss and hair greying at the same time. Otherwise they would have a seperate compound one for hair loss the other for greying.
Rapamycin in dogs:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/dogs-owners-are-feeding-their-dogs-cheap-pills-to-help-them-live-longer-if-it-works-it-could-be-an-anti-aging-fix-for-people-too/amp_articleshow/99240552.cms
“Dennis’s owner Veronica Munsey also said,”This could be totally wishful thinking,” but she’s almost certain her dog’s hair, which had been going gray for some time, started to darken again after he began taking the weekly (Rapamycin) pills.”