HELLO

HEALTH,
GOODBYE
GRAY
Leslie Kenny
 Author's Bio

Hello there. I am a health coach and patient

advocate who managed to reverse my own

autoimmune diseases by listening to my body

and fusing the best traditional and cutting

edge scientific therapies. To my surprise, my

gray hair reversed as my health did. This book

is a compilation of my knowledge on the

subject which I have shared with friends and

would now like to share with you. To your

health and the health of your hair!

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 “Forty’s nothing. At fifty you’re in your prime, sixty’s the new forty and so on.” 
Julian Barnes, British novelist

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably heard that ‘Aging is inevitable’ and ‘There’s nothing

you can do to reverse gray hair.’ 

While I have also heard those things, my primary goal has been just to stay alive and healthy –

that’s because I was diagnosed with an incurable disease I’d never even heard of and that I

should have died from over ten years ago. 

So keeping inflammation and disease at bay has been a big preoccupation, but the irony is

that not only have I survived, I’ve thrived and, at age 55, I am told I look at least 10 years

younger, possibly because I don’t have gray hair. I was even invited onto an anti-aging show

on one of Britain’s major tv channels to share some of my secrets to aging well.

So what’s my secret?

Over the years, I have had the stray gray hair but whenever I noticed it, instead of plucking it, I

immediately took it as a warning sign that something inside was out of balance and this was

my body’s way of saying I should investigate further. 

As a result, for the past 12 years, I have gotten my lab work done with my doctor every 6

months to monitor my vitamin, mineral, antioxidant and hormone levels for deficiencies or

imbalances. 

I’ve also checked to make sure I don’t have any underlying, chronic infections that might be

disrupting my body’s ability to convert my food into nutrients and the building blocks I need to

stay healthy. This has meant checking for Leaky Gut, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

(aka, SIBO), Candida Albicans and H Pylori.

Using this system of test, diagnose and treat, I have stayed reasonably healthy for my age,

reversing two autoimmune conditions, one life-threatening and with no cure (lupus) and also

conceiving a healthy baby with no medical intervention and a safe delivery at age 43. Oh

yeah, and the lack of gray hair was a fringe benefit.

So how can you do what I’ve done? 

First, you need to understand the root cause of your gray hair. Just like me, you need to test,

diagnose and then treat that root cause. 

Second, you need to know that gray hair can be due to many factors, including genetics, diet,

lifestyle and stress. Let’s start by taking a deeper dive into one of the major causes: stress. 

How Stress Bleaches Your Hair from the Inside Out & What You Can Do About It:
Liposomal Glutathione
Glutathione is considered the body’s Master Antioxidant and is present in every single cell to

combat free radicals that can cause damage to your cells and body. In particular, when we

are under chronic stress, our bodies release a cascade of chemicals, including adrenaline

which can be used by our muscles to run away, and by our hearts to pump faster.

This is part of the classic sympathetic nervous system response known as ‘Fight, Flight or

Freeze’ and has helped us as a species outrun danger from predators and natural disasters.

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Unfortunately, modern life is full of triggers that activate this same response – for instance,

work deadlines, financial stress, crying children, can all do this. Usually we ‘run off’ that

adrenaline as we make a quick escape from a threatening situation (another reason why

running can be such good therapy), but if we don’t do this, the body needs to get rid of all

that excess adrenaline somehow, and it does this by converting it into hydrogen peroxide.

Yep, that same hydrogen peroxide that is used at the beauty salon to bleach color out of hair.

When we are young, there are three antioxidants that can neutralize excess hydrogen

peroxide into water: catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione. [1] But if we have

a genetic polymorphism that down regulates production of these or we experience a lot of

stress, we will find ourselves with gray hair and other physical consequences instead. [2] 

Because levels of these antioxidants naturally decline with age, gray hair is another result

associated with these declining levels.

I haven’t seen a lot of studies showing that oral catalase or SOD supplements help, but I have

seen studies on glutathione and experienced the benefits myself. The type I like best is any

kind with the patented Japanese Setria brand glutathione that has clinically demonstrated

that it raises glutathione levels in the body. There are many supplement companies around the

world that use Setria in their formulations. 

You can also upregulate glutathione by supplementing with N-acetyl-cysteine, a powerful

antioxidant in its own right and what hospitals around the world use to treat paracetamol

poisoning. NAC is a precursor to glutathione and, assuming your body’s ability to convert it

into glutathione is still working properly (it declines with age), this might be a more cost

effective way of getting glutathione into your cells. 

Stress, Gray Hair & Autophagy

Studies conducted at Harvard Medical School have shown that when rats are stressed, nerves

are hyperactivated at the ends of each of their hair follicles. [3] This is why when we are

scared we sometimes experience the sensation that the hairs on the back of our necks are

standing on end. That happens because we are releasing norepinephrine (aka noradrenaline)

another stress hormone the body uses to mount the Fight, Flight or Freeze response to danger.

Unfortunately, when that little alarm bell is triggered at the end of our hair follicles, it also

stresses out the stem cells in our melanocytes, that store and shuttle pigment to the hair bulb,

effectively burning itself out according to the Harvard researchers. 

However, an interesting naturally occurring compound known as spermidine has been shown

to regenerate the epithelial stem cells in the hair follicle bulge. [4] Separately, it has been

shown that when epithelial stem cells interact with melanocyte stem cells, both hair growth

and repigmentation occurs. [5] And if you’re wondering about its intriguing and slightly

awkward name, spermidine was first identified when human sperm was put under a

microscope. We have since learned that spermidine protects the DNA in human sperm, but

that it also protects many other processes in all human cells, by activating a cellular renewal

process known as autophagy. This is a recycling and renewal process whereby worn out parts

of cells, such as proteins and organelles are ‘eaten’ (that’s what the ‘phagy’ part of autophagy

means in Greek) for energy, while anything that can be recycled into a new cell is salvaged.

Autophagy’s cellular renewal superpowers have only really been in the spotlight since the

Nobel Prize was awarded in 2016 to Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi for discovering

autophagy’s mechanism of action.

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I take 1mg of spermidine daily with food, but also try to get it from foods that are high in

naturally occurring spermidine, such as a specially fermented Japanese delicacy called ‘Natto’

(you can ask your local Asian specialty shop if they know anyone who makes it; it’s not usually

in stores as it smells to high heaven – kind of in the same way that British Stilton cheese does).

It is in fact also found in mature cheese, wheat germ, mushrooms, and peas, among others.

A Work Stress Pill? Replenishing Nutrients via Diet & Supplements

B vitamins have also been shown to support our bodies when we come under stress. There

have even been suggestions that employers give their employees B complex vitamins in a bid

to reduce occupational stress and resulting absenteeism and mistakes. [6] In particular,

vitamins B5 (pantothenic acid) and B12 (cobalamin) have been shown to have benefits to the

color in our tresses. 

I have been taking B5 for about 7 years on the advice of my functional medicine practitioner

who says that I need a minimum daily dose of 300mg in order to have an impact on hair

pigment. Because B complex supplements vary in the amount of the various B vitamins that

they put into their formulations, it’s worth looking on the back of the bottle to see how much

B5 you’re getting. I also supplement with a B complex vitamin as well.

B12 deficiency can be quite a serious condition that leads to anemia, depression, low energy,

lethargy, gray hair and even, in extreme cases, catatonia, where you lose the ability to speak.

Vegans and vegetarians in particular can have low B12. [7-9]

Iron
Iron is another nutrient that vegans and vegetarians can be deficient in and which can also

lead to anemia, low energy and lethargy. Some nutritionists feel it is especially problematic to

get on a vegan or vegetarian diet because plant-based sources of iron are not the easily bio-

available ‘heme iron’ which comes only from meat, poultry and fish. [9]

Liver capsules made from grass-fed and pastured beef could be a good solution for getting

both heme iron and B12 into your diet whether you are a vegan, vegetarian or not since beef

liver is the richest source of both.

Blackstrap molasses is another source of iron and trace minerals like magnesium, copper, zinc

and sometimes selenium. Because molasses is the end by-product of sugar cane refining, it

retains all the minerals that the sugar cane’s deep roots suck up from the soil and which are

taken out of white table sugar. 

More than 50% of the American population is deficient in magnesium, [10] which is not only

necessary for good sleep, but is especially important for the body’s own production of

glutathione. [11] While you can get some magnesium from molasses, I supplement separately

with 500mg each morning.

You can take a teaspoon of molasses mixed in hot water each morning and evening.

Always choose organic molasses due to those deep roots bringing in everything from the soil,

which would also include any pesticides. Because sulphur dioxide is used in processing some

molasses, I always choose unsulphured – fewer chemicals and no terrible sulphur smell (like

rotten eggs!)!

Traditional Chinese Medicine: Mr He’s Black Hair

You may have noticed that there is less gray hair among East Asians. While both men and

women will dye their hair, many more will be taking a traditional Chinese medicine herbal

called Fo-ti or He She Wou, which translates into ‘Mr He’s Black Hair.’

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The story goes that Mr He’s village experienced a calamity which forced him to hide in a cave

in the hills. With little to eat, he got by on a plant that was close to hand: the climbing

knotweed. When he finally emerged from his cave 6 months later, other villagers who knew

him marvelled at his now black head of hair and black beard. He apparently also fathered a

child in spite of his ‘elderly’ age!

He She Wou appears to work via the tyrosine pathway. [12] Inhibition of tyrosine appears

linked to gray hair though more research needs to be done here. [13]

I like to hedge my bets so I add ½ a teaspoon into my morning Bulletproof coffee.

Traditional Ayurvedic treatments: Ashwagandha

Another traditional Asian treatment comes from the Indian sub-continent. Ashwagandha is a

traditional Ayurvedic herbal adaptogen which means that it brings the body and hormones

into balance. It has systemic benefits for the body, especially as we age, and at least one

study has shown that when men took 3gms of ashwagandha a day for 12 months , the amount

of melanin in their hair increased. [14]

Wheatgrass
While I was trying to get pregnant, I learned about the miracle of wheatgrass, which is meant

to not only improve female fertility, but optimize overall health. I would take a 1oz shot at the

Whole Foods juice counter every day and chase it down with a lemon and ginger shot to

counter the overwhelming sense of nausea I would get from the wheatgrass. 

I learned about wheatgrass from Ann Wigmore, the American proponent of using vegetables

to heal oneself from cancer. She famously used wheatgrass as part of her protocol to heal

herself from colon cancer at age 50, but noticed that her gray hair returned to its original

brown color. 

The reason for this may have been because wheatgrass upregulates the body’s production of

glutathione.[15] It also has vitamins A, C, K, E and amino acids among others, so an overall

tonic for good health – if you can stomach it! 

You can juice it yourself, but it will require a lot of counter space for the pallets of living

wheatgrass and it takes about 20 minutes to set up the juicer and clean it when you’re done.

My tip: take it in dried form, added to a smoothie, or if you really want it fresh, you can get ice

cubes of wheatgrass from some suppliers who have already taken the pain out of juicing by

doing it for you and then flash-freezing it.

Lifestyle
We’ve covered some of the main aspects of lifestyle that impact hair color with stress, diet

and supplements. But I would be remiss if I didn’t talk a little about those other lifestyle habits

we all know about but are sometimes in denial about.

Sleep
Let’s start with sleep. The vast majority of us don’t get enough sleep (Covid and lockdown

seem to be having a beneficial effect here) and some of us even wear our lack of sleep or

ability to pull all-nighters at work as a badge of honor. Trust me, it’s not called Beauty Sleep

for nothing. It turns out that if you deny people proper sleep over a 5 or 10 day period, their

production of catalase and glutathione, two of the antioxidants that neutralize hydrogen

peroxide, are decreased between 23-36% in the liver, respectively. [16]

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Smoking
And are you one of those people who needs to relax by smoking or drinking? I know some

biohackers and even some traditional societies view smoking tobacco as a way to increase

brain-enhancing nootropics (smart drugs) and others see tobacco as an adaptogen, but the

reality is that smoking depletes your bodies stores of glutathione, makes you bald, gray and

wrinkled (I know, the truth hurts). [17-18]

Alcohol & Drugs

Okay, I think you can guess what I’ll say here too, right? Alcohol and drugs both deplete your

glutathione levels, not to mention have other negative effects too. I’m not saying you can’t

have an occasional drink. Everything within reason, right? Let’s just say that if you do, take

some liposomal glutathione to top yourself back after you’re done or you will also risk more

gray here. [19]

Reducing Inflammation and Infection

Some of you may have heard of the term ‘Leaky Gut’, also known as ‘SIBO’ or Small Intestinal

Bacterial Overgrowth. This happens when a colony of bacteria either grows out of control or

is a bad colony of bacteria to begin with. 

When this happens, the villi or tiny fingers of the gut lining, which are a bit like the individual

strands of 1970’s shag carpet, become inflamed and overproduce a substance called zonulin,

which tells the tight junctions or gates between cells to open up. Since the lining of the gut is

only 1 cell thick, when the gut becomes porous in this way, undigested proteins and bacteria

are released into our bloodstream. 

Since they aren’t supposed to be there, our immune system is mobilized to attack these and, if

our immune system is not finely tuned, it can view the proteins on our organs as the enemy

too. [20-21] This is how Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, the most common autoimmune disease, can

happen resulting in the body destroying its own thyroid tissue and leading to low thyroid

function. [22]

So how does this relate to gray hair?

Well, when our villi are inflamed, they can’t properly absorb the nutrients that we eat – even if

we are eating a healthy diet and supplementing with vitamins and minerals. In fact, some of

the nutrients necessary to prevent gray hair, such as iron, B12 and D3 can be deficient

because they are just not properly absorbed in the gut. [23-24]

This malabsorption is exactly what happens when we get an an H pylori infection. Yep, the

same H pylori bacteria that causes ulcers. And guess what? It can also cause gray hair. How?

Well, three ways.

When the body is fighting an infection, one of the things it can do to fight that infection is

produce hydrogen peroxide to kill the offending bacteria. Unfortunately, as you know from the

first part of this e-book, hydrogen peroxide will bleach our hair from the inside out.

Secondly, H pylori lives off of the iron in our bodies, and studies show that low iron and ferritin,

which stores the iron, is implicated in gray hair.

Finally, H pylori inhibits the absorption of vitamin B12, necessary for energy, good mood and

health, as well as color in our locks.

Since H pylori is pretty common - 50% of the world’s population has the bacteria living in their

microbiome – it makes sense to incorporate a few things into our diet that will keep this at

bay.

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Another common cause of Leaky Gut is the yeast, Candida albicans. Know what it lives off of?

You guessed it. Iron! I think you can now see a pattern to what some of these critters do when

they take control of our microbiome, by stripping away our iron which manifests as low stored

iron, or ferritin, and preventing our inflamed villi from absorbing other essential nutrients. [25]

Green Tea
Green tea is high in polyphenols, including a catechin called EGCG (epigallocatechin)

which protects cells from damage, but it also upregulates glutathione production while also

being a powerful inhibitor of H pylori. [26-27]

Turmeric and Curcumin

Curcumin is the main, active ingredient in turmeric. Like green tea, it is very good at fighting H

pylori infections [28] but it also upregulates synthesis of glutathione. [29]

Hormonal Balance: Keeping Your Thyroid Healthy

Thyroid health is absolutely critical to hair health, color, texture and fullness. Both too much

and too little thyroid hormone will result in lackluster hair. If you notice that you are losing a lot

of weight as well as hair, it could be hyperthyroidism. On the other hand, if you notice weight

gain that just won’t shift, find yourself with cold hands and cold feet all the time, dry skin,

brittle nails and hair that is falling out and graying, it might be hypo- or low thyroid function. 

The best thing to do here is to see your medical professional for a full blood work up as well

as a discussion of your clinical symptoms. The standard treatment is synthetic levothyroxine or

the thyroid hormone T4. However, our cells have receptors for T3, the bioactive form of T4 and

some of us are genetically less able to make that conversion of T4 to T3. In these cases, it is

often better to get some mixture of T3 and T4 or you can try dessicated pig’s thyroid which

has both T3 and T4.

Because T3 and T4 seem to modulate hair pigmentation and hair follicle cycling, among other

hair biology functions, making sure your thyroid is working optimally is really key. There have

even been case studies where hypothyroid patients were given thyroid treatment and their

gray hair repigmented spontaneously. [30 - 32]

Different patients seem to do better on different medications and working with a sympathetic

doctor will allow you to optimize your thyroid treatment so you regain your energy, a properly

regulated metabolism and your hair and color back!

Conclusion
As you can see, there are many reasons why we get gray hair, but returning the body to a

state of homeostasis or balance is the best way to restore our hair to its original color. I’m not

saying that we have to do it or that there’s anything wrong with gray hair - I applaud those

who have embraced their silver tresses. Visually, it can be quite stunning, as we have seen

with Silver Foxes. But, sometimes, gray hair is the body’s way of signalling to us that we need

to just check that all is well on the inside. Hopefully some of the tips above will help you reach

both good health and good hair!

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References

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19237503/

[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27872680/

[3]  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-1935-3

[4] https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/30696572.pdf

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3962257/

[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4290459/

[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6102966/

[8] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19820558/

[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6367879/

[10] https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/micronutrient-inadequacies/overview

[11] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7062145/

[12] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5288971/

[13] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(03)12805-X/fulltext

[14] http://altmedrev.com/archive/publications/5/4/334.pdf

[15] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20508870/

[16] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15472007/

[17] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7484729/

[18] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8916198/

[19] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4455547/

[20] [15.1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3384703/

[21] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5214347/

[22] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31990165/

[23] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3099351/

[24] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23960391/

[25] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5996042/

[26] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3603270/

[27] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2694061/

[28] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5233496/

[29] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15650394/

[30] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17961449/

[31] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18728176/

[32] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3746235/

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