There is a legend that Queen Marie Antoinette of France’s hair went white all together the night before she was beheaded, and it is not the first case told by history – in the 16th century even Thomas More, who strongly opposed the separation of Great Britain from the Catholic Church, found his head all white the day before his execution.
In recent years, some celebrities have also recounted similar episodes: the actress Keira Knightley, for example, confessed to having seen a large amount of white hair appear during a period of high stress, so much so that she resorted to wigs for work. And other well-known faces, such as George Clooney or Billie Eilish, also joked about the “Marie Antoinette syndrome” as a symbol of the weight of media pressure.
What triggers this strange phenomenon?
Marie Antoinette syndrome, also called Canities immediatelydoes not have a clear trend within the scientific community: despite the presence of many legends, there are few studies on the case. Among these we remember the report relating to the survivors of the bombings of the Second World War, whose hair turns white suddenly and suddenly. Another account from the recent past dates back to 1957, when a dermatologist reported having observed the hair of a 63-year-old man turn white in the space of a few weeks, after he had disastrously fallen down the stairs.
More recent studies, such as one conducted by Harvard University in 2020, have shown that intense stress can actually permanently damage the stem cells in hair follicles that produce melanin. In practice, the body reacts to danger by releasing adrenaline and cortisol, and this chemical “overheating” affects the pigment cells, making hair irreversibly white.
The syndrome, if it exists, seems to be caused by very high levels of stress which can lead to the loss of pigment in the hair. This fits in well with current research into the causes of natural graying of hair, which scientists say can be caused by stress and which, surprisingly, is reversible – at least until the body loses the ability to produce melanin.
(Read also: 5 reasons linked to the premature appearance of gray hair)
What does science say?
A first scientific study on the so-called Marie Antoinette syndrome dates back to 2013. Neurologist Brown Séquard, 45, suddenly started noticing white hairs in some areas of his beard and, within five to six weeks, saw his hair and beard go completely white – a transformation that seemed to have happened overnight.
The incident that happened to the doctor then inspired the study, which analyzed another 195 cases of Canities immediately: if in the neurologist’s case there did not seem to be a strong stress underlying the sudden graying of the hair, in the majority of cases (126) examined emotional stress or a very traumatic experience seemed to be the main cause of the problem. Some cases of Canities immediately seem linked to psychiatric disorders: the case of a thirteen-year-old patient suffering from severe mental disability whose hair suddenly turned white is emblematic – only to then return to its natural color as his health conditions improved.
In short, one thing is clear: Marie Antoinette syndrome is much more common than one might imagine.
Today dermatologists tend to consider Marie Antoinette syndrome as a combination of several factors: genetic, hormonal and psychological. It is not uncommon for events such as bereavements, divorces, bankruptcies or sudden illnesses to coincide with accelerated greying. And even if the phenomenon is not always as “magical” and sudden as in the stories, chronic stress remains one of the most powerful enemies of our hair.
What needs to be further investigated, however, is the way in which the disorder manifests itself: the graying of hair could be linked to hormonal dysfunctions due to stress, or to a depression of our immune system. Without a doubt, further studies are needed to explore this syndrome and, perhaps, to try to counteract it.
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