A Pill A Day Will Keep The Gray Away

The likes of George Clooney, Phillip Schofield and Helen Mirren make going grey look distinguished, if not downright glamorous.

George Clooney can hide those white hairs of his

But whether it’s a sprinkling of salt- and- pepper in your 30s, or a full head of platinum in your 40s or 50s, most of us are not quite ready to embrace the ‘ silver fox’ look too early in life.

Penelope Cruz

Now scientists suggest that holding back the process could soon be as easy as popping a vitamin pill. They are working on a medication which, when taken daily, could let you hold on to your own naturally coloured locks as long as possible.

The breakthrough comes after more than a decade of research at the laboratories of cosmetics firm L’Oreal. The global market for hair colouring is worth an estimated £ 8billion and the company — the world’s largest in cosmetics and hair care — hopes to become the first to come up with the lucrative anti- grey formula. Based on a secret fruit extract, the pill would be inexpensive and designed to be used in the same way as a daily dietary supplement.

Bruno Bernard, head of hair biology at L’Oreal, said: “ Ideally you would take it for your whole life, but realistically we’d encourage people to start using it before their hair goes grey because we don’t think it can reverse the process once it has started.

“ We have a watertight proof of concept, and we think it will have a market among men as well as women.” If the formula, which is being developed in secret, is proven to be effective, it could earn the company billions.

Between 2008 and last year, there was a 50 per cent increase in the number of men visiting hair salons to dye their hair, a study commissioned by L’Oreal revealed. In Britain, sales of home hair colouring kits have risen by a third in the past three years.

According to market research firm Mintel, more than two- thirds of women colour their hair.

Grey hairs usually begin to appear after the age of 30, when human hair cells begin to succumb to a process called oxidative stress, which makes them more susceptible to toxins. The pill would work by offering protection against this process.

Hair pigment cells die with age due to the lack of a protective enzyme called tyrosinase- related protein 2 ( TRP- 2), the researchers explained. Rather than creating a synthetic drug to mimic TRP- 2, the scientists instead screened thousands of naturally occurring compounds, and eventually found one in a fruit — which they have not named.

Safety trials are under way, but the product’s mechanism will not be unveiled until the next international investigative dermatology meeting in 18 months.

Since going grey can take decades, it could be many years before it is clear how effective the product is. Des Tobin, professor of cell biology at the University of Bradford’s Centre for Skin Science, said: “ With people living longer and working longer, they are in the grey zone for longer”.