History Main / DiseaseBleach

* In Bram Stoker's ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', Jonathan's hair begins to go grey after his imprisonment at the Count's castle. It's believed by some to be another way in which he [[NotSoDifferent grows to mirror Dracula himself]], similar to his personality change and growing fixation on his weapons. Of course, this gets even more patently ridiculous later on: after Mina explains all the deprivations the Count has been secretly putting her through and the fact that he's setting her up to become another vampire thrall, Jonathan's hair is ''explicitly'' stated as going stark white right then and there, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology grown hair and all]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': At the age of three, Captain Ukitake was diagnosed with a fatal lung condition that is implied to be tuberculosis. The shock and stress of the diagnosis turned his hair white over a span of three days. [[spoiler:When his parents seek a divine miracle, Mimihagi merges with Ukitake's lungs, sustaining his life without curing him in return for a hiding place until the day Yhwach destroys the Soul King. On that day, Ukitake sacrifices his life by releasing Mimihagi to save Soul Society.]]
* Half of Dr. Manga/BlackJack's hair started coming in white after a land mine blasted his head apart when he was a child.
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Hody Jones and his crew had their hair turn white after overdosing on energy steroids, giving them a large power boost, but shortening their lifespans.

* From ''Manga/YourLieInApril'', though not really turned into white, [[spoiler:Kaori's]] hair color become ''much'' lighter shade of blonde after she was hospitalized in episode 13. In fact her skin and eyes become paler as well. Her eyes go from a crisp [[spoiler:blue]] to a dull [[spoiler:grey]].

* In the second ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' movie, Be Forever Yorozuya, there is an outbreak of a disease called the White Plague, and one of the symptoms is that the hair goes white. This happens to [[spoiler: Shimura Otae, who is implied to have died before the timeline reset.]] Also, [[spoiler: Sakata Gintoki, whose hair is normally silver, turns completely white due to being the host of this disease.]]
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': It's implied that [[spoiler: watching Tomoe die]] is what caused Enishi's hair to go white over a very short period of time when he was a mere boy.

* The villain of the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise [[spoiler:for the first three films]] has white hair at a relatively young age (canonically in his mid-forties during ''Film/SawIII'') due to being terminally ill with cancer.
* The vampiric disease in ''Film/TheOmegaMan'' turns people's hair white instantly (as we see when [[spoiler: Lisa]] gets infected). And curing it turns their hair back to a normal color instantly. Somewhere a Virologist Is Crying.

* ''Film/{{It|1990}}'': Henry Bowers's brown hair turns white and he is driven insane after seeing IT's true form.

* In Creator/DeanKoontz's ''Dragon Tears'', Harry Lyon's former partner Ricky Esteban had to retire from the police force on medical grounds after being gut-shot, subsequently losing a big chunk of his digestive system. His hair went white and he seems prematurely aged in other ways, not surprisingly.

%% ZCE: * OlderThanRadio: Roderick Usher in Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's story "Literature/TheFallOfTheHouseOfUsher".
* In Bram Stoker's ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', Jonathan's hair begins to go grey after his imprisonment at the Count's castle. It's believed by some to be another way in which he [[NotSoDifferent grows to mirror Dracula himself]], similar to his personality change and growing fixation on his weapons. Of course, this gets even more patently ridiculous later on: after Mina explains all the deprivations the Count has been secretly putting her through and the fact that he's setting her up to become another vampire thrall, Jonathan's hair is ''explicitly'' stated as going stark white right then and there, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology grown hair and all]].
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'': Fantine's hair turns prematurely white after she sells most of it to provide money for her daughter and then contracts tuberculosis.
* Jem in ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'' series. Turns out it's because [[spoiler:of a demonic hallucinogenic drug originally used to torture him as a child.]] Same goes for his eyes.

* Kit Smith's hair is noted as prematurely grey (he's only around thirty when he is introduced in ''[[Literature/AuntDimity Aunt Dimity's Christmas]]''); he spent years living as a vagrant and nearly died of a combination of hypothermia and pneumonia.
* Nile Barrabas, the mercenary hero of the 1980s Gold Eagle HeroesRUs series ''Soldiers of Barrabas'', had his hair turn white after a head injury in the Vietnam War. This gives him a startling appearance that's often lampshaded.
* In ''Literature/KikiStrike'', a childhood illness is said to have caused the titular Kiki to have platinum blonde hair.

* Lau Chan from ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'', after having black hair most of the series, goes white and visibly ages as his IncurableCoughOfDeath gets worse by the fifth game.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has this a sign of someone who underwent the very painful, very dangerous, and never willing process of being implanted with a second crest. [[spoiler: Edelgard and Lysithea do not naturally have white hair.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', Nagito Komaeda's hair is white, and it's implied that this is due to [[spoiler:the illnesses he's had as a result of his constant good and bad luck]].

* As per folklore, in ''VisualNovels/MyVowToMyLiege'', Wu Zixu has had white hair since his youth due to the trauma of [[FamilyExtermination losing his family]] and becoming a fugitive.

* This happens to Angelique in ''WebComic/KevinAndKell'' after the main characters kidnap her and terrorize her for a night in retaliation for flooding the meat market with rabbit meat. [[spoiler:Considering Angelique's secretly a rabbit as well, and therefore sold out ''her own species'', this reads more as LaserGuidedKarma.]]

** In ''[[VisualNovel/AceattorneyInvestigationsMilesedgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations 2]]'', Jeff Master's FunnyAfro turns white after being relentlessly interrogated by Manfred von Karma for a whole day.

* In ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2'', Nagito Komaeda's hair is white, and it's implied that this is due to [[spoiler:the illnesses he's had as a result of his constant good and bad luck]].

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

It's a widespread belief[[note]]there is no clear [[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-stress-causes-gray-hair scientific evidence on this]][[/note]] that stress causes hair to turn gray -- just ask your grandmother. Stress, however, comes in many forms, and some are more effective than others at turning hair white.

!!Examples

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* On ''Series/IZombie'', one of the first signs of someone becoming a zombie is their hair turning white, followed by their skin.

[[folder:Theater]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has this a sign of someone who underwent the very painful, very dangerous, and never willing process of being implanted with a second crest. [[Spoiler: Edelgard and Lysithea do not naturally have white hair.]]

* The mercenary hero of the 1980s Gold Eagle HeroesRUs series ''Soldiers of Barrabas'' had his hair turn white after a head injury in the Vietnam War. This gives him a startling appearance that's often lampshaded.

* Subverted in ''Fanfic/MySisterLeni''. When 1-month old Lincoln's hair starts paling, his parents understandably freaked out and went to the doctors. Tests found nothing wrong with Lincoln. His hair just turned white for no apparent reason.

* Brought up during ''{{Film/Lincoln}}'', as [[UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant Grant]] notes the physical toll the war has taken on Abe.

* ''Series/{{IT}}'': Henry Bowers's brown hair turns white and he is driven insane after seeing IT's true form.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* ''FanFic/FatalFrameVIVengeance'': Rina Oshiro was so traumatized by the events she witnessed at the Watanabe Shrine, which led to the deaths of her friends and twin sister, that her hair turned white at age 18.

-->'''Grant''': By outward appearance, you're 10 years older than you were a year ago.
-->'''Lincoln''': Some weariness has bit at my bones...

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''

* In Bram Stoker's ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', Jonathan's hair begins to go grey after his imprisonment at the Count's castle. It's believed by some to be another way in which he [[NotSoDifferent grows to mirror Dracula himself]], similar to his personality change and growing fixation on his weapons.
** Of course, this gets even more patently ridiculous later on: after Mina explains all the deprivations the Count has been secretly putting her through and the fact that he's setting her up to become another vampire thrall, Jonathan's hair is ''explicitly'' stated as going stark white right then and there, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology grown hair and all]].

[[folder:Theatre]]

* Kili of ''Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors'' has white hair thanks to a shock caused by the emergence of her hypersensitive spirit sight in childhood.

* Toki of ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' fame is shown to have black hair in pre-war flashbacks and indeed, his hair turned white due to the same radiation poisoning that is slowly killing him.