I have had a straggly streak of white hair at the crown of my head since adolescence. I believe it’s known colloquially as a Mallen streak, and medically as poliosis circumscripta, when a patch of hair at the front or crown of your head goes white due to hypopigmentation, i.e., low melanin.

It’s often associated with autoimmune conditions, which funny enough, is itself associated with the hyper-sensitivity that results in psychic and mediumship abilities. The Mallen streak condition is also linked to seriously bad eyesight or hearing, meaning if you have one, you’re more likely to have the other, which is funnier yet, because that’s associated with amplified clairvoyance and clairaudience.

Aligned with all that, since medieval times a Mallen streak has been considered a marker of divergent, anomalous, or maligned personalities, a birthmark that points to witchcraft and transgression. In Chinese folk tradition, a woman’s hair turning white or getting streaks of white in an untimely way is a sign of supernatural influence.

Continue reading “Dying My Grays and the Mallen Streak” →