<p>You should read the manga. His hair turned white because of the stress of being tortured 2 or 3 times everyday for 10+ days. </p>

<p>The anime is wrong. Why? Because Kaneki's hair didn't change in a moment, in the manga they show us his hair gradually turning white while he also  loses his mind. </p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/UjlZr.png" alt="Gradually turning white"></p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/wtVVB.png" alt="There his toenails are already black "></p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/MnC5g.png" alt="Crazy"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/2R1HQ.png" alt="Ghoul"> <img src="https://i.sstatic.net/lV9SD.png" alt="Badass"></p>

<p>They don't explain why the hair turns white or the nails black (also they are not black black, they're more like super dark blood colored), but we can assume that the hair it's because of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette_syndrome" rel="noreferrer">Marie Antoinette syndrome</a>, and the nails are because of the constant regeneration. Like I said before the nails are like dark blood colored, they're not pure black, it's like when you hit a finger really hard, and the nail falls off in a time? Well before that, it gets really dark blood colored, Kaneki's are like that. </p>

<p>I know you posted this a time ago but maybe if you can read it, or other people that has the same doubt will understand.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-26T21:16:19.883Z
Your answer is the best in my opinion. Nice explanatiom
Rumpelstiltskin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-24T16:38:58.717Z
2016-10-25T02:22:20.497Z
2016-10-25T02:22:20.497Z
Ricardo
<p>It seems that his hair turning white and his nails turning black was both due to the physical and mental stress he was experiencing during the torture and the forced regeneration of his toes. (Sources: <a href="http://www.comicvine.com/ken-kaneki/4005-101900/" rel="nofollow">one</a>, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/TokyoGhoul/comments/2g4365/tokyo_ghoul_episode_11_links_and_discussion/ckfksmr" rel="nofollow">two</a>, <a href="http://www.qaster.com/q/489749515193184256/can+someone+explain+to+me+how+kaneki+got+white+hair+from+torture" rel="nofollow">three</a>)</p>

<p>The whitening of the hair due to stress is also known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette_syndrome" rel="nofollow">Marie Antoinette Syndrome</a>. The condition got its name after Marie Antoinette's hair supposedly turning white the night before she was going to be executed.</p>

<p><strong>Sidenote:</strong> Another anime I know of where Marie Antoinette syndrome appears is <a href="http://myanimelist.net/anime/8425/Gosick" rel="nofollow">Gosick</a> where <a href="http://gosick.wikia.com/wiki/Victorique_de_Blois" rel="nofollow">Victorique</a>'s hair also change colour due to experienced stress.</p>

<p>The changes going on both in his mind and the real world (even though that is just my opinion) might be because what happened in his mind affected his behaviour in the real world as well (gave him strength to fight "Jason" while standing up to Rize) and vice versa. Another possible reason is to depict the change in him as a person (not just the physical appearance).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-29T08:35:09.783Z
His nails, weren't those painted by Jason?
FatalSleep
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-29T08:39:51.827Z
Might be - I did notice that his nails were black/dark way before his hair turned white. However, most of the sources I found state the nail color change together with the hair, and blame the stress and regeneration for that. As far as I know, in the anime, they didn't show Jason painting his nails, but maybe someone who read the manga might know more..
thosetinydreams
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-29T08:53:01.307Z
Interesting. Although, I could be confusing this with Terror in Resonance when Lisa has her nails painted by Five. Either way, I don't believe that Kaneki's nails changing color were part of the MA Syndrome or are supposed to be affected by something like that.
FatalSleep
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-29T09:06:50.477Z
Definitely. The nails are not a part of the Marie Antoinette syndrome - it goes just for the hair changing to white.
thosetinydreams
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-29T19:29:17.437Z
"Kaneki's hair was white only for 10 days" - I think the Wiki is saying that he was tortured for 10 days, not that his hair color change lasts only that long.
Cattua
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-30T13:05:10.653Z
@キルア You are right. I somehow saw a comma where it's not and misunderstood the meaning of the sentence. Deleted that bit. Thanks :)
thosetinydreams
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-28T14:08:04.840Z
2014-09-30T13:04:06.140Z
2014-09-30T13:04:06.140Z
thosetinydreams
<p>Unlike stated in some of the other answers, it's not Marie Antoinette Syndrome. In the Tokyo Ghoul Re: manga, it is explained in Chapter 131: <br>because the bodies cells are only able to divide a certain number of times before they fail, aka Ageing.</p>

<p>As Kaneki had to repeatedly heal his toes over and over and over, all the while being tortured and borderline starved. His body was basically getting weaker and weaker because the cells were wearing thin, which is why his hair turns white, as happens with people when they get old. <br>
This is also why Takizawa from Re: had his hair turn white, torture.</p>

<p>For the same reason Kaneki's hair turns black again, because he was no longer undergoing torture. </p>

<p>It's explained in Chapter 131. Directly states that his torture has caused him to age at a heightened rate. Which seems to be an issue with human turned ghouls though... Same with Takizawa</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-30T16:46:39.107Z
2018-07-04T16:02:36.250Z
2018-07-04T16:02:36.250Z
Blake Brown
<p>His change in hair color is probably due to Marie Antoinette syndrome, a rare condition that causes the hair to suddenly become white in response to some great stress or shock. It's so named because Marie Antoinette's hair supposedly turned white after she was captured during the French Revolution.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette_syndrome" rel="nofollow">Here's Wikipedia on Marie Antoinette Syndrome</a>.</p>

<p><a href="http://archderm.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=712060" rel="nofollow">Here's a more reliable article</a> from JAMA Dermatology, a site that archives papers in dermatology.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-21T10:37:31.010Z
Could you provide a source? Go google it is not very nice. You should provide the answer here...
Gerret
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-22T07:12:21.643Z
Even though I added sources to this answer to make it better, I still don't find it very helpful. The real question seems to be "Why did Kaneki's dream-world changes end up coming into the real world?", not "What could cause someone's hair color to change to white?"
Torisuda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-22T10:52:01.290Z
I think another point might be that they wanted to show that kaneki changed not just mentally but physically. Using that syndrome as a plausible theory. Since his hair color did turn white which fits the syndrome's description. At the same time Kaneki also killed his the inner Rize it might have triggered something in his body to adopt to that change. I won't put this as an answer because its purely speculation. Hope it helps someone
xwillflame
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-06T04:24:06.733Z
TG:Re seems to back this up, as after losing all his memories and living a relatively stress free life for several years, his black hair has started growing back out. (1 year after the end there was a little black around the roots, now ~2 years after that it's a little over half black.
ZanathKariashi
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-21T10:13:41.623Z
2014-09-22T06:56:24.410Z
2014-09-22T06:56:24.410Z
Peep
<p>Having read the manga and kind of knowing the style of writing this author does I doubt it's due to some Marie-whatever syndrome. It's such a huge detail and having it be because "oops biology" doesn't seem very likely to me. I would bet that it's symbolic, either just for Kaneki's change in character (although that maybe wouldn't make much sense since the second time Kaneki gets black hair he doesn't act at all like he did the first time he had black hair) or for some deeper poetic or philosophical reason. The manga at the very least is very poetic after all. But what this symbolism means is a different discussion.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-14T14:33:30.443Z
2018-09-14T14:33:30.443Z
Jeff
<p>His clothes change colors probably due to the blood on his shirt drying. Usually, when blood dries and forms scabs, it turns black. That is also the basis for the suddenly darkened color in the fingernails.</p>

<p>His hair changes in color in response to extreme stress as pointed out by the others and is called Marie Antoinette syndrome.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-31T13:35:24.647Z
2018-03-31T14:37:47.947Z
2018-03-31T14:37:47.947Z
Kash Derek Lars
<p>At the start of the series, Kaneki's hair is dark brown, except in the OP, where it we see an image of him with white hair. In episode 11, we see a final scene of Kaneki, his hair having turned white. This turns out to be a preview of things to come, his hair being brown at the start of episode 12.</p>

<p>However, during episode 12, we see a scene, theoretically taking place in Kaneki's mind, or as a hallucination, wherein his hair fades from brown to white.</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/e9R3U.png" alt="Kaneki&#39;s hair changing color"></p>

<p>After this scene, however, this color change seems to manifest in the real world, too. (Kaneki's clothes also seem to invert colors.)</p>

<p>What caused Kaneki's hair (and/or clothes) to change color in the actual real world during this episode?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-22T07:19:15.317Z
also the fingernail turn black.
Septian Primadewa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-22T09:46:17.843Z
Sakata Gintoki?
絢瀬絵里
<tokyo-ghoul>
Why did Kaneki's hair change color?
# Why did Kaneki's hair change color?
Posted by: username_0 on 2014-09-21
At the start of the series, Kaneki's hair is dark brown, except in the OP, where it we see an image of him with white hair. In episode 11, we see a final scene of Kaneki, his hair having turned white. This turns out to be a preview of things to come, his hair being brown at the start of episode 12.

However, during episode 12, we see a scene, theoretically taking place in Kaneki's mind, or as a hallucination, wherein his hair fades from brown to white.

![Kaneki's hair changing color](https://i.sstatic.net/e9R3U.png)

After this scene, however, this color change seems to manifest in the real world, too. (Kaneki's clothes also seem to invert colors.)

What caused Kaneki's hair (and/or clothes) to change color in the actual real world during this episode?
**Tags:** tokyo-ghoul
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: also the fingernail turn black.  
> **username_2**: Sakata Gintoki?  
---
## 6 answers
### Answer by username_3 on 2014-10-24. Score: 16
You should read the manga. His hair turned white because of the stress of being tortured 2 or 3 times everyday for 10+ days.

The anime is wrong. Why? Because Kaneki's hair didn't change in a moment, in the manga they show us his hair gradually turning white while he also loses his mind.

![Gradually turning white](https://i.sstatic.net/UjlZr.png)

![There his toenails are already black ](https://i.sstatic.net/wtVVB.png)

![Crazy](https://i.sstatic.net/MnC5g.png)![Ghoul](https://i.sstatic.net/2R1HQ.png) ![Badass](https://i.sstatic.net/lV9SD.png)

They don't explain why the hair turns white or the nails black (also they are not black black, they're more like super dark blood colored), but we can assume that the hair it's because of the [Marie Antoinette syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette_syndrome), and the nails are because of the constant regeneration. Like I said before the nails are like dark blood colored, they're not pure black, it's like when you hit a finger really hard, and the nail falls off in a time? Well before that, it gets really dark blood colored, Kaneki's are like that.

I know you posted this a time ago but maybe if you can read it, or other people that has the same doubt will understand.
> **Comments:**
> **username_4** (2018-10-26): Your answer is the best in my opinion. Nice explanatiom  
---
### Answer by username_5 on 2014-09-28. Score: 6
It seems that his hair turning white and his nails turning black was both due to the physical and mental stress he was experiencing during the torture and the forced regeneration of his toes. (Sources: [one](http://www.comicvine.com/ken-kaneki/4005-101900/), [two](http://www.reddit.com/r/TokyoGhoul/comments/2g4365/tokyo_ghoul_episode_11_links_and_discussion/ckfksmr), [three](http://www.qaster.com/q/489749515193184256/can+someone+explain+to+me+how+kaneki+got+white+hair+from+torture))

The whitening of the hair due to stress is also known as [Marie Antoinette Syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette_syndrome). The condition got its name after Marie Antoinette's hair supposedly turning white the night before she was going to be executed.

**Sidenote:** Another anime I know of where Marie Antoinette syndrome appears is [Gosick](http://myanimelist.net/anime/8425/Gosick) where [Victorique](http://gosick.wikia.com/wiki/Victorique_de_Blois)'s hair also change colour due to experienced stress.

The changes going on both in his mind and the real world (even though that is just my opinion) might be because what happened in his mind affected his behaviour in the real world as well (gave him strength to fight "Jason" while standing up to Rize) and vice versa. Another possible reason is to depict the change in him as a person (not just the physical appearance).
> **Comments:**
> **username_6** (2014-09-29): His nails, weren't those painted by Jason?  
> **username_5** (2014-09-29): Might be - I did notice that his nails were black/dark way before his hair turned white. However, most of the sources I found state the nail color change together with the hair, and blame the stress and regeneration for that. As far as I know, in the anime, they didn't show Jason painting his nails, but maybe someone who read the manga might know more..  
> **username_6** (2014-09-29): Interesting. Although, I could be confusing this with Terror in Resonance when Lisa has her nails painted by Five. Either way, I don't believe that Kaneki's nails changing color were part of the MA Syndrome or are supposed to be affected by something like that.  
> **username_5** (2014-09-29): Definitely. The nails are not a part of the Marie Antoinette syndrome - it goes just for the hair changing to white.  
> **username_0** (2014-09-29): "Kaneki's hair was white only for 10 days" - I think the Wiki is saying that he was tortured for 10 days, not that his hair color change lasts only that long.  
> **username_5** (2014-09-30): @キルア You are right. I somehow saw a comma where it's not and misunderstood the meaning of the sentence. Deleted that bit. Thanks :)  
---
### Answer by username_7 on 2018-06-30. Score: 4
Unlike stated in some of the other answers, it's not Marie Antoinette Syndrome. In the Tokyo Ghoul Re: manga, it is explained in Chapter 131:   
because the bodies cells are only able to divide a certain number of times before they fail, aka Ageing.

As Kaneki had to repeatedly heal his toes over and over and over, all the while being tortured and borderline starved. His body was basically getting weaker and weaker because the cells were wearing thin, which is why his hair turns white, as happens with people when they get old.   
This is also why Takizawa from Re: had his hair turn white, torture.

For the same reason Kaneki's hair turns black again, because he was no longer undergoing torture.

It's explained in Chapter 131. Directly states that his torture has caused him to age at a heightened rate. Which seems to be an issue with human turned ghouls though... Same with Takizawa
---
### Answer by username_8 on 2014-09-21. Score: 3
His change in hair color is probably due to Marie Antoinette syndrome, a rare condition that causes the hair to suddenly become white in response to some great stress or shock. It's so named because Marie Antoinette's hair supposedly turned white after she was captured during the French Revolution.

[Here's Wikipedia on Marie Antoinette Syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette_syndrome).

[Here's a more reliable article](http://archderm.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=712060) from JAMA Dermatology, a site that archives papers in dermatology.
> **Comments:**
> **username_9** (2014-09-21): Could you provide a source? Go google it is not very nice. You should provide the answer here...  
> **username_10** (2014-09-22): Even though I added sources to this answer to make it better, I still don't find it very helpful. The real question seems to be "Why did Kaneki's dream-world changes end up coming into the real world?", not "What could cause someone's hair color to change to white?"  
> **username_11** (2014-09-22): I think another point might be that they wanted to show that kaneki changed not just mentally but physically. Using that syndrome as a plausible theory. Since his hair color did turn white which fits the syndrome's description. At the same time Kaneki also killed his the inner Rize it might have triggered something in his body to adopt to that change. I won't put this as an answer because its purely speculation. Hope it helps someone  
> **username_12** (2015-03-06): TG:Re seems to back this up, as after losing all his memories and living a relatively stress free life for several years, his black hair has started growing back out. (1 year after the end there was a little black around the roots, now ~2 years after that it's a little over half black.  
---
### Answer by username_13 on 2018-09-14. Score: 0
Having read the manga and kind of knowing the style of writing this author does I doubt it's due to some Marie-whatever syndrome. It's such a huge detail and having it be because "oops biology" doesn't seem very likely to me. I would bet that it's symbolic, either just for Kaneki's change in character (although that maybe wouldn't make much sense since the second time Kaneki gets black hair he doesn't act at all like he did the first time he had black hair) or for some deeper poetic or philosophical reason. The manga at the very least is very poetic after all. But what this symbolism means is a different discussion.
---
### Answer by username_14 on 2018-03-31. Score: 0
His clothes change colors probably due to the blood on his shirt drying. Usually, when blood dries and forms scabs, it turns black. That is also the basis for the suddenly darkened color in the fingernails.

His hair changes in color in response to extreme stress as pointed out by the others and is called Marie Antoinette syndrome.
---
