WebMD 1:01: Why Does Your Hair Go Gray?

There's nothing more traumatizing than finding your first gray hair.

It's a sure sign that we're getting older. Or is it?

Actually, it is.

Yeah, we were just trying to put a positive spin on it.

Each strand of hair has two parts, the shaft, that's what we see, and the roots, which is anchored under the scalp.

A follicle, a tube of tissue under the skin surrounds each root. Every hair follicle contains pigment cells that continuously produce a chemical called melanin.

And melanin gives the growing shaft of hair it's color.

As we age, the follicles pigment cells gradually die off, just like our hopes and dreams.

Wait. What?

Just keeping it real. Anyway the fewer pigment cells in a follicle, the strand of hair no longer contains as much melanin, becoming a more transparent color as it grows, like gray, silver, or white.

So basically, gray hair is just a part of the aging process.

Nature's way of signaling to the world that our best years are behind us.

Wait. That is not what it signals. It signals wisdom and experience.

Really? Would you let your hair go gray?

Never. Never, ever.

Yeah. I didn't think so. I think you actually have a little gray right there.

I do? Wait. Where?

Everywhere.

No. He's just kidding. Get it. Get it out now.