Getting gray, silver, or white hair is a natural part of growing older, and here's why. The root of every strand of hair is surrounded by a tube of tissue under the skin, the follicle. Each hair follicle contains a certain number of pigment cells. These pigment cells continuously produce a chemical called melanin, which gives the growing shaft of hair its color of brown, blonde, red, and anything in between. As we get older, the pigment cells in our hair follicles gradually die. When there are fewer pigment cells in a hair follicle, that strand of hair will no longer contain as much melanin and will become a more stransparent color - like gray, silver, or white - as it grows. How early we get gray hair is determined by our genes.
