Gray Hair

On Saturday I found it - my first gray hair.  Some people freak out about gray hair, some people embrace it.  I'm indifferent.  I was curious, however, how gray hairs come to be so I looked it up online and this is what I learned. 

Our hair follicles contain pigment cells that produce melanin.  Melanin determines what color our hair is (and our skin too) and as we get older we produce less and our hair loses its color and becomes transparent (or gray or white).  Hmmm, this must explain why I feel like I get more pale as I get older too! 

So I guess I can't blame that gray hair on having kids or being stressed, and my parents can't blame theirs on me either! 

And now you know why hair turns gray.  Unless you're like my know-it-all-recently-completed-his-masters brother-in-law Greg who knew it without looking it up on the Internet.