As we age, pigment cells in our hair can go haywire and stop working properly — this might be sped up if there's a glitch in a key gene called MITF that controls how these color cells develop.

If there's a glitch in a gene called Mitf, it might cause the cells that give hair its color to go haywire too early, making animals gray faster as they age.

As we age, the stem cells that give color to our hair can start acting up — they might turn into pigment cells too soon or in the wrong place, which could be why our hair turns gray.

Your hair color depends on special stem cells in your hair roots, and long-term stress from inflammation or oxidation can mess them up, making them disappear or mature too soon.

As we get older, the cells that give hair its color start to die off because of stress and lower levels of a protective protein, which is why hair turns gray and doesn’t grow back colored.