Hair follicle melanocytes enter a reversible dormant state during the graying process rather than undergoing cellular apoptosis, allowing for potential functional recovery.

As we get older, the stem cells that keep our hair colored might stop working properly because of problems in their internal repair system, and once they're gone, our hair turns gray for good.

Going gray might happen because the stem cells that keep your hair colored stop working properly as you age, according to studies in people and specially tagged mice.

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.

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.

When a certain gene called Bcl2 isn't working right in mice, the stem cells that give rise to hair color die off when hair follicles go dormant, but the actual color-making cells are fine—this leads to hair turning gray faster.