Human skin color within a "fair/medium/olive" context. Oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) is a lack of pigment in the eyes, skin and sometimes hair that occurs in a very small fraction of the population. The four known types of "OCA" are caused by mutations in the "TYR", "OCA2", "TYRP1", and "SLC45A2" genes. In hominids, the parts of the body not covered with hair, like the face and the back of the hands, start out pale in infants and turn darker as the skin is exposed to more sun. All human babies are born pale, regardless of what their adult color will be. In humans, melanin
Pigment place names remained. Historically and culturally, many famous natural pigments have been replaced with synthetic pigments, while retaining historic names. In some cases, the original color name has shifted in meaning, as a historic name has been applied to a popular modern color. By convention, a contemporary mixture of pigments that replaces a historical pigment is indicated by calling the resulting color a hue, but manufacturers are not always careful in maintaining this distinction. The following examples illustrate the shifting nature of historic pigment names: Before the development of synthetic pigments, and the refinement of techniques for extracting mineral pigments,