Why is there a shade of every color but black?

Aren't colors themselves all different shades of black since when black gets lighter it creates color, so wouldn't those be shades of black themselves?

Black is the absence of color, and White is all light combined.

Try looking for different shades of Grey.

Because all shades of black are grey. Try looking for greys, some are very dark. Neither black or white is a real color.

actually yes their are shades of black. ever heard of value. grey is also a shade of black and when an artist is painting the artist will never use just straight black paint, they will mix black w/ white or with grey to produce the shade that the artist wants to use. one more thing, black is often used to make some of the colors you mentioned above like DARK blue DARK red DARK green ect.

Isn't it because shades of black are generally grey? As with white you can generally get "whites" with slightly changes of colour such as eggshell-white has a slight tint to it?

I'm not too sure, it could be because black is a shade itself?

grey is not a shade of black. There are shades of grey, but black is the absence of color or light.

a variation of black is dark grey. It cant get darker because black is the absence of color, just like white cant get lighter because it reflects all colors.

Even black has shades - try matching black pants and a black top - there are differences.

White and shades of grey are all shades of black

Because black in not a color. It is the absence of light.