Most redheads have red hair at birth, but did you know it's possible to become a redhead as you age? Red hair is carried in our genes.
In order to be a redhead, a baby needs two copies of the red hair gene (a mutation of the MC1R gene) because it is recessive. This means if neither parent is ginger, they both need to carry the gene and pass it on — and even then they will have just a 25% chance of the child turning out to be a redhead.
It's a recessive gene
A ginger child can only be born if both parents carry the gene. If one parent doesn't carry the ginger gene, then your child will definitely not be ginger – both parents must carry it, whether they are redheads themselves or not.
Most of us are born with lighter hair that darkens as we age. For people who are born blonde, this may mean they are a brunette as an adult. For many redheads, this means they are born with strawberry blonde or light red hair and end up with more ginger or auburn hair later in life.
Can Red Hair Change Color Over Time? Most of us are born with lighter hair that can darken as we age so if baby's hair is strawberry blond or light red hair they may end up with darker hair that can be red or auburn.
Having red hair and blue eyes is the rarest hair/eye color combination possible. The odds of a person having both of those recessive traits is around 0.17%. Instead, most redheads have brown, hazel or green eyes, according to Medical Daily.
The rarest natural hair colour is red, which makes up only one to two percent of the global population. You commonly see these hair colours in western and northern areas of Europe, especially Scotland and Ireland. However, natural redheads may not exist for much longer.
Red hair is relatively rare in the general population - according to estimates, only two percent of the global population have red hair, not accounting for those whose hair color originated from a bottle, naturally. In some places, such as Scotland and Ireland, red hair is more common.
Both parents must possess the gene for a red-haired child to be born. Redheads have fewer strands of hair on their heads. If they both just have the gene but have brown hair lets say then there is a 1 in 4 chance of having a baby with red hair.
Red hair, also known as orange hair or ginger hair, is a human hair color found in 1–2% of the world population, appearing with greater frequency (2–6%) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and lesser frequency in other populations.
Previous studies had shown that redheads inherit two versions of the MC1R gene that leads to red hair – one from their mum and one from their dad. Although almost everyone with red hair has two copies of the red-haired version of MC1R, not everyone carrying two red-haired versions is a redhead.
Contrary to what many people assume, redheads did not originate in Scandinavia, Scotland or Ireland, but in central Asia. Their coloring is due to a mutation in the MC1R gene that fails to produce sun-protective, skin-darkening eumelanin and instead causes pale skin, freckles and red hair.
The one that takes precedent is the dominant gene. Red hair is a recessive gene, so your husband has two red hair genes. The only way for your child to have red hair is if you have a recessive red gene (being covered by the dominant brown hair gene) and that is the gene that gets passed onto the baby.
But here's the thing. Despite its popularity, strawberry blonde hair only occurs naturally in between 1 and 2 percent of the world's total population — which means it takes hair color and technique to make it happen for the rest of us. In fact, it's a hue that's been rare yet in demand for centuries.
Ginger is a recessive trait. With no dominant trait present in either parents, they can only pass on the recessive ginger trait to their offspring. How non-gingers often end up producing gingers: Example - two black haired parents give birth to a ginger child.
Is ginger a rare hair color? The term “rare” is somewhat subjective, but in the scheme of all hair colors we'd say it's definitely less common compared to brunettes, blondes, and rich black. Natural ginger hair color is even rarer—only one to two percent of people worldwide are born with this hair color.
One of the many facts about redheads is that their hair will never turn grey. The pigment in their hair that causes it to be red will just fade over time, causing their hair to turn blonde or white, but never grey.
Strawberry blonde therefore belongs to the red hair group. 'Strawberry blonde is the lightest shade of red hair. Other tones in this color group include mahogany, copper and Irish red.
Inheritance of red hair
MC1R is a recessive gene. This means that two copies (one inherited from each parent) are required for the trait to be observed. In this case, two copies of the variant are required for the child to be a redhead.
And when you meet a red head with blue eyes, you are looking at the rarest colour combination of all for human beings. Around 17 per cent of people have blue eyes, and when combined with 1-2 per cent having red hair, the odds of having both traits are around 0.17 per cent.
And the statistics bear that stereotype out. Ireland has the highest per capita percentage of redheads in the world -- anywhere from 10 to 30 percent, according to Eupedia, a website that explores European genetics and ancestry. They are almost equally prevalent in Scotland and other pockets of Celtic pride.
The three most common hair types for redheads are straight, wavy, and curly.
The rarest hair and eye color combination is red hair with blue eyes, occurring in less than 1% of the global population.
Blonde is Crowned the Sexiest Hair Colour of 2021!
The second sexiest hair colour is brunette, as more than three quarters of people (28.5%) voted this shade.