No, curly hair is found in every European country and very common in Dutch, Irish, English, Welsh, Scottish, etc decent. These people don't have African admixtures. Curly hair is also not based on one specific gene. In Caucasians, it results from a different gene.
The story of human migration and evolution is written in hair DNA. In sub-Saharan Africa, genes favour tight, curly hair. But in east Asia, mutations have led to straighter, thicker hair. In Europe, other mutations brought wavy and straw-coloured hair.
While most Eastern Europeans have straight hair, curly hair is common in the western Mediterranean shorelands of Europe, according to Carleton. According to The Head of the QIMR Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, Professor Nick Martin, and Dr. Sarah Medland, approximately 17% of Italians have curly hair.
It is known that 45% of European people have straight hair, 40% have wavy hair and 15% have curly hair.
Lots of traits are statistically rare: Left-handedness (just 10 percent of the population!), curly hair (11 percent!), and blond hair (4 percent!), to name a few.
Curly hair is not certain to a race or ethnicity, it appears all over the world in many forms. White, brown, black and everything inbetween! There is also a scale on which curly hair is classified (2a-4c).
Coily Curls
The last, but most rare type of curl is the coily curl. This curl type is similar to that of an afro and when observed carefully, looks like the angular letter 'Z'. These curls require the most amount of moisture, as the hair type is much thicker than the other curl types.
Caucasian hair can be smooth, wavy or curly.
Yes, only 11% of the population have curly hair.
The gene for curly hair in Caucasians
It has been long established that curly hair is a dominant trait in Caucasians and straight hair is recessive.
Hair morphology is one of the more conspicuous features of human variation and is particularly diverse among people of European ancestry, for which around 45% of individuals have straight hair, 40% have wavy hair, and 15% have curly hair.
Curly hair is often associated with a fun-loving, warm hearted and outgoing personality. If you have curly hair you are perceived as being courageous, outspoken, and spontaneous.
Sarah Medland, approximately 17% of Italians have curly hair. Overall, 45% of European people have straight hair, 40% have wavy, and 15% have curly hair. Therefore, Italians are slightly above the European curly hair average. Italian genes have adapted to both the northern and southern climates of Italy.
Curly hair isn't common in Japan like it is in other parts of the world, which is why it can be so difficult to find curly hair care products over here. And, to make things even tougher, the seasons in Japan aren't exactly kind to those of us with curly hair.
In fact, more people prefer curly hair to straight hair. Though beauty is seen differently by everyone, one thing is for sure; curly hair is getting a lot of love lately. In fact, in a survey conducted by StyleCaster, a surprising 58% of guys thought curly hair was sexier than other hair textures.
Curly hair is dominant, so someone is more likely to have curly or wavy hair if at least one of their parents does. Recent research points to trichohyalin, a protein in hair follicles, as having primary influence over hair curl. However, there are many genes contributing to hair curliness, most of them unknown.
Over 60% of the world's population has curly hair, yet most research to date has clumped hair into three catchall types - African, Asian, and Caucasian.
Less than 20% of people have naturally curly hair. The percentage gets even smaller when you consider the scores of guys out there who don't embrace their curls.
Curly hair has a history of being seen as "messy" or "unruly". According to stereotypes and media, "proper" or "attractive" people don't have curly hair. Curly hair is often described as "messy looking", as it's harder to keep tied up and harder to shape into a completely symmetrical style than straight hair.
Many Asians have naturally straight hair, but there is a significant group of us who do have naturally curly or wavy hair! However, because it's the norm to see straight and sleek hair, curly haired boys and girls tend to think that their hair is some kind of unruly straight hair that isn't behaving.
Caucasians have the highest hair density among the ethnicities studied. Black people have the lowest. Asian people have hair density that falls somewhere in between.
Both curly and straight are common in celtic people. English people aren't just germanic, they are mostly from kelt ancestry. People with red hair are more likely to have wavy or curly hair. Celtic people are more likely to have red hair.
Curly hair is considered a “dominant” gene trait. Straight hair is considered “recessive.” To put that in simple terms, that means that if one parent gives you a curly-haired gene and the other parent gives you a straight-haired gene, you'll be born with curly hair.
Out of all the hair types, types 4A, 4B and 4C are the curliest. They tend to form a compacted Z pattern, plus they have a high density that requires creams, gels and custards to hold their shape and reduce volume. Plus, due to the lack of cuticle layers, coily hair also requires extra moisture.
So, while curly-haired parents tend to have curly-haired kids, there's no guarantee it will happen. Because many different genes are involved, even a curly-haired parent can have—and pass along—straight-hair gene variations.