Hair Color: It's all in the Genes? (2)
Like with blonde hair, because the chances of receiving two recessive alleles are less likely than receiving dominant ones. It explains why redheads are considerably less common than brunettes, as having blonde or red hair is a recessive trait. Shades of auburn or orange are produced depending on whether the first gene pair has provided a brown or blonde allele.
Does the Environment Influence Hair Color?
The color of our hair is the result of several genes from both parents, acting together. To make it more complicated, with so many genes remaining silent, certain individual traits can be shaped by environmental factors, most predominantly personalities, but also physical characteristics like weight and skin color.
Although the color of our hair is determined in the womb by the genes from our parents, it is nevertheless a fact that certain groups of people tend to have the same hair color. For example, surfers tend to have blonde hair. They obviously spend a lot of time outside, where the sun and saltwater inevitably bleach their hair.
People also dye their hair regularly to follow a certain fashion or trend and it is not uncommon for a group of friends to have the same color of hair, just because they like it and because they "can". The sun and chemicals are a major factor, both desired and undesired, in the evolution of our hair color.
Bruce Lee once famously remarked that his son Brandon was the only blonde Chinese in the world. Although when Brandon grew up his hair became as black as the ace of spades. The majority of blonde babies do not become blonde adults, just as many babies with blue eyes later change to brown or green. Genes, like light switches, can be turned on and off, and the color of our hair and eyes can change over time when the respective genes are turned off.
Genes are a complicated issue, so complicated in fact, that even scientists do not yet fully comprehend them. The color of our hair is undeniably determined by our parents and because of the countless random possibilities at play at the moment of conception, it is rare that siblings are ever exactly the same. This explains why many "hair color dissimilar" families exist – until the children arrive at an age when they are old enough to reach for a bottle of bleach.
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See also:
Can twins have different hair colors?
Why do blondes have a higher hair density than redheads?
How does smoking cause gray hair?
Redhead extinction