![]() This prediction tool is really just a fun way to dream up the different color possibilities. So what color hair will your baby have? You might have a pretty good idea, or you might be in for a pretty fun surprise. Furthering the confusion, sometimes hair color changes as the baby ages. This is really just the tip of the iceberg, but you get the point. If instead of blonde from Dad, it gets brown, the baby will be auburn. So, if baby gets a red allele from Mom and a blonde allele from Dad, it will be strawberry blonde. Instead, when a baby receives a red allele from a parent, it blends with whatever allele it receives from the other parent. ![]() Red hair: Red hair is a whole different ball game and is classified as an “ incomplete dominance,” meaning it’s neither dominant nor recessive. Helpful, right? Genetics are weird.īlonde hair: Blonde is a recessive trait, and a blonde-blonde pairing would result in blonde offspring. In a black-brunette pairing, the child will likely have black hair, but could end up with a shade of brown. In a brunette-brunette pairing, your offspring will likely have a shade of brown. DESIGNED BY WORLD-RENOWNED ARTIST LAUREN FAITH-JAMES: This aviation-themed 19 inch reborn boy. In a blonde-brunette pairing, there is a chance for a blonde child, though the odds are more in favor of a brunette child. He has medium skin tone, auburn hair and hazel green eyes. It is non-blending with lighter colors, meaning if you or your partner have black hair, odds are your offspring will have black hair.īrown hair: Being brunette allows for a little more flexibility, but this is based off what unexpressed alleles both parents are carrying around, and how many shades of brown there are. Keeping in mind that determining hair color isn’t quite this easy, in general, here’s how these common scenarios play out between our dominant and recessive hair color genes:īlack hair: Black hair is both the most common hair color worldwide, and is typically the dominant trait. There are several forms with varying severity, affecting about 1 in 18-20,000 people in the US.Īgain - all of this is being simplified for the sake of brevity, but you get the jist. If there's some sort of genetic mutation or defect of the genes that produce melanin, albinism - where little to no melanin is deposited in the hair, skin, or iris - can result. People who only have a little brown eumelanin have blond hair. Eumelanin gets broken down even further into brown eumelanin and black eumelanin - each of which are responsible for the corresponding shade of brown or black hair. Pheomelanin is responsible for red tones in hair, as well as the skin, lips, and even freckles. ![]() It’s also worth mentioning pheomelanin and eumelanin, which are melanin pigments responsible for coloring black, brown, and red hair. That all said, predicting a baby’s hair color is more complex than a mini-genetics lesson can explain, partly because hair color can blend, and the final color can change as your child ages. Not everything they pass along is expressed, but we still have the ability to pass these traits on to our children.Įye and hair color is an example of how the dominant and recessive alleles you and your partner are carrying around can combine to create unique traits, like dark hair, dimples, blue eyes, or even a widow’s peak - even when these traits aren’t expressed by either parent. Each of our parents contributes portions of their DNA via their chromosomes that then become our own genetic code. To answer that, we’re going to need a mini-genetics lesson. It doesn’t take much to ripple the pond, though, which is where things like dominant and recessive genes, alleles, phenotypes, pigments, and blending come into play. ![]() Sure, you can always draw a genetic wildcard, but for the most part, if your entire family has one hair color, the odds suggest that your baby will come out with whatever the fam is rocking. Since multiple alleles are at play, there’s a full spectrum of hair color possibilities.For some, the big reveal will be pretty anticlimactic. Most of what you’ll read about genetics presents hair color as either dominant or recessive. It turns out, there are many different shades of brown. The science makes sense, but according to the Tech Museum of Innovation, most of what we know about hair color is still in the theory stage. People used to think that if one parent had blonde hair and the other had brown hair, for example, the recessive (blonde) would lose out and the dominant (brown) would win. ![]() When the genes meet, the resulting expression is your baby’s unique phenotype, or physical trait. Dominant alleles are associated with dark hair, while recessive alleles are linked to fair shades. You might remember the terms “dominant” and “recessive” from grade school science class. How exactly do genes interact to create hair color? Each of your baby’s genes are made up of alleles. ![]()
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