Is it possible for my future children to have blonde hair?
Yes. It is completely genetic. Now I am not sure exactly how hair color works but in my family for example, my parents have brown hair. On both sides my parents have red headed siblings. Out of the four of us children, 3 have red hair and 1 has brown hair. Similarly I am the only curly haired child, my mother’s brother has tight curly hair and my fathers is wavy – I look like Shirley Temple. Both of my parents carry the genetic material for red and curly hair. Your genes have markers called alleles. The phenotype (characteristic) of the allele can be dominant recessive or neither. In the case of dominant vs recessive phenotypes (traits/characteristics) – you will exhibit the phenotype of the dominant allele anytime it exists in the genetic paring of a chromosome. Our chromosomes are made up of a pair of genes. Identical genes (with the same allele) are called homozygous and genes paired with two different alleles are called heterozygous.
Have people ever said to you, “It’s in your genes?” They were probably talking about a physical characteristic, personality trait, or talent that you share with other members of your family. We know that genes play an important role in shaping how we look and act and even whether we get sick. Now scientists are trying to use that knowledge in exciting new ways, such as preventing and treating health problems. What Is a Gene? To understand how genes (pronounced: jeens) work, let’s review some biology basics. Most living organisms are made up of cells that contain a substance called deoxyribonucleic (pronounced: dee-ahk-see-rye-bow-noo-klee-ik) acid (DNA). DNA is wrapped together to form structures called chromosomes (pronounced: krow-muh-soams). Most cells in the human body have 23 pairs of chromosomes, making a total of 46. Individual sperm and egg cells, however, have just 23 unpaired chromosomes.
Most children have blonde-ish hair when they are young. If you married a guy with blonde hair, and you also carry a blonde hair gene there is a chance you could have blonde children. And this has NOTHING to do with Anthropology…it’s genetics. Ok…this is how it works, for traits such as height, hair color and eye color, there are dominant traits and recessive traits. For example Brown eyes are dominant to blue eyes. In order for a child to have blue eyes, they have to inherit both recessive genes, if you or your mate contributes a dominant gene to that child, he/she will have brown eyes, it’s the same with all inherited traits. If you husband has blonde hair, and you have a blonde gene, it is possible for your children to have blonde hair.
Yes it is possible. Both parents have to have a gene for blonde hair in their genetic make up. Those two blonde genes have to be present in the baby for its hair to be blonde. The same goes for blue eyes. This was the basis for Hitlers belief that a “pure race” consisted of blonde haired blue eyed persons, because all other color genes were eliminated!!
