Recessive traits like red hair can skip generations because they can hide out in a carrier behind a dominant trait. The recessive trait needs another carrier and a bit of luck to be seen. This means that it can sometimes take a few generations to finally make its presence known.
Every generation will carry the ginger gene, though in your families recent history (until you were born) the gene was recessive, hence your parents and grandparents didn't have ginger hair. There's around 25% chance that your children will have ginger hair.
How many generations can the red hair gene skip? Because it's a recessive trait, red hair can easily skip a generation. It can then reappear after skipping one or more generations if both parents, no matter their hair color, carry the red hair gene.
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.
Most redheads have a gene mutation in the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R). When MC1R is inactivated, the body produces more pheomelanin, which is responsible for reddish skin and hair tones, than eumelanin, which is responsible for shades of brown and black.
Redheads actually have less hair than most other people. On average they only have 90,000 strands of hair while blonds, for example, have 140,000. However, red hair is typically thicker so it still looks just as full.
Most (natural) redheads will have brown eyes, followed by hazel or green shades.
So what does that all mean for your chances of having a red-headed child? Since you need two pieces of “red hair” DNA to have red hair, your child will only have red hair if they receive “red hair” DNA from both parents. Even if you don't have red hair, you can still pass on a red hair allele to your child!
How many redheads are there? Less than 2% of the world's population has red hair. The highest concentration of redheads is in Scotland (13%), followed by Ireland (10%).
This hormone also stimulates a brain receptor that increases pain sensitivity. "In a nutshell, redheads are likely to experience more pain from a given stimulus and therefore require more anesthesia to alleviate that pain," he says. "The art and science of anesthesiology is choosing the right dose," says Liem.
Redheads Look Older Than They Are
Some evidence suggests redheaded adults often appear older than their actual age. For example, one study published in 2016 in Current Biology found that adults who carry two copies of the MC1R gene variant are more likely to look two years older than other people their age.
REDHEADS are significantly less likely to age badly.
That's according to a study conducted by Erasmus University in Rotterdam who discovered the gene that keeps people looking young is the same as the one responsible for red hair and skin.
Despite plenty of debunked “studies” that pop up around the internet every few years, redheads are not going extinct.
Lifespan: up to 20 years in captivity, 5-10 years in the wild.
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.
Research has shown that people with red hair perceive pain differently than others. They may be more sensitive to certain types of pain and can require higher doses of some pain-killing medications. However, studies suggest that their general pain tolerance may be higher.
Thanks to genetics, gingers tend to retain their red hair colour for a lot longer, skipping out the greying stage that most other people experience.
Red hair (also known as orange hair and ginger hair) is a hair color found in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and lesser frequency in other populations.
The recessive gene that carries red hair has been traced back 50,000 Years when early modern gingers first appeared in the grasslands of Central Asia.
Historians believe red hair actually originated in central Asia about 50,000 years ago. It is believed there are so many redheads in Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia because our redhead ancestors migrated to cooler climates.
Less than 2 percent of the world's population has red hair, making it the rarest hair color in the world. It's the result of the mutated MC1R gene. If both parents carry that gene, their child has a 25% chance of getting lovely, red locks, even if the parents don't have red hair themselves.
Most redheads have pink undertones in the skin which can appear ruddy.
The redhead gene
MC1R is responsible for producing the skin pigment melanin, which redheads can't produce because of the mutation. This same gene is responsible not only for hair and skin color, but also for the midbrain function that determines pain response.
Green is considered by some to be the actual rarest eye color in the world, though others would say it's been dethroned by red, violet, and grey eyes. Green eyes don't possess a lot of melanin, which creates a Rayleigh scattering effect: Light gets reflected and scattered by the eyes instead of absorbed by pigment.