How did I come to have a redheaded daughter?

Question

My daughter is 3 and has beautiful auburn curly hair and dark brown eyes. I have brown eyes and light brown hair. My husband has dark brown hair. We know of no redheads in our family!

Answer 1

I have heard it said that redheads are an abberation of nature. It is an odd gene that doesn't always seem to follow the 'regressive dominant' mode of transference. For instance, in my family it appears to 'skip' a generation. My grandfather from Limerick had glorious red hair which went a beautiful snowy white in old age. His children, however, were mousey brown types. When his grandchildren came along we (all 14 of us) were a variety of colours, including two redheads. As far as I'm aware, none of my cousins have had any redheaded children. But watch out for the next generation....!! BTW - I'm one of the redheaded grandchildren. For your daughter I wish her all the best in life - I have had so many compliments about my hair which is only now in my late 40s showing any degree of fading. Yes, as a child i did get teased about it, but as an adult I was never short of admirers! PS - if she is a true redhead she may be prone to burning in the sun - so it has to be factor 50 all the way, although she may find with the brown eyes she has more melanin in her skin than I have with my blue eyes.

Answer 2

You have two X genes and your partner had an X and a Y gene. The X gene you donated to your daughter was the red haired gene, and the X gene your partner donated was the red haired gene.

You could indeed have brown hair and brown eyes, however the paternal sperm donor father would probably at least show some symptoms of being "a ginger".

It is your family where you get your X gene from. Either your father, or your mother gave you it. As your father did not have the symptoms, it must have been your mother. Therefore, your mother will have been a carrier who obtained the gene either from her father or from her mother. (This can go on several generations until you find the ginger)

It is generally considered that the Y gene in a male is regressive for hair colour, and so it is not relevant for a female daughter.

This is just my interpretation, more detailed analysis is available in the following link. I may be wrong about the paternal father of a red haired girl, but the chances of her father being not ginger in any way are slim. It seems that the inheritance of red hair is not yet scientifically diagnosed completely yet. I suspect there is no firm conclusion on this one for the time being....

Answer 3

Everyone gets 2 genes that will determine their hair color. One from each parent. If either of those genes is for brown hair, then the brown will show because it's a dominant trait. The second gene could be brown, blond or red...it doesn't matter, the brown will show. Having said this, the red gene has been passed through both of your families, apparenlty un-noticed for sometime. It just so happens that you both had that recessive trait hiding in there and passed a red hair gene each to your child. This systen of dominant and recessive genes also applies to eye color and several genetic illnesses...you know, the ones you hear about where the parents are carriers. Kind of crazy how it all works.

Answer 4

I once watched a program saying on BBC 3, it said that if the parents are blond and brunette that the child has a 2/3 chance of being ginger. If the parents are both brunette and one has light brown hair and the other has dark theres a very high chance that the child will have auburn hair. ;I found it most bizarre, especially when it said that two parents with ginger hair are highly likely to have children with blond hair !

Hope this has been some help. Emma x

Answer 5

Just because the redheaded gene never manifested itself before, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Your whole family could have the genotype for red hair but not the phenotype, but now the gene is dominant in your daughter ans she has the phenotype.

Answer 6

Oh this is taking me back to my biology days! Basically you have 2 hair colours...brown and red...brown is dominant over red so you have brown hair. Your husband has 2 hair colours....brown and red...brown is dominant over red so he has brown hair. When your daughter's make up was being decided you each gave half of your hair colour and you both gave the red side so she is red and red which means she has red hair! Hope that makes sense

Answer 7

Red hair is a very powerful gene and it can lie dormant for several generations. Mind you I did go out with an Ella once?

Answer 8

This can come from a long way back..My twin brother and i were both ginger as tots but we both turned dark brown,almost black later..It's all in the genes luv...

Answer 9

red hair is a random gene mutation. It comes and goes. If you have it you are likely to pass it down. If you do not have it then the DNA that governs your child's hair still could randomly mutate into red. Although I would want a paternity test if I was your husband....

Answer 10

She will probably grow out of it. Kids' hair change in color and texture as they grow.