Why am i the only one in my family with blond hair?

Question

i am 50% Polish and 50% German, and i have blond hair & blue eyes. however, my mom has brown hair and green eyes, and my dad and sister both have brown hair and brown eyes. how did i end up with blond hair/blue eyes? do Polish and German people usually have blond hair & blue eyes?

Answer 1

In fact, Hitler's idea of the superior Aryan Race was perceived as blond and blue-eyed, although that is not entirely true. The perception was based on the number of Germans that had these features. (In fact, Aryan just means that the person has pure blood of the Caucasian race.)

To the North, the Poles also feature a lot of blond, blue-eyed beauties among the females, although less on the male side. This perception is a bit exaggerated on the streets of Warsaw & Cracow since many girls also colour their hair.

While the concept that a couple where both have blue eyes can only have a blue-eyed child is true, blue-eyed children can also be born to couples where neither have blue eyes themselves. As you possibly have many of these feature prominent in your family tree, it is still likely to be a family trait.

I assume you are happy about the situation. Enjoy having the two features most people connect to being attractive.

Answer 2

People have recessive genes.

I was born with red hair, eyes that turned hazel, and a skin that cannot tolerate the sun very much.

My mother was dark haired and dark eyed and her pigmentation wasn't real dark but it was heavier than mine.

My father had brown hair and sky blue eyes.

However,my dark haired mother had a red headed mother who freckled and burned like me.

My father had a reddish haired father.

So by combining the recessive genes from both parents, there was a good chance they would come up with a red headed baby.

Not all Germans and Poles are blond with blue eyes.

I want to correct something. Two blue eyed people can have a brown eyed child, if they both have a brown eyed parent. Brown eyes are dominant. If a person is blue eyed and they have a brown eyed parent, any recessive brown eyed gene is very weak. However, when you combine the weak brown eyed genes from both parents they can produce brown eyed children.

Answer 3

Physical appearance comes from your ancestry, which goes WAY WAY back beyond just the relatives that you know or remember.
And no, there is no particular link to blond hair from Poland and/or Germany. Genetics and genealogy both affect the result (you) but they are different topics.
BTW.. I have Polish background also. Not that it affects my hair color.. but I did have wonderfully blond hair when I was a kid. It turned brown.

Answer 4

Both your mom and dad MUST have the recessive gene for blonde hair and the recessive gene for blue eyes.

We all carry 2 genes for hair color and 2 genes for eye color. The genes may or may not be for the same color. The gene of the more dominant color is what your PHYSICAL apperance will be, but GENETICALLY you still carry another gene that may be for another color. Now, in order to physically exhibit blonde hair, that has to mean that BOTH of your genes for hair color are for blonde, because if you had one gene of any other color, you would be that color (note, as hair and eyes are available in more than one color, the genes work on a heiarchy. Black hair is dominant over all. Brown hair is recessive to black but dominant to all the others. Red hair is recessive to brown, but dominant over blonde. Blonde is dominant over nothing. BOTH genes must be for blonde hair. The same goes for eye color. Blue is the most recessive of all the eye colors, so you must have BOTH genes for blue eyes. A gene for any other color will dominate over blue).

So, although your parents have dark hair and eyes, they BOTH MUST carry a gene for blonde hair and a gene for blue eyes, and they BOTH MUST pass that gene on to you so that both copies of your genes for eye color and hair color have to be for blue eyes and blonde hair. When both parents carry the recessive gene, there is a 1 in 4 chance (or 25%) of an offspring having the recessive traits.

Clear as mud?

By the way, as a note of interest, scientists have determined that in about 200 years, blonde hair and blue eyes will be extinct. There are not enough people with those genes, compared to darker eyes and hair, to pass them along and keep the numbers up. They estimate the last blonde hair/blue eyed person will live in Finland or Denmark, where the heaviest concetration of that hair and eye color are. Dark hair and dark eye colors are wiping out the blonde and blue population.

Answer 5

Jet black hair. I have really dark brown hair and I believe dark hair looks better. I avoid really like blonde hair.

Answer 6

Maybe one of grandparents have blond hair & blue eyes. Or one of your great gandparents had blond hair & blue eyes. It goes down with the genes.

Answer 7

It's transmitted through their genes. Some of your grandparents or greatgrandparents probably had blond hair and blue eyes.

Answer 8

I honestly love dirty blonde hair it looks truly pretty

Answer 9

Maybe youre the milkmans baby, if you know what I mean.

Answer 10

Ask your parents, they probably have a good answer for you.