The Science of Blonde Hair

[Angela]

I live in an overcast area that rains or snows most of the year. When I'm exposed to the sun for long periods, especially going into saltwater at the beach my hair will lighten up. I'm sure that's true for a lot of people. I've noticed (along with my grey hairs) my hair will turn a slight copper reddish blonde that I've never had.

Pheomelanin, the pigment responsible for a "reddish" tint in hair, breaks down slower than eumelanin. That's why when women with brown hair get "highlights" or bleached strands, the strands come out looking rather reddish, and, unless that's the woman's preference, they have to apply a "toner" to the hair to get rid of the red. The sun (and salt) bleach the hair just as peroxide does. The chlorine in a pool will also do a number on hair...lifeguards who have very fair hair can develop a radioactive sort of green "glow" to their hair if they don't constantly rinse the chlorine out with fresh water.

 

[motzart]

I was born with blonde hair, as my father was and a lot of my family. All of our hair turned dark brown close to black when we went through puberty. I always wondered why this happens?

Blondes are known for being dumb so perhaps as you grew older and gained intelligence your hair color changed.

 

[Fire Haired14]

I was born with blonde hair, as my father was and a lot of my family. All of our hair turned dark brown close to black when we went through puberty. I always wondered why this happens?

The same is true for most people in my family. The majority of pre school kids have blonde hair and by the time their in 8th grade a pretty small minority does. The same is also true for Oceania people, many have blonde hair(caused by differnt mutations than west Eurasian blonde hair) as children and all have dark hair by puberty. Everyone's hair probably darkens during puberty, just it is easy to see in blondes.

 

[Radek]

What????!!!!! Vandals had nothing to do with the Andronovo culture just like how English have nothing to do with Russians even though both have high amounts of blonde hair.

English amount of blonde hair is clearly overstated by internet bookies..

Its no more than 1 in 10 english people with real blonde hair, past their teens.. And if you talk about pure blonde hair the amount goes to the single digits..

 

[MOESAN]

I think these changes are rather the rule than the exception. Most European children are born with lighter hair than they will have in adulthood, in my experience. It seems probable to me that it is at least partly a function of the effect of hormonal triggers on the mutated genes involved, as two of the periods of greatest change are puberty, and, for women, pregnancy.

Eye color changes as well, with many children being born with blue eyes that gradually change color, although the transformation is usually complete relatively quickly.

Just as an example, both my children were born with blue eyes; my daughter's quickly turned brown, but my son's were blue for almost a year, and then gradually changed to a greenish hazel. My daughter's hair, when it finally came in, (thank goodness for those sticky bows!) was platinum blonde, and it stayed that way until her late teens, when it turned a darkish blonde/light brown, much to her dismay. My son, on the other hand, was born with a full head of black, wavy hair, but it inexplicably turned blonde without a single hair falling out. I've never heard of that with any other child. It then got dark again with puberty. (The result was that the children looked very much like each other when they were little, but not very much like me!)

So, these pigmentation genes don't seem very stable to me, at least not in a lot of people, although skin color does tend to remain rather constant, in my opinion.

Fair hair tend to darken with age :

1. the typical dark blond of Germanics ? Celts and others (not the whitish flaxen blond of West Finns) at 20 years age become regularly a just light brown at the 40 years age, before become grey or white (by the way I observed the red hairs people become white sooner than others a s a rule)
   
2. the blondism of children is another thing and depends on other genes I believe (metabolism ones?), than the basic ones which regulate the (partly) steady hair colours : it is something which occurs frequently among animals : the pets have as a rule a different colour from the adults colour – I think I constated the future very dark haired babies are born with already dark hairs (uneasy to observe because very often their rare wet hairs are sticked on their skulls) BUT between birth and one year age these hairs grow lighter before a longer process of darkening unti puberty – this phenomenon was also studied on Czech children some years ago -
   this is a rough observation : in the very dark pigmented Europeans populations, the children become very often brown and not blond – it is possible that the rarest future dark brownish blackish haired adult people who keep blond long enough time in childhood are the ones who carry some recessive blond or fair hairs ? -

&: when we speak of a « blondperson » or a « dark pigmented person » we speakabout the more visible : the head hairs ; but, maybe bydiverse crossing-overs or for other reasons, all the hairs of thebody are not always of the same colours : we can observe evident« sub-regions » : top head, peri-ears and neckregion and vertical branch of beard, moustaches and the triangleunder the mouths, the remainig beard region (the principal one),eyebrows, limbs, breast/chest , pubis and armpits... the more thecountry people is dark or light haired, the more often thepigmentation is homogenous, but some parts as the pubis and beard area bit more reddish very often too whatever the country – the verymixed pigmented populations show more heterogenous pigmentation onthe individuals -

 

[LeBrok]

Fair hair tend to darken with age :
&: when we speak of a « blondperson » or a « dark pigmented person » we speakabout the more visible : the head hairs ; but, maybe bydiverse crossing-overs or for other reasons, all the hairs of thebody are not always of the same colours : we can observe evident« sub-regions » : top head, peri-ears and neckregion and vertical branch of beard, moustaches and the triangleunder the mouths, the remainig beard region (the principal one),eyebrows, limbs, breast/chest , pubis and armpits... the more thecountry people is dark or light haired, the more often thepigmentation is homogenous, but some parts as the pubis and beard area bit more reddish very often too whatever the country – the verymixed pigmented populations show more heterogenous pigmentation onthe individuals -

Hair is a beautiful example about differences in our gene expression in body parts. Every cell has exactly same DNA, yet it is expressed differently on top of the head, in eyes, beard, or ears. Some people might have only blond genes expressed in their eyes but not in hair cells. Unfortunately DNA tests can't tell you which genes are expressed and where, therefore you will always get answer in probability. To make matter even more complicated some genes are turned off or on with age, some with faulty methylation process.

 

[joeyc]

The HirisPlex system uses 24 SNPs to predict hair colour with a very high rate of success (70-90% among Europeans).

The system will surely improve in the next years. A few more SNPs and a better algorithm are needed to reach a 95% rate of prediction.

 

[vigilantexplorer]

Albinism -also called achromia, achromasia, or achromatosis- is characterized by a reduced or lack of pigment that normally gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes due to absence or defect of tyrosinase, a copper-containing enzyme involved in the production of melanin.

google: Why Little Maria is Blonde While Her Roma Parents Are Not

 

[vigilantexplorer]

(OCA1B) is responsible for blonde hair

 

[LeBrok]

google: Why Little Maria is Blonde While Her Roma Parents Are Not

Unless you are strong on believing in miracles it should occur to you, that this is not their natural child.
There was also a virgin Maria who had a child, but I'm not sure if he was blond.

 

[vigilantexplorer]

Unless you are strong on believing in miracles it should occur to you, that this is not their natural child.
There was also a virgin Maria who had a child, but I'm not sure if he was blond.

just google "DNA test confirms that Bulgarian woman IS the natural mother of blonde-haired ‘Maria’ found living with Roma couple"

 

[vigilantexplorer]

OCA1a: Those with this type of albinism have no pigment and no active tyrosinase
OCA1b: Those with this type of albinism have some residual tyrosinase activity and so have some pigment. Although they have decreased pigmentation at birth, it may increase slightly throughout their lives. People in this group may even have the ability to sun tan.
Vision of Tomorrow Foundation

this is scientific

Individuals with OCA1A have white hair, white skin that does not tan, and fully translucent irises that do not darken with age. At birth, individuals with OCA1B have white or very light yellow hair that darkens with age, white skin that over time develops some generalized pigment and may tan with sun exposure, and blue irises that change to green/hazel or brown/tan with age. Visual acuity may be 20/60 or better in some individuals.

so actually no, i prefer science over miracles..

 

[holderlin]

long before DNA was used for human genetics

Damn, that was a long time ago. Probably interdimensional. Pre-stardust

 

[JS Bach]

Another poster posted this on another thread here: http://www.eupedia.com/forum/threads/30619-36-200YBP-European-genome?p=446247#post446247

“I think blond hair is likely the product of mixture of different depigmentation genes that occurred among different populations - possibly for different reasons. For example say it takes three components and some populations only have two. ANE could have brought one of the components.”

So what the poster’s suggesting is that blond hair was the product of multiple populations ultimately coming together, with each population bringing their depigmentation mutations that only manifested themselves in blond hair when brought together. So in effect, this would speed up the evolution process by taking mutations from multiple sources, similar to parallel processing in computers. Then sexual selection would have probably taken its course, as men appear to have a significant preference for blondes – what’s the most popular colour that women dye their hair? - as blonde hair signals youth and fertility, as hair tends to get darker with age. Plus whatever survival benefits it would bring in their environment - better camouflage, synthesis of vitamin D, etc.

 

[Fire Haired14]

Another poster posted this on another thread here: http://www.eupedia.com/forum/threads/30619-36-200YBP-European-genome?p=446247#post446247

“I think blond hair is likely the product of mixture of different depigmentation genes that occurred among different populations - possibly for different reasons. For example say it takes three components and some populations only have two. ANE could have brought one of the components.”

So what the poster’s suggesting is that blond hair was the product of multiple populations ultimately coming together, with each population bringing their depigmentation mutations that only manifested themselves in blond hair when brought together. So in effect, this would speed up the evolution process by taking mutations from multiple sources, similar to parallel processing in computers. Then sexual selection would have probably taken its course, as men appear to have a significant preference for blondes – what’s the most popular colour that women dye their hair? - as blonde hair signals youth and fertility, as hair tends to get darker with age. Plus whatever survival benefits it would bring in their environment - better camouflage, synthesis of vitamin D, etc.

All we know through ancient DNA is that all Euros ancestors at recent as 6,000 years ago had vast majority dark hair, and that somewhere in between 6,000-4,000YBP light hair, light skin, along with blue eyes(which were already popular in WHG-ANE) rose in popularity, especially for north Euro's ancestors. I suspect that the bronze age Corded ware, Bell Beaker, and Unetice genomes Reich has will show the same light pigmentation the bronze age Andronovo samples did. We know that a Lithuanian-type pops spread their genes to west Europe during the bronze age, and I suspect they also made west Europe lighter.

I think sexual selection defiantly could have been apart of the bronze age color change. Most men in the world would agree north European women are the most attractive in the world. It's not because of modern makeup or whatever, if you go to an isolated people non-Americanized people in northern Europe, like the Sami or Lithuanians, you see the same features.

 

[LeBrok]

Most men in the world would agree north European women are the most attractive in the world.

Did you ask the world?
http://destinationspoint.net/misc/top-11-countries-with-the-most-beautiful-women-in-the-world/

1. Brazil
2. Russia
3. Colombia
4. Great Britain
5. Philippines
6. Spain
7. Australia
8. Bulgaria
9. South Africa
10. Canada

 

[Fire Haired14]

Did you ask the world?
http://destinationspoint.net/misc/top-11-countries-with-the-most-beautiful-women-in-the-world/

1. Brazil
2. Russia
3. Colombia
4. Great Britain
5. Philippines
6. Spain
7. Australia
8. Bulgaria
9. South Africa
10. Canada

I see that as baseless. It's based on stero types and personas, and was probably a bad survey. Compare how many female actors/anchors and models who are only used for their looks, who are north European or other. Women of all backgrounds dye their hair blonde. But that's just my impression and I shouldn't assume it's law.

 

[LeBrok]

I see that as baseless. It's based on stero types and personas, and was probably a bad survey. Compare how many female actors/anchors and models who are only used for their looks, who are north European or other. Women of all backgrounds dye their hair blonde. But that's just my impression and I shouldn't assume it's law.

Maybe it is baseless, but on other hand we just have your subjective opinion. Can you find a more scientific survey into this subject to substantiate your claim?

 

[Maleth]

......but women in pic has Dark (Black hair hmm) :/

 

[Aberdeen]

I think beauty is a very subjective thing. In the list LeBrok found, Finipino women rank fairly high, but I don't generally find them attractive - there's just something about their features I don't like. But some other people may think that Filipino women are very attractive. And a lot of people think blondes are very attractive but I don't, perhaps because opposites attract. I have brown hair that used to be blond, blue eyes and fairly pale skin, and although I'm attracted to pale redheads, I'm otherwise most attracted to women with dark hair and a bit darker complexion. But lots of people love blonds. So I don't think it's possible to make a list of certain types of women that everyone finds attractive. It's more subjective than that.