Brooklyn
My boyfriend mom has red hair.. and so do some of his aunts.. my boyfriend has some redish orangish collored hair in his mustache. . What are the chances my baby will have red hair... me.. my mom.. and dad have brownish blond hair though...
Answer
Red hair is recessive. This means that you have to get a red-hair gene from BOTH your mom and dad without getting any dominant hair color genes to cover it up in order to have red hair yourself.
In basic biology lessons, it's usually represented this way:
Capital B would represent brown hair.
Lowercase r would represent red hair.
If someone has these genes, one from mom and one from dad...
Br
...then the big brown gene overrides the red hair gene and the person has brown hair. The only way for the red hair to shine through is if there are no capital letters and instead there is another red-hair gene with it.
rr
Me personally: Red hair is in both my mom's and my dad's families, just a handful of people. So I managed to get one copy from each of them. It skipped two generations on both sides, so I was really lucky that all my grandparents were carriers and then both my parents were carriers, even though none of them actually had red hair themselves. Thus I do have red hair myself since I got two copies of red hair genes.
My son: Well, he is a red-hair CARRIER, but he doesn't have red hair. My husband has dark hair but he has freckles and a few red hairs in his beard. The freckles and beard hairs are a sign he is a possible carrier of the gene, but he himself has dark hair since dark hair genes are dominant over red, always. He passed on dark-hair genes to our son. I only have recessive red-hair genes, so that's all I can pass on to our children. My husband's dominant dark hair genes give our son dark hair, but my son could someday give me red-haired grandchildren since he is a carrier of the recessive gene.
The odds:
--If you KNOW that both people are red-hair gene carriers (because one of their parents has red hair) but neither one of them actually has red hair themself, the odds are basically 25% of having a red-haired child.
--If one person actually has red hair, and the other person is a carrier, the odds are 50%.
--If one person has red hair and the other is NOT a carrier, the odds are 0%-- but the child will carry the gene without actually having red hair.
--If two non-carriers have a child, obviously there is no chance of red hair at all, and furthermore their child can never have a redhaired child either.
--And if two redheads have a child, the odds are 100% that the baby has red hair. In fact, it can't be any other color for them.
Your case:
Your boyfriend is definitely a red-hair carrier. You know this simply because his mother has red hair. It's the only hair color gene she can pass on to him. So you know that he is a carrier. So the question is about you. If you have freckling skin, there is a chance you might carry the gene. But if you can't find anyone in your family that has red hair, I would doubt whether you do. If you don't carry the red hair gene yourself, then it will be completely impossible for you to ever give birth to a red-haired child even if the father were a blazing carrot-top. And since it kind of sounds like you might not have the gene, don't get your hopes up. ...Unless you're actually hoping to not have a redhead, in which case, relax because you're probably safe. ;)
P.S. It's actually slightly more complicated than that, because we have two hair-color genes that work together, not one. And there are rules about how recessive genes like recessive blonde and recessive red interact. This is where auburn hair and strawberry-blonde hair comes in. But if you understand the basics above, that will demonstrate your odds correctly.
Red hair is recessive. This means that you have to get a red-hair gene from BOTH your mom and dad without getting any dominant hair color genes to cover it up in order to have red hair yourself.
In basic biology lessons, it's usually represented this way:
Capital B would represent brown hair.
Lowercase r would represent red hair.
If someone has these genes, one from mom and one from dad...
Br
...then the big brown gene overrides the red hair gene and the person has brown hair. The only way for the red hair to shine through is if there are no capital letters and instead there is another red-hair gene with it.
rr
Me personally: Red hair is in both my mom's and my dad's families, just a handful of people. So I managed to get one copy from each of them. It skipped two generations on both sides, so I was really lucky that all my grandparents were carriers and then both my parents were carriers, even though none of them actually had red hair themselves. Thus I do have red hair myself since I got two copies of red hair genes.
My son: Well, he is a red-hair CARRIER, but he doesn't have red hair. My husband has dark hair but he has freckles and a few red hairs in his beard. The freckles and beard hairs are a sign he is a possible carrier of the gene, but he himself has dark hair since dark hair genes are dominant over red, always. He passed on dark-hair genes to our son. I only have recessive red-hair genes, so that's all I can pass on to our children. My husband's dominant dark hair genes give our son dark hair, but my son could someday give me red-haired grandchildren since he is a carrier of the recessive gene.
The odds:
--If you KNOW that both people are red-hair gene carriers (because one of their parents has red hair) but neither one of them actually has red hair themself, the odds are basically 25% of having a red-haired child.
--If one person actually has red hair, and the other person is a carrier, the odds are 50%.
--If one person has red hair and the other is NOT a carrier, the odds are 0%-- but the child will carry the gene without actually having red hair.
--If two non-carriers have a child, obviously there is no chance of red hair at all, and furthermore their child can never have a redhaired child either.
--And if two redheads have a child, the odds are 100% that the baby has red hair. In fact, it can't be any other color for them.
Your case:
Your boyfriend is definitely a red-hair carrier. You know this simply because his mother has red hair. It's the only hair color gene she can pass on to him. So you know that he is a carrier. So the question is about you. If you have freckling skin, there is a chance you might carry the gene. But if you can't find anyone in your family that has red hair, I would doubt whether you do. If you don't carry the red hair gene yourself, then it will be completely impossible for you to ever give birth to a red-haired child even if the father were a blazing carrot-top. And since it kind of sounds like you might not have the gene, don't get your hopes up. ...Unless you're actually hoping to not have a redhead, in which case, relax because you're probably safe. ;)
P.S. It's actually slightly more complicated than that, because we have two hair-color genes that work together, not one. And there are rules about how recessive genes like recessive blonde and recessive red interact. This is where auburn hair and strawberry-blonde hair comes in. But if you understand the basics above, that will demonstrate your odds correctly.
Is the gene/allele for red hair Recessive or Dominant?
Ali
Answer
red hair color is incomplete dominance. It is neither dominant nor recessive.
I hope that helps.
red hair color is incomplete dominance. It is neither dominant nor recessive.
I hope that helps.
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Title Post: will my baby have red hair?
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