Why is the red hair such an uncommon hair color?

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Cairistion

I'm jealous of anyone who is a redhead lol! I wish I had red hair!

Answer
Red hair is recessive. Basically, if I inherit one gene for "brown hair" and one for "red hair", the gene for "brown hair" will dominate and I will have brown hair. The only way you get red hair is if BOTH genes are "red hair" genes. Now, it is a little more complex than that because there are more than two genes that determine hair colour, but that's the basic idea. It's sometimes called a "defect" but it's not....it's just recessive.

EDIT: Other people have answered with a cultural explanation and that's true too. Red hair originated in the north European area...I can't remember where exactly...maybe with the vikings? Anyway, it was a relatively small group of people, so spreading the "red hair" recessive gene to other cultures without the "red hair" gene at all - would have been really slow.

Can anyone give me some physical characteristics of a typical Irish person?

April Dawn

I have only heard that they are pale with red hair and green or blue eyes, which are all the stereotypes.
But I wanted to know if there are other physical characteristics or personalities. If there is, can you tell me. Thanks!

Answer
Actually red hair green/blue eyes is not a typical Irish look. A lot of Irish people have very dark-black hair and blue eyes, and very pale skin. The Irish population is made up of a mixed heritage -Viking Celtic, Norman etc.

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Are there any people with red hair in Norway or Sweden?

red hair vikings image

JT

I moved to the US when I was a baby from Oslo and no one believes me when I tell them that I am from Norway because I have red hair. Are they right?

Answer
I read a statistic once that said 2-4% of Scandinavians have naturally red hair (unfortunately I don't know where to find a link for it now). There are definitely natural redheads here, as several of my friends are. If people don't believe you, just refer them to the viking Erik the Red (so named for his red hair).

A famous Norwegian redhead:
Sunniva Stordal http://images.nymag.com/fashion/models/sstordahl/sstordahl_07_head.jpg

I have red hair, but it's dyed :)

What did the Irish and the Celts really look like?

Gavin J

I know the stereotype of the red hair, fair skin ,and freckles of the Irish. But, rumor has it that that is from the Scandanavian people who settled into Ireland many years ago. I watched a program that said the native Celtic tribes of Ireland had black hair and grey eyes. My father is 100% from the British Isles and he has black hair and hazel eyes, along with his siblings. Anybody know the phenotype of the Irish or any physical defining qualities?

Answer
As the last poster said,genetically we are not 'celts' (if you accept celts as mid Europeans originating in/around Hallstatt Austria in about 800 bce),though we are culturally celtic. Our closest relatives genetically are the Basques of Spain which just might give you an idea about possible Irish colouring! These people arrived here post-Ice age,about 8000 years ago, and were followed a few thousand years later by farmers from the Near East and some other tribes of the Atlantic seaboard who may have originated in Italy (and ultimately the near east as well.) These folks would probably be dark-haired-they also may be the ones who brought the celtic language.
The fair/red hair may come from Viking invasions, but may also have been in the population anyway (Basque people tend to be fairer than many average Spaniards)-for instance, people said red hair in the Scots comes from Vikings, but it was noted by the Romans long before any vikings entered Scotland!
Of the Irish/Irish descended people I know closely, 7 have blue eyes, 5 very dark brown eyes, 3 hazel green eyes. Hair colour- light brown 1,midbrown-4, dark brown-6, black-2.(some of these are my own family members and we are all dark-the black Irish as they say.)

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