Red is the rarest hair color, according to Dr. Kaplan, and that's because so few MC1R variants are associated with the shade. “Only three variants are associated with red hair,” she says.
TIL The rarest natural hair color in the world is red, with only 1-2% of the world population having natural red hair.
But this isn't the case because blonde hair is the 2nd rarest natural hair color. Only 3% of the total global population is blonde.
Black hair is the darkest and most common of all human hair colors globally, due to larger populations with this dominant trait. It is a dominant genetic trait, and it is found in people of all backgrounds and ethnicities.
Red hair and green eye genes are simply not as common in populations as other hair and eye colors. One study found that the red hair-green eyes genetic combination is one of the rarest, at -0.14 correlation. Having red hair and blue eyes is even rarer.
'It's extremely rare for people to have hair that is naturally a strawberry blonde color. Basically, strawberry blonde is mostly based on red tones, with blonde highlights dotted here and there. It takes its name from the Italian renaissance.
Black hair and blue eyes is a much more rare combination than is blonde hair and blue eyes. The reason why these two traits are linked is that the genes responsible for hair and eye color happen to be close together on the same chromosomes.
Red is the rarest hair color, according to Dr. Kaplan, and that's because so few MC1R variants are associated with the shade. “Only three variants are associated with red hair,” she says. “If a person has two of these three variants, they almost certainly have red hair.
Less than 2% of the world's population have red hair
That's approximately 140 million people. Scotland boasts the highest percentage of natural redheads, with 13% (40% might carry the gene there) while Ireland comes in second with 10%.
Strawberry blonde therefore belongs to the red hair group.
'Strawberry blonde is the lightest shade of red hair. Other tones in this color group include mahogany, copper and Irish red.
Green is considered by some to be the actual rarest eye color in the world, though others would say it's been dethroned by red, violet, and grey eyes. Green eyes don't possess a lot of melanin, which creates a Rayleigh scattering effect: Light gets reflected and scattered by the eyes instead of absorbed by pigment.
Blonde is Crowned the Sexiest Hair Colour of 2021!
When asked which hair colour they think is sexiest, almost a third of people said they have no preference. However, of those who did have a colour preference: Most say that blonde hair is the sexiest (31.5%)
Unsurprisingly, people with this hair color have plenty of eumelanin. In the world, about 70% of the population has black hair or a variation of black hair. These people are mostly concentrated in three regions and continents namely Africa, pre-Columbian Americas, and Asia.
Blue is one of the rarest of colors in nature. Even the few animals and plants that appear blue don't actually contain the color. These vibrant blue organisms have developed some unique features that use the physics of light.
Brown hair is the second most common human hair color, after black. Brown hair is characterized by higher levels of eumelanin and lower levels of pheomelanin. Of the two types of eumelanin (black and brown), brown-haired people have brown eumelanin; they also usually have medium-thick strands of hair.
It is estimated that more than 90 percent of people in the world have brown or black hair. Some people have variations in one copy of the MC1R gene in each cell that causes the gene to be turned off (deactivated). This type of genetic change is described as loss-of-function.
Redheads probably won't go grey. That's because the pigment just fades over time. So they will probably go blonde and even white, but not grey.
So, the answer to our question 'are redheads going extinct? ' is no. Redheads are less common and blue-eyed-left-handed-redheads are particularly rare, but they're not endangered and they won't die out due to that MC1R recessive gene.
If you've got red hair, don't bother donating sperm at Cryos International, one of the world's largest sperm banks. "We have nothing against red-haired donors," Cryos agency director Ole Schou told msnbc.com Monday.
And when you meet a red head with blue eyes, you are looking at the rarest colour combination of all for human beings. Around 17 per cent of people have blue eyes, and when combined with 1-2 per cent having red hair, the odds of having both traits are around 0.17 per cent.
Does golden hair exist? More pheomelanin creates a more golden or strawberry blond color, and more eumelanin creates an ash or sandy blond color. Blond hair is most commonly found in Northern and Northeastern Europeans and their descendants but can be found spread around most of Europe.
Less than 2 percent of the world's population has red hair, making it the rarest hair color in the world. It's the result of the mutated MC1R gene. If both parents carry that gene, their child has a 25% chance of getting lovely, red locks, even if the parents don't have red hair themselves.
As the population grows and people have babies, the genes for less melanin will become more common. That makes the link between lighter eyes, hair, and skin tighter. So that's why you see people with blond hair typically have blue eyes!
Blonde fact #4: Not all blondes have blue eyes
That's why so many people around the world have black strands and brown eyes. Lighter tint gives rise to lighter coloured eyes, including blue, but also varying tones of green and grey. So, just because you have blonde hair, it doesn't mean that you have blue eyes too.