Curly hair is determined by factors you inherit from your biological mother and your biological father. There's no single gene that determines the way that your hair looks. The way your hair looks when you're born is also a clue into the genetic information you'd pass to your own children if you have them.
Curly hair is dominant, so someone is more likely to have curly or wavy hair if at least one of their parents does. Recent research points to trichohyalin, a protein in hair follicles, as having primary influence over hair curl. However, there are many genes contributing to hair curliness, most of them unknown.
One popular myth is that hair loss in men is passed down from the mother's side of the family while hair loss in women is passed down from the father's side; however, the truth is that the genes for hair loss and hair loss itself are actually passed down from both sides of the family.
It could be that neither of your parents have curly hair, but an ancestor did. Then the curly hair gene could have been passed down through generations and your parents are carrier of that gene, which manifested its trait in you!
The gene for curly hair in Caucasians
It has been long established that curly hair is a dominant trait in Caucasians and straight hair is recessive.
The story of human migration and evolution is written in hair DNA. In sub-Saharan Africa, genes favour tight, curly hair. But in east Asia, mutations have led to straighter, thicker hair. In Europe, other mutations brought wavy and straw-coloured hair.
Curly hair is not certain to a race or ethnicity, it appears all over the world in many forms. White, brown, black and everything inbetween! There is also a scale on which curly hair is classified (2a-4c).
Yes indeed, curly hair is passed down genetically from our parents. The genetic information, known as alleles is what will determine your hair type. The curl gene is a dominant additive trait, so if one of your parents has curl hair, chances are you will also have their curls.
Yes, only 11% of the population have curly hair.
Hair morphology is one of the more conspicuous features of human variation and is particularly diverse among people of European ancestry, for which around 45% of individuals have straight hair, 40% have wavy hair, and 15% have curly hair.
All men inherit a Y chromosome from their father, which means all traits that are only found on the Y chromosome come from dad, not mom. The Supporting Evidence: Y-linked traits follow a clear paternal lineage.
Unlike nuclear DNA, which comes from both parents, mitochondrial DNA comes only from the mother.
We inherit a set of 23 chromosomes from our mothers and another set of 23 from our fathers. One of those pairs are the chromosomes that determine the biological sex of a child – girls have an XX pair and boys have an XY pair, with very rare exceptions in certain disorders.
The probability of the parents having a child with curly hair is 3/4, as shown in the Punnett square below: A Punnett square for the cross of two heterozygous parents is shown.
The scientists, from the Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) in Brisbane identified the TCHH gene (trichohyalin) on chromosome one as the major gene controlling the curliness of hair.
Curly hair is often associated with a fun-loving, warm hearted and outgoing personality. If you have curly hair you are perceived as being courageous, outspoken, and spontaneous. You are probably someone who likes to challenge perceptions and norms.
Coily Curls
The last, but most rare type of curl is the coily curl. This curl type is similar to that of an afro and when observed carefully, looks like the angular letter 'Z'. These curls require the most amount of moisture, as the hair type is much thicker than the other curl types.
An estimated 65 percent of the U.S. population has curly, coily or wavy hair, with a growing percentage of textured-hair women embracing their natural hair .
Can you activate the curly hair gene? People who have a curly-haired parent assume that they can activate this gene. If by puberty your hair doesn't turn curly then you can't activate a curly hair gene.
“Every person has two types of genes that determine their natural hair colour, texture, height, and curl. One gene is from their mother's side of the family and one gene comes from their father's side.” “Curls are hereditary, so if someone has curly hair they're more likely to have a baby with curlier locks.
Genetics of Hair Type
So, while curly-haired parents tend to have curly-haired kids, there's no guarantee it will happen. Because many different genes are involved, even a curly-haired parent can have—and pass along—straight-hair gene variations.
Yes, in fact it's rather likely. Curly hair is dominant to straight hair, meaning if the child inherits the curly allele from her father, she will certainly display the curly phenotype, even though she will definitely inherit the “straight” allele from mom.
Caucasians have the highest hair density among the ethnicities studied. Black people have the lowest. Asian people have hair density that falls somewhere in between.
Lots of traits are statistically rare: Left-handedness (just 10 percent of the population!), curly hair (11 percent!), and blond hair (4 percent!), to name a few.
Genotyping results show that 94.9% of Black people have curly hair. Additionally, 12.7% of Europeans and 12% of Asian people have curls. Biracial hair is a complicated term, and it does not refer specifically to one hair type or shape.