To think this is a very high number of redheads for one family?

[HackerFucker22]

I'll start by saying it's my family and this is no slant on redheads BUT I did think the ginger gene was recessive?

My Mum has 11 grandchildren and x8 of them are redheads.

None of my mum's kids are actually redheads though.

My sister (darkhaired) and her redheaded partner have 5 kids - all ginger!
My brother (darkhaired) and his strawberry blonde partner have 4 kids - 3 of whom are redheads.
Myself and my partner are darkhaired, we have one darkhaired child and one bald one...

Just wondering if anyone else has a high number of redheads in their family?

It's unusual to have 100% of your kids being ginger if parents are darkhaired and redheaded right?

(my sister and SIL both refer to their children as ginger so it's not being used an offensive term here)

[strawberryblondebint]

I am a strawberry blonde as is my mum. My sisters are dark blonde and my dad was brunette. I have had 3 kids to 2 different fathers and none of my children have red hair. 1 yellow blonde 1 dark blonde and 1 brunette. I am disappointed. I want a ginger baby. There are children at the childminders that look more like me than my own weans.

[Lweji]

Would it really be necessary to go through all the complexities of hair colour to give an idea of how rare or unlikely was the number of siblings with red hair in the OP?

[Crazypetlady]

When in doubt use the weasleys as your point of referance. I wish I was ginger :( Might treat myself to a hair dye.

[Skiptonlass]

It doesn't seem like an excessive number to me :) each couple only has a few kids so you're going to get 'clumpiness'' at the family level - over the population level it'll all even out.

A bit like if you had a bag full of green or red tokens, you split everyone into groups of say, three and get them to pick a token without looking. You'll get loads of all-red or all-green groups. If you now split people into bigger groups (say twenty people) and repeat, you'll get fewer all reds or all greens. What looks unlikely on a family level all evens out in the population

(Sorry lweji, you are right, I'm such a pedant sometimes ;) )

As a dark reddy chestnut haired science nerd with tons of ginger in the family, about to have a baby with a white blond Swedish science nerd, from a long line of white blond swedes, this topic has been doing the rounds in our house ;)

[LemonRedwood]

That redhead gene can be sneaky. I'm a redhead (born very blonde, blue eyes) and both parents and sister have very dark brown/black hair. No one on either side of the family can remember any redheads coming before. Sneaky little thing must have been lying dormant for years!

(I love my hair colour :) I definitely think I'm the lucky one, despite many jibes over the years about swapped in the hospital, adoption and the milkman - thanks sis!)

[NotMyMonkey]

Was that your idea of a joke samiam?

[Indantherene]

My DM and her DB both had auburn hair, as did their grandmother. Me and my DB both had blond hair as little children, which got darker brown as we got older.

One of my cousins has the same fair/mousy hair we did and the other is strawberry blond. Their own children are all blond, 2 of them stunningly white-blond.

3 of my DC have fair/mousy hair. One started off blond and one ended up really dark. The other 2 are redheads, and each a different colour red. One is auburn and one is more of a copper.

My mum, uncle and our 2 redheads have dark brown eyes.

[BikeRunSki]

Grumpy my dad was a redhead with dark, dark brown eyes. He'd never met another one until his grandson (my nephew) was born.

Of my dad's 4 DC and 6 DGC, only 1 is a redhead.

[YokoUhOh]

I'm a strawberry blonde with blonde facial hair (well, eyebrows and lashes) - lots of tinting goes on in this house! DS is a golden blonde with dark lashes/darkening brows, but he's only 2, does this mean he'll go dark? DH is very dark grey with dark everything (but blue eyes).

Facial hair is a bit of a giveaway in terms of redheadedness - I often see redheads who 'hide' it with blonde dye but forget to dye their lashes/brows a darker colour.

[BetLynchsBeehive]

I know a family where the two brown haired but freckly parents have two true "ginger" redhead kids.
Both wider families have redheads of varying shades. That's recessive genes for you.

[goodasitgets]

My mum is v dark Mediterranean type skin, brown eyes
Dad red hair, blue eyes
I'm red hair with green eyes but my hair is fading v fast

[steff13]

My grandmother had red hair, as did my father. My husband's grandmother had red hair. I have my mother's dark brown hair (almost black, a bit warmer than that), olive complexion, and hazel eyes. My husband had dirty blond hair, light complexion, and green eyes. We have three kids - #1 son has my identical coloring, dark hair, and hazel eyes. #2 son has red (orange) hair, lighter skin, and eyes the color of a chocolate bar. The girl one has non-descript, blondish brownish hair, medium skin, and green eyes.

[steff13]

my dad was a redhead with dark, dark brown eyes

That's what #2 son looks like. I always say his eyes are the color of a Hershey bar. I don't know if you have Hershey bars in the UK.

My dad and my husband's grandmother both had blue eyes.

[BikeRunSki]

Steff we said Dad's eyes were "cow eyes". I don't think we have Hershey bars in the UK, but dark chocolate (not milk) would be a good comparison.

DM also had the "wrong" colour eyes for her hair (blue/brown), but eyes/hair all sorted out to more usual partnerships amongst my siblings (brown/brown; light brown/hazel; blue/blonde; brown/brown).

[FortyFacedFuckers]

Both my sister & brother have red hair despite my mum & dad having dark hair, my sister has one child and he has red hair.

[MummyPig24]

My great grandmother was a redhead, my grandmother is a redhead, 3 of her 4 children are ginger. My dad being one of them but my brother and are fair, as are my 3 children. But my uncle (the only non ginger one) has a ginger child.

My cousin on my mothers side is ginger too but he seems a random one.

[MummyPig24]

Speaking of "wrong" coloured eyes, my dad has white blonde hair and brown eyes. I haven't seen that combination before.

[alteredimages]

I am a strawberry blonde and rh negative.

I also have a reddish haired DD despite her father being a brown haired Egyptian. No idea where the blonde/redhead gene on his side came from. DD's eyes are a greenish hazel.

[8misskitty8]

Both myself and my husbands family are all dark haired. Every grandparent/parent/uncle/aunt/cousin etc. on both sides are all dark haired and also blue eyed except one of my cousins who is blond like her married into family father. So considering me and DH both have a parent who is one of 9 siblings you can imagine the massive number involved.

Now to our children. We have a redhead as in proper fiery red colour and a strawberry blond. Both with blue eyes. Tracing family tree back, my greatgranny on my dads side was irish and came to the u.k. in 1890 and she was a redhead , everyone after her was dark and DH also had a greatgranny on his dads side who was a redhead, again everyone after her had dark hair.

So the red gene hung around my family for over 100 years before it decided to return !

[northernsoul78]

I had 1 red haired parent and so does dh. 2 of our 3 are redhaired.

[TwatByName]

No ginger parents on dhs side or mine, we're not ginger, but my db is and one of my DC .
Dc was born with black eyes that turned dark brown and have now changed to exactly same coppery colour as his hair.

[Chippednailvarnish]

Now I'm v confused.
When I was born I had red hair. DF is Chinese and DM is Irish.
My hair got darker as I got older, but if you look through my hair closely I still have individual hairs that are red well, grey now and thick black "Chinese" hair!

[Lweji]

My mother also had red hair when young and has the typical red hair skin. But I have always known her with dark hair.

[GuiltyPleasure]

I'm strawberry blonde, with the typical skin colour to match & on my maternal side, my uncle & grandmother were also, but my mum had dark brown hair & olive skin. Of my 3 DC's 2 have light brown hair & skin naturally tanned skin (they look like they've permanently been on holiday!) the other one is somewhere in between. I've always been grateful that the DC don't take after me, because I don't have to worry about them burning in the sun (yes they wear sunscreen). Our holiday pictures always make me laugh. 4 beautifully bronzed people & me the freckled lobster coloured interloper!

[Lweji]

After double checking, the likeliest reason hair changes colour would be genes turning on and off as we get older. For example, as it happens in puberty.
Sometimes alleles from one parent are silenced. So a dominant gene could be silenced and not show up.
It's a huge field in genetics right now.