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Multicultural families

Here's where to share your experience of raising a child or growing up in a multicultural family.

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Original poster

1/4 black 3/4 white children: what do they look like?!

73 replies

Mahraih · 12/07/2010 15:01

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here! I'm 1/2 black African, 1/2 white and my bf is just ... white.

I know lots of mixed race people, but all tend to be 1/2 and 1/2, I've never seen anyone who is quarter black. Just out of curiosity, really, I'm starting to wonder what my baby will look like, porentially? How does hair come out, will skull shape still be african and will the african nose hold out? I'm just a bit curious.

I'm pretty half and half. I look, just, like a 'caucasianised' black person. Lighter, with curly hair and a slightly thinner nose, but definitely of black origin.

So if anyone knows any quarter black children - what do they tend to look like?

Apologies if this causes offence - it is literally just curiosity.

OP posts:

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BeehiveBaby · 12/07/2010 15:05

I don't think you can tell, my friend has 2 1/4 Indian DCs, one who looks 'fully' Indian and the other completely caucasian. My white sister has half African DCs who look exactly like her with darker skin but very very different physiques. You get a suprise!

FranSanDisco · 12/07/2010 15:05

It depends which dominant/recessive genes your child inherits I guess.

BuckBuckMcFate · 12/07/2010 15:06

My friends DC are the same race ratio that your baby will be and tbh to me they look like a mixture of their mum and dad.

Not much help I know!

Fwiw, my DS1 is darker skinnned than their DC and he is white so I think you may just have to wait and see

bran · 12/07/2010 15:07

It really varies IME. You'll just have to wait and see.

My DD is a quarter black caribbean, quarter white and half indian. I think she definitely looks a little bit black, with loose curly hair and a low bridge on her nose, but when we out together as a family she looks like our birth child (me white, dh Indian) who happens to have curly hair and a button nose.

FranSanDisco · 12/07/2010 15:09

My friend is half white and half Asian with brown eyes and hair. Her dh is white with blond hair and brown eyes. He dd is blond haired and blue eyed. Apparently, friend's maternal gran has blue eyes. I am sure your baby will be gorgeous.

Original poster

Mahraih · 12/07/2010 15:10

Wait and see, darn, thought that might be the consensus. So very irritating!

Oh well, as long as it doesn't get his nose, we're ok!

OP posts:

FreakoidOrganisoid · 12/07/2010 15:11

Depends, don't think there is a standard tbh.

My friend's dc are quarter black and they look the same as my half black children, if anything hers have slightly darker skin but very similar features.

Another friend's ds(also a quarter black)has caucasion features and straight hair but very dark skin.

Yet another friend is South African coloured (eg his parents are coloured as are his grandparents etc he wasn't born to one white and one black parent), his wife is white and they have a dd with white skin and black features (but straight hair) and a ds with dark skin, caucasion features and a blond afro.

I think you will just have to wait and see...

darcymum · 12/07/2010 15:12

Gorgeous, you baby will be gorgeous.

I don't know anything about genetics but I think they could come out one million different ways, anything from darker than you to lighter than your bf. I always think mixed race people are very good looking though and it seems to me the more different races you can get in the better looking the outcome.

I know someone 1/4 black they just look white to me with a bit of a sun tan but I think the above is true, any number of outcomes.

Congratulations and good luck.

ps. Have you tried photo shopping pictures of you a bf?

FranSanDisco · 12/07/2010 15:14

My friend and her dh are both black and when their son was born she was asked if her dh was white by a nurse as he was so light skinned. Friend was a little taken aback by the question. Her ds is now the spitting image of his dad, a 'mini me'

Original poster

Mahraih · 12/07/2010 15:22

Sounds like there are lots of possibilities ...

Darcymum: NO, I so haven't. But I'm going to do that. Copiously! Great suggestion.

FranSanDisco: I've heard about that happening before! I think black and mixed race babies are born rather light, then darken. I am now brown (light-ish I guess) but was born white, properly white, and they thought I was Chinese!

Cool, thanks everyone ... nobody's commented on a 1/4 black child they knew with tentacles or anything so smiles all round

OP posts:

NorkyButNice · 12/07/2010 15:27

DS is white with blond curly hair and blue eyes. DH and I have the same genetic makeup as you mention.

DC2 is due tomorrow and I'm expecting someone who looks completely different!

EricNorthmansmistress · 12/07/2010 15:31

DS is 1/2 white, 1/4 black and 1/4 arab. He looks like his dad facially, but he has white skin and dark blonde hair. He has, however, developed quite a tan over the summer despite wearing suncream, which I never do! So I expect he will darken as he gets older and has more sun exposure. He has curly hair but not afro curly, and dark eyes (mine are blue) but I'd expect any child of ours to have dark eyes.

DH is medium brown his older sisters are light brown and his younger sisters are really dark, so it's pretty random. My nephew's dad is pale arab but my nephew looks the spit of DH - far more like him than DS does!

marsiettina · 12/07/2010 19:50

My friend has two girls with the same mix. One girl is blond with blue eyes and the other is brown hair brown eyes. Both the girls just look like white girls with a tan. The blond girl has a long straight nose, while the brown girl has a button nose.
There are quite a few children who I know with this mix. Most look like they have an all year tan with varying features ranging from button noses to straight noses. Some look like a light mix race (half black/half white), others look like Europeans and others look like a white child.
That is the thing with genes is that you never know how your child will come out, even if you are the same race.

pinkmagic1 · 12/07/2010 21:31

I know of 2 people with this mix, one has white features but with a permanent tan, the other is white, but has blond afro hair and very black features.
My kids are half white/half North African Arab. DS has straight hair and white features. His skin is a pale olive and he could pass as white. DD on the other hand has very dark skin, afro hair and black features. many people think she is mixed white/black African or Caribbean which she is technically not.
There is no consistency whatsoever but your little one will be beautiful whatever.

Tasala · 21/07/2010 19:10

I think it depends greatly on the colouring of the white parent. I know a mixed race girl that married a spanish bloke (white but with black hair/dark eyes) and the children look like her. But I have also seen quarter black kids that look very white if the white parent is very fair (ginger or blond).

Genetics are interesting! I also know a mixed asian/black family where the kids look black but have dead straight hair!

Kisha1993 · 23/07/2010 00:28

Hi. Im 17. My dads mixed race and my mum's white ginger hair, which makes me a quarter black. My sister below me is 13 with both of the same parents.
Im quite pale, i guess you could say a tanned white person.I have light brown eyes and light brown hair. I have european hair, but its quite thicker than the usaul european hair. its hard to brush like the curls some mixed race people have. Most people say i look spanish,turkish or colombian. My sister is slightly darker than me, more 'yellow' and she has greeny-hazel eyes. I know someone the same race who is 'yellow' with grey eyes, but i also know someone who is as pale as me. it really does depend on how fair the white parent is. if they have darker blonde or brown hair with blue,brown,grey eyes, the child will tend to have a yellowy skin that looks like like a light mixed race colour with blue,grey,green eyes. If the whiter parent is fairer, then the child could come out pale but still not look fully white. if you want to see what i look like this is my facebook

www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=65539&id=100001070791236#!/profile.php?id=12672102 90

hope this helped.

solo · 23/07/2010 00:44

Every child is different. My Dd is a 1/4 west indian, 1/4 east indian and half white and she has blond hair and blue eyes. Both her father and I have dark brown eyes and dark hair. I'm olive skinned, he's dark skinned. Go figure! she really is beautiful though.

TinHelmet · 23/07/2010 00:47

No way of knowing till the baby arrives. But rest assured, they will be beautiful!

exexpat · 23/07/2010 00:49

I know one family with a white mother and mixed (half African) dad. One son looks quite like his dad - you can see the African genes in him; one looks more mediterranean (straight dark hair, olive skin), and the daughter has amazing blonde ringlets and very slightly olive skin. When you just see the children together they don't look related, but when you see them with the parents, it starts to make sense...

solo · 23/07/2010 00:49

Also, Dd is very white and has european type, very curly hair.

My Ds has an all white father, so is only 1/4 east indian and yet he has brown eyes and olive skin. His father had blue eyes and was pasty white. I really don't think you can tell how babies will turn out.

butmummy · 23/07/2010 00:55

It can go any way, I am fully Indian, dh fully White with light brown hair and green eyes - 2 kids fully white but with brown eyes and dark brown hair. Enjoy the surprise.

DNSmom · 25/08/2010 15:10

Hi.

Im white and my OH is 3/4 black and 1/4 white.

Our children are beautiful but if you look at my photo you'll see the two boys are totally different.

My eldest has paler skin and straiter hair and my second son has darker skin and curly hair.

Im sure your baby will be lovely anyway :o

fabbydabbydoodah · 06/09/2010 21:23

I'm 1/4 black and you can't tell at all apart from my nose and the rate I tan!

My Dad's Dad was from St Lucia, I have his nose but it's come out in other ways in some of my cousins - a few of them are very obviously from a mixed race family in terms of very curly hair or other typical physical traits.

I guess it comes out in everyone differently but I'm very proud of my heritage!

EleFunTess · 10/09/2010 08:03

You can't tell, simple as that. Even when you ahve one child, there is no guarantee any furtherchildren will have the same colouring.

My husband is black, but quite fair skinned, as a result of lots of mixing in generations gone by in the West Indies - think he has Portugese and Spanish in there alongside Africam heritage. I am lily white Irish.

Our oldest child is olive skinned with dark brown eyes and black, European-textured curly hair. He has quite European facial features, too. People typically think he is South American or sometimes Turkish. Our daughter has very pale skin, as white as mine, although she tans well in the sun. She has hazel eyes and blonde, afro-textured hair, and much more African facial features.

We've stopped at two but I sometimes wish we could have a whole tribe of kids just to see the interesting mixtures me and DH can make!

Halzer · 20/09/2010 21:35

I am 1/4 black and 3/4 white. Most people say I look arab, spanish, morroccan, Indian...but they never guess my true ethnicity. Its the same with my brother.

I think genes are really just pot-luck though.

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