What is the Origin and Reason for Red Hair?

What is the Origin and Reason for Red Hair?

Chapters:
0:00 Red Hair
1:12 Genetics of Red Hair
2:38 Genetic Inheritance of Red Hair
3:52 Origins of Red Hair
5:09 Reasons for Red Hair
6:34 My Thoughts

What is the origin of red hair and why did it develop in the first place? Now red hair is the rarest hair color in the world, at around 2% of the global population, and it is most common in people of Northern European ancestry, at around 2–6%. It is particularly associated with Celtic countries, with Scotland and Ireland having the highest percentage of people with naturally red hair in the world. Estimates seem to vary for Scotland at between 6-13% of the population, with around 10% of people in Ireland having red hair. Red heads are found in other regions across the globe however, including the Udmurt Republic of Russia, who some say possess the “reddest hair in the world.”

Interestingly, multiple studies have shown that people with red hair perceive pain differently to others. Red heads may be more sensitive to certain types of pain and can require higher doses of some pain-killing medications, and they often need about 20 percent more anesthesia to be sedated. Some studies indicate however that the general pain tolerance of red-heads may be higher. People with red hair also respond more effectively to opioid pain medications, requiring lower doses.

This is pretty wild to think, so why does this seem to be the case? Well it’s to do with the main genetic variant that causes red hair in the first place. To be more specific, red heads have a variant of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene located on chromosome 16, which seems to be the primary driver of red hair, although other studies have pinpointed more genes that also may play a role in whether red hair is expressed or not, but this is still being mapped.

Sources:

Are You Carrying the Redhead Gene | Ginger Gene DNA | Live Science

The genetic causes, ethnic origins and history of red hair - Eupedia

Red hair - Wikipedia

Study finds link between red hair and pain threshold | National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The people with the reddest hair in the world - BBC News


Carles Lalueza-Fox et al. A Melanocortin 1 Receptor Allele Suggests Varying Pigmentation Among Neanderthals.Science318,1453-1455(2007).DOI:10.1126/science.1147417

Toxic pigment that causes red hair discovered in 10 million-year-old frog fossil | Live Science

What Causes Red Hair? - 23andMe United Kingdom

The genes linked to red hair | The University of Edinburgh

DNA reveals Neanderthal redheads — Harvard Gazette

Melanocortin 1 receptor - Wikipedia

Rory - Wikipedia

Thracians - Wikipedia

Tarim mummies - Wikipedia

Neanderthal - Wikipedia

#redhair #genetics #ancestry

[celtichistorydecoded]

Thanks for watching! Please let me know your thoughts below...

[tammygraham]

Hated it as a kid as everyone made fun of me. Now I'm laughing at 65 with very minimal gray hair! Lovin' the red!

[wendythompson]

Just to make it clear. As a child, I was tortured with no mercy. But by high school, I loved my red hair and am proud of my originality. I would never give it up.

[judithwood]

Also in England and Scotland, they have red hair, squirrels, red haired cattle and red haired deer.😊

[sandratracy]

I was born a fair skinned red head with blue eyes. Now that I'm almost 60 it's mostly blond with white and some remaining faded red. I never appreciated my red hair until it started to fade. I really enjoyed your presentation. Thank you!

[saguntum-iberian-greekkons]

Im not Red Haired 👨🏻‍🦰 but its the most fascinating and beautiful Hair Color of the world. It looks the color of fire. I envy natural born red haired so much!

[michellemurphy]

I had Auburn hair, I was teased so much, when I got my first paycheck at 13 years old I went straight to the hairdressers and got blonde highlights. Well, when I got home my mum let me have it 😂. My hair was actually a gorgeous dark auburn, during St. Patrick's day we had lots of Americans in the parade in Dublin. One lovely lady came up and told me how beautiful my hair was. I've never forgotten those kind words.

[darrylblanch]

Yep, I'm a ranga (redhead). Over 6 foot, red curly hair, pale skin, green eyed Aussie 👍🍻🇦🇺

[gaius_enceladus]

There are so many gorgeous red-haired women!
I got a new pair of glasses recently and one of the women working at the optometrist had the most lovely long, flowing red hair!
It was wonderful! I complimented her on it!

[scimiles]

I have strawberry blonde hair, fair skin, freckles, and green eyes. My ancestry estimate from testing is 100% Norwegian!

[stanleywilliams]

When you go to spear a wooly mammoth it helps you blend in for the purpose of camouflage.

[rachelb]

Dad born in Cornwall, UK he had strawberry blond hair, blue eyes. Mom had brown-black hair, green eyes. Out of us 6 kids, 3 of us, including myself have red hair/ blue or green eyes. My husband had light brown hair, brown eyes. Out of our 4 children, two are blond, blue eyes. Out of my 5 (so far!) grandchildren, 2 have red hair, 2 blond, 1 brown. In my family, the redheads are dominant 😅

[kamillion]

I am a redhead and used to hate it when I was younger but after becoming a cosmetologist, so many wanted red hair! Now I wear it proudly and I am 60. Both my parents and both grandmothers were redheads! Two of my three children, are redheads. My daughter is left-handed and bright blue eyes, my son, also a leftie, has bluegreen eyes and I, however have hazel eyes! We are all very fair skinned with little to no freckles! My daughter has none, my son, a few across his nose as do I. The anesthesia thing is remarkable. I have woken up during every surgery I have ever had! Takes 8-10 shots of novacaine at the dentist to even get remotely numbed, for the three of us! We definitely are a bit different!😉 God bless all you fellow redheads! We are rare, indeed! 💞🤔Thanks for the video and I look forward to seeing more on the topic of red hair and hazel eyes. I have a book called "The Redhead Encyclopedia"! Very informative and so incredibly interesting! ❤️ 🥰🙏🏻✝️❤️

[TroyDowVanZandt]

I found a picture taken at my grandparents' ca. 1960. All the women seated at the table had red hair: my mother, my paternal grandmother, and my great uncle Frank's wife. Some northern European men definitely have a thing for redheads.

[stuartwaldron]

I'm officially blonde (according to my enlistment papers), but for some time, I was deeply red.
Now I'm grey!

[mwilson]

I'm red hair, green eyes and 61 percent Irish according to DNA test. My grandmother was a Scot Armstrong too 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 but with dark hair. My husband has a red beard and reddish tones in his Chestnuts brown hair. Our daughter is blue eyed, strawberry red hair. Lots of red hair on my side of the family, cousins and such, and we grew up in an Irish part of town known as the Cork Hill neighborhood. Such good memories. Davenport, Iowa USA. Love to you.

[corinnedefazio]

My family are dark Southern Italians and yet every generation we have a child with bright red hair and blue eyes. We say these genetics were injected into Italy with the Viking and Northern invasions. My red-haired family members have always been the sweetest, kindest most even-tempered us hot-headed ones with typical coloring!😊

[nufosmatic]

0:59 - I am a redhead. I've always had to take much larger doses of over-the-counter painkillers to have them be effective. I don't use Tylenol as the recommended dose has no effect whatsoever and taking more than recommended is toxic. I went into the hospital to have a suspicious patch excised from my forearm. The plan was to sedate me lightly where I would be essentially awake for the procedure. The anesthesiologist, as it happened, was also a redhead, and we chatted at length about the redhead-vs-pain study which had recently come out. During the actual procedure he had trouble keeping me sedated and pain-managed, so they finally decided to just put me out.

[davidhickman]

Germanic and Slavic people have red hair as well. It is NOT only the Celts. I have brown hair but a red beard.

[PhilLesh]

There was a bartender at the Cafe Deluxe in Tysons Corner Virginia who I swore was from ireland. Everyone asked him where in Ireland he was from. He had an accent that sorta could be mistaken for a Gaelic inflection. He had red hair. He had many other northern European facial features, skin tone.

His answer was surprising.

"I grew up in a wee little town called Nablus. Have ye ever heard of it?"

He was a Palestinian. A Christian Palestinian, but Palestinian, not Irish or Scot.

Apparently during the crusades there was a lot of intermarriage and cross-migration and setlling between Europe and the middle east. Entire new bloodlines were established mixing the two peoples together.