hair texture and evolution

[Ricky22]

A long time ago I was reading about hair texture from somewhere when I just thought about that different hair textures are evolutionary traits, like how african-textured hair is curly and coily the way it is to keep our hair off our backs and necks and to provide insulation to our scalps in the hot african weather or that caucasian-textured hair is the way it is so europeans would have better warmth from the cold weather

[ChloeDharma]

Yes, i remember reading something about that years ago.....like why scandinavian hair tended to be fairer etc.....can't remember why now though, something to do with lack of sunlight or something like that.

[Ricky22]

did you mean "finer"?

[sapphire-o]

I'm sure fine, wavy hair insulate better. :) Like down is warmer than feathers. So Caucasian hair is built to be light, fluffy (frizzy) and protect head from the cold without the need of a lot of hair. My DH's hair feels warm and fuzzy, while my hair feels cool and silky. I wonder if there's any advantage to having shiny hair?

[ChloeDharma]

No, i meant fairer as in lighter coloured/blond. Though i think it's often said to be finer as in strand thickness too.

[tiny_teesha]

My sister was telling me something like this. Even our sun exposure changes us, i think even genetically it turns on and off genes so that you chuck one twin in the artic and one in africa and you will get different results in the apearance.

[ilovelonghair]

It's not really that the twins will have genes turned on and off (that only happens over a long time of generations, I'm sure someone can explain this) but they will look different. I know a twin where one of them is light skinned and the other dark skinned, just due to the fact that one goes more in the sun. It will also affect the skin healthwise of course.

[ChloeDharma]

I know a twin where one of them is light skinned and the other dark skinned, just due to the fact that one goes more in the sun. It will also affect the skin healthwise of course.

Don't you just mean one gets a tan and the other one doesn't? Or am i missing something?

[Just_Isabel]

Yes, i remember reading something about that years ago.....like why scandinavian hair tended to be fairer etc.....can't remember why now though, something to do with lack of sunlight or something like that.

Lighter skin allows you to produce more vit D with less sun exposure. Darker skin needs more sun for this than lighter skin.


It's not really that the twins will have genes turned on and off (that only happens over a long time of generations, I'm sure someone can explain this) but they will look different.

Hmm... Have you heard of epigenetics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics)? If I understand this right, genes can be turned on and off - and this can be passed on to offspring -, but the DNA doesn't change.

[jojo]

i know the area where i live has a viking heritage and i have read somewhere that this is why blonds are common in my area, well my hair was blonder when i was younger so maybe i have ancestors who were vikings, as long as i dont grow no beard or take a fancy to hats with horns growing out of them!!

[florenonite]

i know the area where i live has a viking heritage and i have read somewhere that this is why blonds are common in my area, well my hair was blonder when i was younger so maybe i have ancestors who were vikings, as long as i dont grow no beard or take a fancy to hats with horns growing out of them!!

Here in Eastern Scotland (Fife) you get lots of children with white-blonde hair with parents with dark hair; my sisters and I all had white-blonde hair when we were wee, and my 14-year-old sister still does. I think there were Vikings here.

[Just_Isabel]

I think having light hair as a kid and it getting darker as you grow is pretty common.
My brother had blond hair - close to white - when he was a toddler, now it's a very dark brown. I was also blondish as a child.
I do think this isn't rare for "European" types. ETA: I'm pretty sure I have no Viking blood in me. ;) So I don't think that's a requirement for the "blond child, brunette adult" phenomenon.

[jojo]

Here in Eastern Scotland (Fife) you get lots of children with white-blonde hair with parents with dark hair; my sisters and I all had white-blonde hair when we were wee, and my 14-year-old sister still does. I think there were Vikings here.

i think you are right, my grandfather had fire red hair and my eldest is white blond, we could even be related! my surname is Scottish (Eglin) i think, i dont know any others round here.

[florenonite]

Funny, my surname is actually English, it must be from the Scottish and English nobility intermarrying during the middle ages.

Elgin .. the train from Aberdeen to Inverness stops there I do believe.

@Just Isabel: I do think it's a northerly phenomenon (blonde-brown hair), and, although Scotland is quite far north, some parts of Scotland (Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides) were Norwegian till the time of Alexander II or so, and there were Viking raids in the rest of the country.

[Laululintu]

I think having light hair as a kid and it getting darker as you grow is pretty common.
My brother had blond hair - close to white - when he was a toddler, now it's a very dark brown. I was also blondish as a child.
I do think this isn't rare for "European" types. ETA: I'm pretty sure I have no Viking blood in me. ;) So I don't think that's a requirement for the "blond child, brunette adult" phenomenon.

I did it the other way around ;) I had nearly black hair as an infant, then dark blonde hair as a toddler and have had light brown hair for most of my life :)

[spidermom]

I must be a genetic mutt, as I have every texture and color of hair on my head, even very kinky-curly black hairs, although the majority of hairs are pale.

[Just_Isabel]

@Just Isabel: I do think it's a northerly phenomenon (blonde-brown hair), and, although Scotland is quite far north, some parts of Scotland (Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides) were Norwegian till the time of Alexander II or so, and there were Viking raids in the rest of the country.

Maybe it's more common in northern countries, but I'm from the south and what happened to our hair (mine and my brother's) isn't uncommon at all where I grew up.
Or maybe toddler hair is just much more easily bleached by the sun and that's why you see this in Mediterranean areas too? :shrug:

[vindo]

I heard about that Theory too (and many others)..

I have a mix of asian and caucasian hair..Im really funny mixed all over...the genes were having a party I guess :uhh:
I wonder what its good for...I mean if each skin and hairtype has its purpose what if youre mixed. Is it all messy then or do you get both qualities ? :D

[florenonite]

Maybe it's more common in northern countries, but I'm from the south and what happened to our hair (mine and my brother's) isn't uncommon at all where I grew up.
Or maybe toddler hair is just much more easily bleached by the sun and that's why you see this in Mediterranean areas too? :shrug:

Hmm that's possible, because toddler hair is finer in general, and I think fine hair bleaches more easily than coarser hair (I recall reading this somewhere, though I don't know where...)

[Delilah]

I have no idea where I got my hair type. On my mother's side is thick black russian hair and my father is scottish with brown/blonde curly hair. Dad has some hobbitt hair :)

[Áine]

I heard about that Theory too (and many others)..

I have a mix of asian and caucasian hair..Im really funny mixed all over...the genes were having a party I guess
I wonder what its good for...I mean if each skin and hairtype has its purpose what if youre mixed. Is it all messy then or do you get both qualities ?

^ Emichee, you as a multi-ethnic person, are blessed to get the benefits of both 'sides'. You really are very beautiful.
__________________________________
Okay folks, I apologize in advance for the my long post:

I don't think it's cut and dry as if all "These" people only have this trait, and "Those" people generally have another... I think all humans fall on a spectrum with respect to traits, not divided into separate categories. People have been moving around and living all over the world for eons without encountering physiological problems... it's more often a social problems they come up against.

Phenotype (phyiscial appearance) is such a ridiculously small manifestation of the 0.1% difference among human beings, that I don't believe it plays as heavy a part of human evolution as many might believe. If it is not detrimental to the species, it won't be naturally selected out.

Also, I think that when different areas of the world were populated, it wasn't a massive drove of people that decided to get up and move, it might have been an extended family, or a small clan. And we all know how quickly a single trait can quickly become common after a few generations.

So as far as people with certain traits being found in certain places of the world, very likely it was that a small family clan broke off from the larger group and eventually settled where they are and consequently populated an area with more like-traited offspring.

So my whole idea is, that things like coloration and texture might be more easily traced with human migration patterns, than to just attribute it to something as complex as evolution.

[jojo]

I think having light hair as a kid and it getting darker as you grow is pretty common.
My brother had blond hair - close to white - when he was a toddler, now it's a very dark brown. I was also blondish as a child.
I do think this isn't rare for "European" types. ETA: I'm pretty sure I have no Viking blood in me. ;) So I don't think that's a requirement for the "blond child, brunette adult" phenomenon.

my eldest daughter is 20 and still has natural white blond hair, she has the temper of a viking though!!!!

[jojo]

Funny, my surname is actually English, it must be from the Scottish and English nobility intermarrying during the middle ages.

Elgin .. the train from Aberdeen to Inverness stops there I do believe.

@Just Isabel: I do think it's a northerly phenomenon (blonde-brown hair), and, although Scotland is quite far north, some parts of Scotland (Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides) were Norwegian till the time of Alexander II or so, and there were Viking raids in the rest of the country.
yeah my name gets miss spelt for Elgin, but i never met another Eglin, i know my father in law said its a place in Scotland but i never heard of it!!

[florenonite]

I haven't either, hence I assumed it was a typo ^_^ sorry about that. It's probably a little tiny town in the middle of nowhere like Penpont or Cupar or Liff.

[jojo]

I haven't either, hence I assumed it was a typo ^_^ sorry about that. It's probably a little tiny town in the middle of nowhere like Penpont or Cupar or Liff.

most people do!! my hubbies nickname is eggy, horrible isnt it? i always wanted to be a Mrs Robinson, thats a nice surname!!

[dancingbarefoot]

It's not really that the twins will have genes turned on and off (that only happens over a long time of generations, I'm sure someone can explain this) but they will look different. I know a twin where one of them is light skinned and the other dark skinned, just due to the fact that one goes more in the sun. It will also affect the skin healthwise of course.

While rare, there are also known cases of so-called mixed twins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_twins) who don't have the same features (including skin color), and it's not just because of different exposure to sunlight. Pretty neat!

[getoffmyskittle]

I heard about that Theory too (and many others)..

I have a mix of asian and caucasian hair..Im really funny mixed all over...the genes were having a party I guess :uhh:
I wonder what its good for...I mean if each skin and hairtype has its purpose what if youre mixed. Is it all messy then or do you get both qualities ? :D

I think we get a blending effect. :grin:

[Nat242]

My partner is Scottish - he had white blonde hair as a baby and now he has rich chocolate brown hair.

That's all I have to contribute. My mum had dark brown hair, my dad red, I got mousy brown. Lucky me! :rolleyes:

I know very little about genetics and why hair is how it is.

[florenonite]

most people do!! my hubbies nickname is eggy, horrible isnt it? i always wanted to be a Mrs Robinson, thats a nice surname!!

Like the song 'Here's to you, Mrs Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know' (yes, I listen to the same music as my dad does:p)

[Just_Isabel]

While rare, there are also known cases of so-called mixed twins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_twins) who don't have the same features (including skin color), and it's not just because of different exposure to sunlight. Pretty neat!

I remember a biracial couple that got a black and a white twin. Fascinating. :D
There are links at the bottom of the wiki link.

(I have a friend who is mixed (not sure how many different races :lol:), and her husband is biracial. I can't wait to see their children, when they have them. :gabigrin: :wannabe:)

[ilovelonghair]

Don't you just mean one gets a tan and the other one doesn't? Or am i missing something?


Yes, but due to that they look quite different when they get older (wrinkles, age spots etc.)

[Pixel Gypsy]

Hmm... Have you heard of epigenetics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics)? If I understand this right, genes can be turned on and off - and this can be passed on to offspring -, but the DNA doesn't change.

There is a lot of gene research going on involving autism that is looking into genes and environmental triggers...scientists are trying to figure out if some people may be genetically predisposed to being autistic and simply having these genes "turned on" by some contact by an outside factor.

My sisters-in-law are identical "mirror twins" (one's a lefty, other a righty, one has a mole on the left, the other a right, etc.) and they were hard to tell apart as children. But one sister was diagnosed with Hodgkins when she was 20 and now there is a marked physical difference between the two, including height. Chemo and radiation seems to have stunted one sister's height. I could see where growing up in two different environments could create changes in identical twins, because extreme circumstances has seemed to do that to my SIL.

[jojo]

Like the song 'Here's to you, Mrs Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know' (yes, I listen to the same music as my dad does:p)
oh yeah id forgotten about that! thanks for putting a song in my head:cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese:

[Ranee]

My brother and I are eurindian. I never quite understood why my brother came out with a dark brown skin tone while my skin is near white. He also has the same black coarse hair our indian father has, while mine is brown. Funny, isn't it? :)