# Can blondes have dark-haired children? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2001, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-blondes-have-dark-haired-children/64267 "2001-05-03T22:31:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sarvan25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@sarvan25](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sarvan25)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-blondes-have-dark-haired-children/64267/1 "2001-05-03T22:31:44Z")
This question has been plaguing me since my 6th grade teacher told the class that it is impossible for 2 blonde haired people to have a dark haired child. Over the years I have asked many non-scientists their opinions and received a mixed response. Either hair color can be explained by the simple Rr - Rr equation - blonde parents would both have only the recessive blond gene, making blond the only gene they could pass down, ie rr x rr = rr OR it is a more complicated procedure. Can anybody shed some light on this? ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-blondes-have-dark-haired-children/64267/2 "2001-05-03T23:04:18Z")
Well, if it was only one gene, then you would only have two hair colors. Since that’s obviously not true, then you are dealing with a combination of genes, which produces a bell curve distribution over a continuum. In this type of distribution, you often get a child with a trait that doesn’t fall between where the parents are placed on the continuum. So for instance, you can have a child taller than either parent (or shorter in my case _sigh_). And you could have a child with a darker hair color than either paren. However as a WAG I would say that the children wouldn’t be all that far away from the parents, i.e. you’ll get a darker blonde or a light brown, but not a midnight black. ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-blondes-have-dark-haired-children/64267/3 "2001-05-04T00:07:39Z")
IIRC Blonde Hair is a Recessive Gene. Two recessive genes produces effect (blonde hair) or lets say bb say blonde (bb) married a dark headed person (BB or Bb) if the dark headed person is BB, children of this union will be Bb if the dark haired person is a Bb type there is a chance the child will still come out blond. Belive if ya look for someone to explain Mendel’s(?) law it can set you straight about dominate and recessive genes better than I can. Mendel (I yhink that’s his name) did the study with plants but works for us Humans too! Osip ---
**Author:** ![saepiroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-blondes-have-dark-haired-children/64267/4 "2001-05-04T01:13:26Z")
you are right- it was mendel. HOWEVER; hair color is not containable in a basic punnet’s square (the chart used for determining genotype and phenotype distributions) because it is a polygene, with phenotypes on a triangular variation chart. the triangle chart has solid black at one vertex, carrot-top’s red at another, and cornhusk blond at the last. all expressed phenotypes are somewhere on the chart, but there are too many genes controlling phenotype for the color to be numerically defined. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-blondes-have-dark-haired-children/64267/5 "2001-05-04T01:41:29Z")
That’s something I’ve wondered about too. Mom has red hair, and dad has dark brown. My brother and I also have red hair. Do you suppose if we had other siblings they’d also have had red hair? I’ve never found anything about whether red is recessive or dominate. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-blondes-have-dark-haired-children/64267/6 "2001-05-04T01:58:18Z")
How does red hair work, genetically, anyway? Whenever it comes up, everyone just sort of sweeps it under the rug and mumbles that it’s complicated. I have a friend with dark brown, almost black, hair, but his mother is a very light natural blond, and his father’s a flaming redhead. I would have thought that red and blond would both be recessive to brown. And yes, he does show other traits of his father’s. ---
**Author:** ![hardygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@hardygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardygrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-blondes-have-dark-haired-children/64267/7 "2001-05-04T02:15:53Z")
Recessive gene question… My biological father was half Cherokee and olive skinned with black hair and brown eyes. My mother is white with fair skin,brown hair and hazel eyes. I,through recessive genes,have very pale skin-anything that is not exposed to the sun is almost a milky white shade-,very light brown hair naturally and green eyes. And yes, I am sure these are my biological parents. My question…since I do have the gene for olive skin/dark hair/dark eyes in me, is it possible for me to have a child with darker skin than mine?