Is it normal for a 3b couple to produce a straight haired child?

Amun · 06-02-2012, 04:32 AM

I have a cousin who has straight hair (really straight, like Asians), but both of his parents are about 3b in hair texture. Does this happen frequently? Can hair texture change that drastically in one generation?

oh.hi.its.steph · 06-02-2012, 07:18 AM

How old is he, and how is his hair cut/styled? His hair may get curlier as he gets older, or his hair may be cut too short to show any curl...

But also, I'm pretty sure it's possible! Thinking back on what I learned in Biology classes, straight hair is a recessive trait and curly hair is dominant, meaning curly hair will show unless both parents have the recessive trait for straight hair (as in, they both had a parent who had straight hair and passed that along to them). SO, in the right situations, yes, it can change that dramatically -- the genes just need to combine a certain way.

Now, I could also be completely wrong here -- I haven't taken Biology in, um, 5 years lol

So other curlies, feel free to debunk what I just said.

lcl0706 · 06-02-2012, 08:01 AM

No I think you're right. Like say the dominant curly gene is "C" and the recessive straight gene is "c" - and each parent carries two hair genes, one from each of THEIR parents. Mom's genes could be CC, Cc, or cc. For the recessive trait to show up (i.e, straight hair) both genes would have to be recessive. So the first two combos would produce curly hair and the last one would be straight. Dad's could also be CC, Cc, or cc. We know since they're both curlies, both parents have to be either CC or Cc. And since their kid is a straightie, we know both parents HAVE to be Cc, and had to have passed on the recessive gene from each parent to their kid. So the kid has cc hair.

That's a really basic example and that being said, I haven't taken biology in 10 years so I could be remembering genetics wrong too

ETA - I have a daughter with straight hair. I know I carry the straight hair gene from somewhere. My mom's hair was curly but my dad's I'm really not sure on, it's been really short my whole life. So I could've gotten it from any number of generations back. My daughter's father has straight hair. It's a less dramatic example as the OP, but I was for sure I'd have little curlies running around when I had kids and while my daughter's had a few spirals as a baby, it's pin straight now as she gets older.

crazycurlychick · 06-02-2012, 09:33 AM

My mom has wavy hair and my dad has curly hair and I was born with stick straight hair that didnt get curly until I hit puberty now it's 3a/b mixed

3A/B mix with flat roots dark blonde (refusing to call it brunette I miss my blonde baby hair) lovin my curls

Starmie · 06-02-2012, 11:01 AM

My hair's a 3a/b mix, my SO's is at least 3c, heading towards a 4 something. We have one son with his dad's hair and another whose hair is basically straight, gets a bit wavy as it gets long, so yes, it's possible.

jmartinez · 06-02-2012, 11:36 AM

Its normal if your dad and his mom had straight hair, the baby may get straight hair. You get your hair genes from your moms dad and your dads mon

Sent from my PC36100 using CurlTalk App

adthomas · 06-02-2012, 12:50 PM

My Biology teacher told us not all genetic traits are as cut and dry as dominant and recessive. I had asked her why my skin color was neither like my mom who is extremely light or my father who is very dark. Im in between. She said skin tone was a trait that is different from the rest is that is can take on a mixture of both traits. Im guessing the same is true for hair patterns which means a 1 and 4 could make a 2.

fearlesscurls · 06-02-2012, 01:03 PM

well im not a 100% sure but i was born with curly 3b hair and both of my parents have veryyy straight hair. all of their sisters/brothers have straight hair.. so we have no idea how i was blessed (:
but i also didnt get my REAL curlys until after puberty.. so wait and see if they come

Amun · 06-02-2012, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oh.hi.its.steph

How old is he, and how is his hair cut/styled? His hair may get curlier as he gets older, or his hair may be cut too short to show any curl...

But also, I'm pretty sure it's possible! Thinking back on what I learned in Biology classes, straight hair is a recessive trait and curly hair is dominant, meaning curly hair will show unless both parents have the recessive trait for straight hair (as in, they both had a parent who had straight hair and passed that along to them). SO, in the right situations, yes, it can change that dramatically -- the genes just need to combine a certain way.

Now, I could also be completely wrong here -- I haven't taken Biology in, um, 5 years lol

So other curlies, feel free to debunk what I just said.

He's an adult (21) and his hair is semi-long (~4 inch) but it still looks straight. He's not using any straightening products/tools because he had the same hair as a kid as well and as long as I know him.

As you said I think it's probably a rare genetic recombination thing.

Tori8780 · 06-02-2012, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adthomas

My Biology teacher told us not all genetic traits are as cut and dry as dominant and recessive. I had asked her why my skin color was neither like my mom who is extremely light or my father who is very dark. Im in between. She said skin tone was a trait that is different from the rest is that is can take on a mixture of both traits. Im guessing the same is true for hair patterns which means a 1 and 4 could make a 2.

This is exactly the answer. Its called co-dominance. Most traits are not so easy to define as dominant and recessive. I just finished a genetics class and you wouldnt believe how complicated that stuff is. Basically there are several genes that control hair and unlike dominant/recessive genes that show either one trait or the other, co-dominant traits show a blend of both. The example out teacher frequently cited was snapdragons. A red snapdragon (flower) and white snapdragon will have some pink "babies" along with red and white. The traits blend together.

Robin-in-FL · 06-02-2012, 07:40 PM

Yes, absolutely possible. Also equally possible that the child's hair will change to curly at puberty.
My mom (native american straight hair) and curly dad had:
One lifelong wavy (me)
and 3 with stick straight hair as children, who turned curly as teens.

But I think the good analogy is skin tone, like a previous poster noted. Curly + Straight can = Wavy sometimes; and there can be throwbacks, so Wavy + Wavy can = straight and/or curly haired children as well as wavy haired kids.

In complexion this works the same, my man and I are both fair-skinned, but because my heritage is mixed, some of the kids are not. Straight hair can 'hide' like that too

But your kid? I'd put my $ on curly at puberty, personally.