Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: thedoc on 22/11/2012 20:24:33

Title: What determines hair colour?
Post by: thedoc on 22/11/2012 20:24:33

What pigments are involved in making hair blonde or red?
Asked by Randy


                                        Visit the webpage for the podcast in which this question is answered. (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/show/20121118/)

 

Title: What determines hair colour?
Post by: thedoc on 22/11/2012 20:24:34

We answered this question on the show...

Ginny -  Well, the keratin that makes up the structure of your hair is actually white, so it’s all about these two different types of melanin which are the pigments that gives your hair colour.  There's eumelanin which can be black or brown and there's pheomelanin which is sort of a reddish, yellowish colour.  It’s the proportions of each of those that make your hair a different colour.  So if you’ve got brown hair, you’ve got lots of eumelanin and not as much pheomelanin.  Blondes will have any real proportion of the two, but not very much of either of them and red heads have a lot more of the pheomelanin and not so much of the eumelanin.