Re: Why, when my mother is 1/2 cantonese, do I have red hair?

Hi!,
The gene for ginger hair is found in all ethnic groups, from Caucasian to 
Negriod to Aboriginal to Oriental, so the fact that your mother is ½ 
Cantonese doe not preclude her from carrying the ginger haired gene.

Ginger haired people need 20% more anaesthesia than people with other hair 
colours...so if your mum says you are a REAL pain - perhaps that's why!! 
(she can always flatter you by telling her how sensitive you must be....!)
see http://news.bbc.co.uk/
1/hi/health/2329313.stm

Confusingly, the gene - Mc1r - is thought to give a different pain 
response in men than in women - suggesting their brains are different (so 
what's new...!) 
see http://www.healthanddie
ts.com/article24.html for details

Research suggesting that red hair is a 'remnant' of a Neanderthal 
ancestor, is widely reported, but, according to the original researchers, 
wrong.  It is thoght that the gene dates FROM THE TIME OF Neanderthal man; 
not necessarily FROM him.  The evidence is not decisive either way.
see http://www.ox.ac.uk/blueprint/2000-01/3105/11.shtml

the higest concentration of the red -haired gene is in the Celtic regions -
 Scotland and the north of Ireland, where it can be 7-10% of the 
population (with 35-40% as carriers).  Gingerhaired people produce little 
melanin (the dark pigment in hair and skin) and so are more vulnerable to 
sunburn and skin cancer.  On the other hand, they are better at 
synthesising Vit D in low sunlight locations and sunburn is rarely a 
problem in Scotland.....!

Geneticaly, ginger hair is RECESSIVE, so both you parents must have been 
carriers, in which case, on average, ¼ of their children would have red 
hair.  Or you are a mutant (highly unlikely!)

Of the 40 alleles of the genes for hair colour, only 6 give ginger and you 
must have inherited one from each parent.  With more travel and inter-
racial mixing, redheads (always rare) are set to become even rarer!

As mentioned before, the pigment in the hair is called melanin.  This 
comes in two forms: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Eumelanin is the pigment we 
all associate with a suntan. In the skin it acts as a protective factor 
against UV rays, but in hair it gives rise to black colour. Ginger and 
brown hair colours are due to pheomelanin (more pheomelanin than eumelanin 
occurs in the skin of red-haired people and this is why they often suffer 
badly from sunburn). 

For more, see http://www.redandproud.com  http://www.cpa.e
d.ac.uk/news/research/28/3.html  http://www.ramsdale.org/dna19.
htm