Science Finally Explains Why So Many Men Have Red Beards, But Not Red Hair

Turns out, science has an answer. Most people think the collar and cuffs automatically match up, but hair is more complex than that so says Petra Haak-Bloem, specialist at the Dutch national information centre for genetics and hereditary traits.

“The genes that determine hair color are so-called ‘incomplete dominant hereditary traits.’ This means that there isn’t one single gene that’s dominant over the rest, but all genes influence each other,”

This allows for the hair on your head, your facial hair, and your pubes to differ in colour. Madness right?

“Generally speaking, people inherit hair color not only from their parents, but also from their grandparents and earlier ancestors. So it’s entirely possible that one distant ancestor had a hair color that suddenly appears again though a certain combination of genes—and that can be quite unexpected for parents,” Haak-Bloem continued.

But why all the annoying red hair coming through in men’s beards?

“More than a decade ago, researchers discovered that one gene (MC1R) on chromosome 16 plays an important part in giving people red hair. MC1R’s task is making a protein called melanocortin 1. That proteine plays an important part in converting pheolmelanine into eumelanine,” Haak-Bloem tells us. “When someone inherits two mutated versions of the MC1R-gene (one from each parent), less pheomelanine is converted into eumelanine. The feomelanine accumulates in the pigment cells and the person ends up with red hair and fair skin.”

So the unexpected red beards are a mutation in the MC1R gene. When you only have one mutated MC1R, red hair can appear in certain often unwanted places. While it definitely won’t kill you, having some stray red hairs creeping through into your beard isn’t a look most men want. Sadly though, genes are genes, and there just ain’t no fighting it. Sorry gents.

* Almost 2 out of every 5 men in the world have a red tinge to their beards. Weirdly it’s not just the Irish.