Why are some men with red beards but not red hair?

It is very rare to see a man with a red beard and the accompanying red hair, it is only about 1% to 2% of the population.

Nina Jablonski, a professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, which has focused studies on the biological issues of hair color, said: "I have observed many people, especially young men. more, have red beard and red hair and some people have red beard and light brown, blonde or red hair '.

People with this red hair survive due to genetic mutations.

Most rare redheads live in countries like Scotland, Ireland and Wales, followed by Britain and the Nordic countries. It can be predicted that these red-haired people exist due to genetic mutations . Specifically, a mutation in the gene, called MC1R , controls pigmentation production in hair cells.

Hair color is determined by the ratio of two different pigments. Eumelanin is responsible for black tones and pheomelanin causes red. People with dark or brown hair will probably only have eumelanin, or at least it will be the dominant pigment.

The role of the MC1R gene is to encode a protein called melanocortin, which converts red pigment into black. But if a person has a double mutation in this gene, its resulting proteins are ineffective, resulting in red.

So, what happens when a person has a red beard, combined with brown hair?

"This is almost certainly due to the differential expression of MC1R in the hair follicle of the hair compared to the scalp that leads to the production of a different mixture of dark brown eumelanin and reddish yellow pheomelanin , " Jablonski said. prefer.

In other words, the same gene works differently in different parts of the body and that is probably due to only one mutation of the MC1R gene, rather than a double mutation, which means that the person is actually who carries the red hair gene.

This phenomenon also occurs in some men as they get older usually when they are over their 40th birthday. This is probably due to the pigmentation of hair in scalp and beard at different rates. .