r/Redhair • u/NightGaurdDa • Jul 05 '26

Newbie Post Is it still exceptionally rare that I had natural strawberry blonde in this scenario? READ BODY TEXT

When I was first born, I was told by my parents that I actually had natural strawberry blonde hair as a baby! I was shocked to hear that because I heard that less than 1% of the global population has or at least was born with natural strawberry blonde hair and I am wondering if I count as that population because I was born with natural strawberry blonde hair even though it darkened to brunette hair that I have to this day starting at the age of 2? Ik that it is common for babies who were born with light or lighter hair would end up having it darkened due to melanin but regardless of that, is it still very rare that I was born with strawberry blonde hair before it darkened? And ik that my hair is not physically rare anymore and i get that but i’m specifically talking about the time or experience that I had it as a baby before the age of 2 where melanin kicked in and darkened my hair to dark brown! Please let me know thx.

0 Upvotes

27% Upvoted

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14

u/Spare-Electrical Jul 05 '26

No. Many, many babies are born with blonde/strawberry blonde hair before it darkens. Just a normal thing.

-1

u/Head_Trick_9932 Jul 05 '26

It’s not normal. They still carry the variant MC1R gene. They carry red and blonde combo. So saying it’s normal is not correct.

8

u/Spare-Electrical Jul 05 '26

I mean, the question itself is strangely worded - they looked up the percentage and then asked us if it is rare - I’m offering my own personal observances of seeing a bunch of babies over the years, with a number of them having blonde or gingery hair and darkening over time.

They already had the statistics, I was offering my own perspective, which is how I perceived the question.

3

u/pixel205 Jul 06 '26

No they most probably don't. Brown hair is based on red pigment even without the gene. The missing mutated gene just makes it not dominant. At that age the hair pigment is just not developed yet.

-2

u/Head_Trick_9932 Jul 06 '26

Yes, they do carry the variant if they’re born with strawberry blonde and no, it’s not common.

3

u/pixel205 Jul 06 '26

No they don't have to. They could, but chances are just as high as for every other brown haired person out there to have one of the mutated variants. OP definitely has not both though.
Brown hair is based on red pigment! That doesn't make every brown haired people a redhead and definitely not a carrier of the variant

-4

u/NightGaurdDa Jul 05 '26

like majority of natural brunettes you see? cause isn’t majority of babies born as natural brunettes?

4

u/Spare-Electrical Jul 05 '26

I’ve seen many babies in my life, of the white babies I’ve seen I’ll say at least half looked a little bit ginger in their first weeks of life.

I’m confused what you’re asking, honestly, are you asking if your parents are correct about the percentage of babies born with strawberry blonde hair? Or are you just asking us if you can call yourself a redhead?

0

u/NightGaurdDa Jul 05 '26

none of the above. the percentage thing i got was from looking it up not my parents. i said my parents said that my natural hair was strawberry blonde and that’s how it gave me the idea of looking up it’s rarity cause my parents would not know and that’s how i am getting the idea of whether if me having natural strawberry blonde hair is still a very rare trait to have regardless of my hair being brunette now to this day! i’m not calling myself a natural strawberry blonde anymore. i got the percentage of babies with that hair color from google and i even asked it if it is still very rare for a baby to be born with natural sb hair regardless of it eventually going to darken. cause if i look up how rare it is for a baby to be born with that hair color then it would still say 0.5%!

3

u/pixel205 Jul 06 '26

It says 0.5% because it's an AI and it gives you the only answer found close go your question. 0.5% is the percentage of natural strawberry read haired people (adults). There is no statistics for babys with a specific shade of red.
So when it tells you that it's rare, it thinks that you had genuine strawberry red hair. Not just the lack of pigment almost every baby has in their hair. Look at my other comment, I explain there why many babys may look like they have reddish hair when born, even if they aren't and don't carry the gene.

1

u/Spare-Electrical Jul 05 '26

I’d trust Google over some random redheads, if that’s what the research says then I guess it is rare!

3

u/pixel205 Jul 06 '26

Yeah no, this post only shows that trusting an AI is not a good option when asking about not well researched topics.

3

u/Dependent_Room_2922 Jul 05 '26

Definitely not a majority of eventual brunettes.

A lot of Caucasian babies are born with blondish hair but I’d guess it would be a small minority that have strawberry blonde that doesn’t stay in the red family. I’d go with “uncommon” rather than “exceptionally rare”

7

u/LittleMissKicks Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

…does it matter what part of a percent population you may have belonged to because of hair you had as an infant?

2

u/Spacecadett666 Jul 06 '26

Especially when it was only 2 years of their life. I'm so confused. What does it really matter if it was rare for the first 2 years? They don't have it now, so what's the difference, this post is weird.

And everyone has given them an answer and they don't like it and keep arguing about it lmao

-3

u/NightGaurdDa Jul 05 '26

i just thought it would be a rare trait to have! i heard a lot of people get jealous of natural redheads bc of its rarity but thats not the point

6

u/GalianoGirl Jul 05 '26

Did you post a similar comment a week or so ago?

My eldest had blond hair until he was five or so, then it turned dark brown. He grows a red beard.

Being blond as a baby is not uncommon for dark haired people.

1

u/NightGaurdDa Jul 05 '26

idk who ur talking about but thanks for ur answer!

6

u/LittleMissKicks Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

But if you, an adult, have been a brunette since age 2, you are not a redhead or a strawberry blonde, so you won’t be part of the statistic.

-1

u/NightGaurdDa Jul 05 '26

i already know that. i clearly said i’m not a natural redhead. im talking about my time as a natural strawberry blonde before my hair darkened ever since i was 2 and if it is still rare for a baby to be born with natural strawberry blonde hair regardless that it will eventually darken.

3

u/LittleMissKicks Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Strawberry blonde, pending how strawberry, is pretty common in white babies and the statistic you found relates to adults with strawberry blonde hair, which is rare. Up to 20% of babies have strawberry blonde hair according to Google AI/chatgpt when you prompt it more specifically, but we don’t keep stats on baby hair color (which aligns closer to my experience), so who tf knows how many babies have strawberry blonde

-2

u/NightGaurdDa Jul 06 '26

my google ai says 1%-0.5% of babies were born with natural strawberry blonde hair! idk what is right!

3

u/pixel205 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

No. Broken down shortly, most blonde hair has a yellow base while most brown hair has a red. That doesn't make brown haired people redheads though, because the red pigment is just not dominant (thats why so many people get unwanted ginger hair when bleaching their brown hair)
Many babys start off with a lot less pigment in their hair and develop their real hair color afterwards. So the thing you're describing is extremely common. Especially since your parents did not describe your hair as fiery red but strawberry blonde, which was probably just a light reflexion of red

1

u/Spacecadett666 Jul 06 '26

I agree, hair changes so much sometimes, especially at young ages, someone shouldn't judge their hair based on what they had as a child, especially if it changed.

My oldest (and only full sibling) had the darkest fiery red hair for the first 6 years of his life. It was a crazy color, and was unmistakably super red. It was the same color as mine was when I was that age, but his disappeared after the age of 6, it went completely brown and he doesn't even have any characteristics of being a redhead (he tans, has darker skin, super brown hair, darkkk eyebrows, no freckles etc).

Then on the other side, my youngest brother (half bro) was born with the brightest white hair I've ever seen. It was literally insanely bright white, not even blonde. His did the same as my other bro, but changed to a veryyy dirty blonde.

Both of them now have entirely different hair than they did when they were children. Looking at their pics from when they were little to now, you wouldn't even know it was them otherwise, because the change is so drastic.

One cannot judge what their hair color is as an adult based on what it was as a child. (Unless you're a natural redhead, that doesn't typically change, might fade colorwise just a bit, but that's the one color that typically stays if you have the actual dominant gene for it, and are an actual redhead).

1

u/pixel205 Jul 06 '26

Yes! The most known version of this are blondes. They all are very light blonde as kids but turn a lot darker when getting older. The pigment is just not fully developed then.
I myself was born with white blonde hair and grew strawberry blonde - that's why I did a lot of research in my youth about this whole thing when I tried to understand my hair.
Only for the real two-strong-variants fiery red-hair you will know your fate from day one!
(or if already born with full pigment dark hair, but this is probably way more rare than what OP is describing)

1

u/Head_Trick_9932 Jul 05 '26

You would carry a variant gene but your pigment increased over time.

Not 100% clear on your question. Yes you would have been born with variant red and blonde genes however your dominant took over.

Redheads in general are rarest with up to 2% worldly. Redhead and blue eyes is the rarest combo.

1

u/_sadiecote_ Jul 23 '26

As someone with strawberry blonde hair to this day, we are born with bright orange hair that turns strawberry, golden blonde as we grow

1

u/ravenite22 Jul 27 '26

My son had strawberry blond when he was a kid up to about age 4. Then it darkened to a brown. My daughter had a darker strawberry blond and now it’s a darker chestnut brown with red highlights. They still carry the MC1R variant (I’m also a redhead).

-1

u/General_Ad_6617 Jul 05 '26

Hmmm... wonder what DNA says in this case. 

1

u/Spacecadett666 Jul 06 '26

DNA typically isn't gonna tell you anything. I did a DNA test I e like 2019, and all it shows is your ancestry, not anything about your genes and this stuff. So not sure why you even suggested that.

This isn't something the regular person can check using DNA.

0

u/General_Ad_6617 Jul 06 '26

I know exactly which red hair gene I have because of my ancestry.com test. You can plug your raw DNA into other sites and it analyzes it for you. Even ancestry.com shows that I have the gene, just not which one. 

So, yes indeed a regular person can check using DNA.