Here’s the answer to the mysterious question, are babies born with curly hair?
If your newborn has round follicles, his or her hair will be straight. Babies who have oval follicles on the other hand, or ovular shape of a follicle, will have curly hair because their hair grows in a spiral pattern.
Therefore, yes, it is possible for infants to be born with curly hair and straight hair as well. If the hair passes through a round follicle, keratin covers the hair from top to bottom. But the hair that sprouts from oval follicles is more keratin-rich on one side than all around, which results in curls.
The texture of the hair is determined by a person’s genes. People with naturally curly hair usually have curlier hair as children than they do as adults since the strands change and grow longer over time.
When babies are born they also tend to have little furry hair on their heads but on their bodies like arms and backs. This is called lanugo hair, which was developed in the mother’s womb.
Sometimes this hair gets lost while the baby is still in the mom’s tummy, but sometimes babies are born with it. This hair can be a bit curly, even though most of the time is straight. Lanugo hair will soon fall off and it will not determine the texture of the baby’s hair.
Will my baby have curly or straight hair?
Your kid will presumably have curly hair if one of the parents has curly hair as well. Having straight hair is a recessive gene, therefore if another parent has wavy hair as the dominant gene, that one will win.
Let’s take more thorough examples. Your mom has curly hair. She is giving her child two curly-haired genes. Dad has straight hair. He gives his baby a pair of straight-haired genes. As curly hair is the dominant one, the baby will probably be born with curls.
A human’s hair can be of any color, texture, or shape. The big factor in why someone has curly or straight hair is their ethnicity. Africans are for example very popular for curly and dry hair. Asians are more likely to have straight, thicker black hair, while Caucasians are more likely to have straight and wavy hair than curly.
However, this doesn’t mean that a girl from Asia won’t have curly locks, or the boy from Europe will have straight hair only even though he’s not from Africa.
Does curly hair come from Mom or Dad?
The question is not about whether the baby will inherit hair from mom or dad, but which of the parents carries the dominant gene.
If the father carries the recessive one and the mom carries the dominant one, the child will have the mother’s hair, and reverse.
Curly hair is the dominant gene, and if one of the parents has it, whether mother or father, there is a big chance that the newborn will have curly locks. However, exceptions can be made, and sometimes recessive genes can win.
Why do some babies have no hair?
During the first 6 months of a baby’s life, they lose most of their hair. In a matter of weeks, even newborns that were born with lots of hair can lose all of it. But no worries, the hair will grow back.
That hair is probably lanugo hair that is meant to be shed because the baby’s hormones are constantly changing. In some cases, some babies are even born with little hair or even no hair at all.
These newborns usually have lighter ten, thus their pigmentation is weak. They tend to have more blonde hair, with blue eyes, no eyebrows, and no hair on their heads. Of course, this doesn’t mean that your baby will forever be bold. It just means that your kids need time to grow out their first hair, and you should not worry about it.
Baby’s first hair usually appears between the age of two and three months old. This is because, during this time, babies’ bodies produce more melanin which will give a beautiful black or brown hair.
Darker-skinned newborns tend to have darker hairs growing out while lighter-skinned babies need more time to grow out their blond hair. However, exceptions can be made and kids with dark pigment can have lighter hair and reverse.
At what age do babies’ hair texture change?
It starts to change when your baby is around two years old but sometimes it can be a bit earlier or later. Through the phases of growing, the baby’s hair will change. Thus the hair will gain its unique form and shape. By the mentioned age, a baby’s hair should become thicker. The baby’s hair also darkens due to its melanin production.
The texture of a baby’s hair is different when they are born. The structure of their fine hair makes it stick straight and very soft (the silk-like feel) which usually changes in the toddler years. Babies become more aware of how they look at this stage, so you will most likely notice them touching their hair frequently.
They see that there’s something different growing on top of them that wasn’t there before. They also start to realize that other people around them can tell one individual from another by the looks of their hair, especially parents!
Summary
We can’t blame parents for being curious about the looks of their unborn children. We get it, it’s something all parents have been through. While there are a lot of questions about the child’s look, particularly the ones about curly hair have been widely popular.
As a natural behavior, especially for the curly-headed parents is the question, are babies born with curly hair. And the answer is yes. Babies can be born with curly locks.
Especially if one of the parents has this trait, as being the dominant one, there is a big chance that your future baby will have that hair type. Though you can never be sure when it comes to genes. What human nature can mix, the human mind can never even imagine.
