Posted on 09/25/2026 10:28:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
If your blond preteen seems to be turning into a brunette, you're not imagining things. For some children, hair that starts out platinum blond gradually becomes darker and may end up dark brown, or even black, as they grow.
The short answer is that hair color is controlled by a complex interplay of genes, pigment-producing cells and, later in childhood, hormones. Scientists understand many of the genes involved in hair color, but they are still trying to find out why some blond children's hair darkens while others' locks remain blond for life.
"It depends on their genetic inheritance," Desmond Tobin, a professor of dermatological science at University College Dublin, told Live Science in an email.
Hair gets its color from a pigment called melanin, which is produced by specialized cells called melanocytes in hair follicles. There are two main types of melanin: eumelanin, which produces brown and black shades, and pheomelanin, which contributes yellow and red tones to hair. The amount and type of melanin produced by follicles largely determine the color of hair that grows from it.
In general, more eumelanin means darker hair. For example, during pregnancy, high levels of estrogen and progesterone can encourage hair darkening as more eumelanin is produced.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
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That book I recommended by Cat Jarman talks of this skave trade of northern and eastern Europeans.
What is interesting is that the slavers were fellow northern Europeans. The Vikings/Vatangians were great skavers, enslaving irish, anglo Saxon, slavic, romanian, greek etc and selling them to the Caliphate.
Babies of all races have less melanin, this is because they need yo absorb more vitamin D.
As we age we need it less, hence the darkening hair
RE: women’s hair color is a changeable thing...
Line from Zig Ziglar.
“My wife is a redhead. Not only is she a redhead, she is a decided redhead. One day a few years ago she told her hair stylist ‘I want to be a redhead.’”
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