• Question: Why can we only have brown, blond, black or red as hair color ?

    Asked by Héloïse to Anna, Hayley, Iain, Rebecca on 16 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      Bonjour! 🙂 This is because of the specific pigment cells that our hair contains. They can only give our hair a brown, blond, back, red (or white/grey) colour. There are two different pigments: Pheomelanin, which can make hair orange and yellow. And eumelanin, which can colour your hair black or brown. When these mix, only the colours brown, blond, black and red can result.

Comments

  • Photo: Héloïse

    Héloïse commented on :

    Thank you ! Actually I think my question was more like : why does our body produce these colours ? Is it because of the environment ? Could we have had other pigments produced, instead of pheomelanin and eumelanin ?