Does curly hair skip a generation?
Matthew Wilson
Updated on January 11, 2026
Curly hair is considered a “dominant” gene trait. Straight hair is considered “recessive.” To put that in simple terms, that means that if one parent gives you a curly-haired gene and the other parent gives you a straight-haired gene, you'll be born with curly hair.
Can curly hair come from grandparents?
Answer: Your curly hair may be coming from your mom or dad, or even your great-grandma or great-grandpa, though I am sure you are not looking for such an answer! If we use the science of genetics, the answer becomes more elaborate.Are curls hereditary?
Curly hair is dominant, so someone is more likely to have curly or wavy hair if at least one of their parents does. Recent research points to trichohyalin, a protein in hair follicles, as having primary influence over hair curl. However, there are many genes contributing to hair curliness, most of them unknown.Can 2 straight haired parents have a curly-haired child?
It is not possible for two 'unmixed' parents having straight-hair to reproduce an offspring with curly hair. Having said that, two parents, having straight hair or wavy hair, carrying the gene for curly hair which does not express it as a result of incomplete dominance, can reproduce curly-haired offspring.Is curly hair an evolution?
Evolutionary traitIt is known that 45% of European people have straight hair, 40% have wavy hair and 15% have curly hair. They had previously established the heritability of curly hair, finding there was as much as a 90% chance of it being an inherited trait.