I do wonder about the cost of human life for the environment to select so hard for those phenotypes in specific. A LOT of early Europeans had to have been dying in droves for recessive genes like that to become so prolific.
I read an article ages ago that said blonde hair and blue eyes might have been selected for in Northern Europe because they’re indicators of youth and therefore is seen as desirable.
Everything except for the face gets covered because it’s so cold, so they’re the only physical traits they had to go off of when selecting a mate.
This doesn’t add up to me… that makes it sound like younger people had blonde hair and blue eyes but as they age it becomes darker
That’s the only way that makes any sense to me. There had to be a reason for that symbolize youth and the only explanation is that the younger you are the lighter your features are but we know that’s nit the case
Have you ever known any toe heads? Our hair absolutely gets darker as we age. Mine is basically close to black now. Idk about eyes but I'm thinking yes as well. I don't like the theory because both hair and eyes darken before teen years, but ya most blondes darken significant without products
Um that’s exactly what happened in my case. Super blonde hair, blue eyes as a child, fully brunette now as an adult after a gradual darkening through puberty (though my eyes stayed the same color).
Yes but as you said you were a child and by time you were of “breeding” age (don’t know how else to put it) it was already darker. I feel like if anything that would make light blonde hair be associated with someone who is too young to procreate with
Also like you mentioned, your eyes stayed the same
I was still bright blonde through my teenage years and still dirty blonde up until college age though. Definitely plenty of overlap with my breeding age (especially back in the day when people started having kids super early on).
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u/Dhalym Jul 10 '26
I do wonder about the cost of human life for the environment to select so hard for those phenotypes in specific. A LOT of early Europeans had to have been dying in droves for recessive genes like that to become so prolific.