I've been getting a lot of comments regarding my red hair recently. I guess people aren't used to seeing us since it occurs naturally in only 1-2% of humans.
Really? It's that rare? What cause red hair in the first place?
Well, typically its caused by having two copies of a recessive allele on one of your chromosomes - 16, I think - which produces altered hair proteins. It's pretty nuts.
That is crazy.... is more common in men or women? Or doesn't it matter?
It's actually pretty common in the northern and western fringes of Europe. Being a man or woman doesn't really matter, mostly origin.