Curly Hair?

Probably the number one question I get about the kids is: "Do you think they will have curly hair?". And my answer is always, "Probably, it is a very dominant gene in our family". How dominant you ask? Well, let me back up a few generations.

It all started with my Grandpa Irwin (I'm sure it started before then, but that's where I came in). He has 2 brothers and a sister - all 4 of them have/had extremely (and I mean extremely) curly hair. Here is a picture of my Grandpa with his two girls (my Mom and Aunt) and their families. That's me in the lower right hand corner.

So, on to my Mom and Aunt Ruth Ann. Although they have tried over the years to keep their curly locks more straight, there is no denying that the curly headed gene was passed on to them. Here they are at my brother's wedding:

Next, my Mom had my brother and I and my Aunt had twin boys. All 4 of us have curly hair. But, what makes this story even more unique is that my twin cousins are half Chinese. Have you ever seen a Chinese person with curly hair? They exist - my cousins are living proof. If that isn't a dominant gene, I don't know what is. Here is a picture of the 4 of us with our spouses at Brian's wedding:

And a more recent one of us in Maryland last month:

Since you can't see the boys hair as well in these pictures, here's one that shows off their curls. Does anyone else think it is strange that there is a bouquet of flowers in front of them?

Now, there is a caveat to all this. My hair was straight until I got what I affectionately call "The perm that never went away". I actually think it had more to do with puberty than the perm, but anyways.

Curly hair has been fun. For whatever reason, people never forget you. I remember a lot of people, but way more people remember me. People even think you are twins with other people who have curly hair (even if they are half-Lebanese!). That's a post for another day.