From Red hair is about as recessive as St. Patrick was Irish by Razib Khan. Subheading: The real truth of Ireland's historical genetics. Information I did not know. Higher percentages than I would have estimated.
Today, two-thirds of Irish men bear this lineage, in contrast with 50% in Scotland and Wales, and 20% in England. The divergence of Ireland from other regions of Northern Europe today appears to date from the Bronze Age 3,000 years ago, as subsequent waves of migrants and conquerors from the continent seem to have impacted Britain far more than Ireland (swamping out the British proportion of R1b-L21).And it was with the arrival of the Bell Beaker people 4,500 years ago that the standard physical characteristics of modern Irish people also began to coalesce. It is then that samples from Beaker burial grounds first begin to indicate the presence of individuals with blue eyes, very light skin, and lighter hair. And notably among modern Western Europeans, it is populations from the Celtic fringe, Ireland and Scotland, that have the highest frequencies of red hair.
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I also did not know of this issue associated with red hair.
Perhaps the most curious aspect of red hair in humans is its strong association with the need for greater anesthesia levels due to higher pain sensitivity. Unsurprisingly, both humans and mice with MC1R mutations need higher levels of painkillers to experience the same effect as those with more common genotypes.
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How odd. My mother's hair is red and she had extensive periodontal work done without any pain stuff of any kind. She hasn't had a lot of interaction with the medical system otherwise.
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