Bad hair day? Blame your parents

A certain type of gene may be responsible for the wild hair that many people experience when getting up in the morning.

12:05 25 May 2004

A certain type of gene may be responsible for the wild hair that many people experience when getting up in the morning.

An American research team has identified the Frizzled 6 (Fz6) gene as the culprit for unruly hair, the Daily Mail reports.

Researchers at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore also suggested that a faulty form of the gene can lead to monobrows, hairy chests and bushy eyebrows.

The team genetically engineered mice without the gene, and saw the rodents sprout tufts of hair on their heads and unruly hair on their feet and chests.

"This work suggests that natural variation in hair patterns may arise from variations in the genes," Jeremy Nathans, lead author of the study, said.

"It seems that in many cases unusual and distinctive hair patterns may owe more to our inheritance than to any environmental factors."