Mutation of the melanocortin 1 receptor gene (MC1R) causes red hair. How how and why, we can use a simple economic analogy by applying the principle of supply and demand.

Start by envisioning a person who can tan lying on a sunny beach in Mexico. The demand is the external environment/UVR/sun. The supply is darker skin pigment, which provides more UV protection. The skin is suddenly exposed to the stress from UVR, so it produces darker pigment to protect itself from being burned. The CEO and the COO of the pigment-producing corporation are the pituitary and hypothalamus glands. This corporation has several subsidiary pigment-producing factories called skin melanocyte cells. Together the CEO, the COO, and the factories sound an alarm by producing a hormone called the alpha melanocyte-stimulating hormone, or alpha-MSH (Melanotan II is a potent synthetic). This alarm and message reaches all of the factory managers in the subsidiary factories and instructs them to increase production of darker pigment. The managers get on the factory intercom, or the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), and relay a broadcast to their assembly lines, or melanosomes, within the factory. The factory managers instruct the assembly lines to shift production from a lighter red/yellow type of pigment (pheomelanin that allows the body to absorb more vitamin D with less sun exposure) to a darker brown/black type of pigment (eumelanin that is denser and more sun protective). This process is called tanning. The factories also produce other products, such as nitric oxide, serotonin, melanocortins, catecholamines and inflammatory cytokines. These substances indicate that these factories also play an important role in immune function and in communicating between the skin and the central nervous system.

The Broken Intercom = Red Hair
Above paragrah is what is supposed to happen when skin is exposed to the sun, but if it were one of us redheads lying on that beach, you know what would happen. We would not tan – we would BURN, BURN, BURN!

Why do gingers/blonds/red heads burn? There are any number of places where the system can break down. Specifically, the problem for the majority of us redheads is in the intercom or MC1R. The factory manager receives the message and relays the broadcast over the intercom, yet nothing but static comes out on the other end to the assembly line. It’s like there is a short in the MC1R electrical wiring. Completely oblivious to the orders of all of their superiors, the assembly lines just keep making red/yellow pigment which is less photo-protective, burns more easily, and is more susceptible to melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. Basically, we get sunburned, dammit! Scientists have discovered five unique kinds of electrical shorts in various locations throughout the MC1R wiring which causes red hair. Apparently, there are other variants in the MC1R intercom which hold the mystery of the genetics of blondes and brunettes as well. Scientists are still perplexed about dark hair, pale skin, and freckles.

Other Melancortin Factory Issues

Raw Materials]1. Phenylalanine]
2. Sulfur and Other Minerals]
3.Lack of Proper Tools (Albinism)]
4. Size of Assembly Lines or Melanosomes (Darker Denser Skin Color)]
5. Old Dilapidated Factories (Gray Hair)]
6. The Assembly Line Environment]
7. The Message Order Itself]
8. The Message Gets Intercepted]
You are all beautiful complicated mutations of nature, and I love you all.
Thank you author:* Carolbetty