My moms family ALL have red hair, and my dads is a shade of brown. My mom has never known a blonde in her family and my grandfathers, grandmother (on my dads side) was the only one in my family with blondISH hair? So how is it that my hair is blonde?

To put it simply:

We have a pair of genes for basic hair colour. The gene for blonde hair is recessive. That means for it to show up you have to have 2 blonde genes. The gene for brown hair is dominant. So if you have 2 brown genes your hair will be brown, but if you have one brown gene and one blonde gene your hair will still look brown. So for example you could have 2 parents, neither of whom have hair that looks blonde, but who both have a recessive gene for blondness. If their child gets one blonde gene from each parent then the child has blonde hair.

It is actually a bit more complicated than this since other genes are also involved in the 'redness' of hair and scientists still don't fully understand all the mechanics.

If you want to read a bit more:

Hair Colors Explained

Yes, the gene was there and you got it, no real surprise or issue

You're Adopted

Because you genes


They decide all your characteristics and everything