Amber eyes are one of the rarest eye colors in the world. Commonly, you’d find amber eyes in wolves, cats, and owls. However, very few people get this beautiful eye color by birth genetically.
Many people mistake amber eyes for hazel eyes because they have similarities. However, amber eyes are solid golden or yellow, while hazel eyes are a mixture of multiple colors, including green and gold specks in the iris.
Similar to amber eyes, red hair is the rarest natural hair color to have. Being two of the rarest traits to inherit, is it possible to have the rarest eye and hair color?
Is it possible to be born with red hair and amber eyes?
Yes, it’s possible to get both red hair and amber eyes genetically but this hair color and eye color combination is extremely rare.
You can get amber eyes and red hair by having specific gene combinations in your ancestry. For this reason, you’re more likely to find red hair and amber eyes combination in certain parts of the world like Northern Europe. You’ll see redheads with amber eyes more in countries like Scotland, Ireland, and Netherlands and some in countries like Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Genetics is extremely tricky, and it’s not possible to predict what hair and eye color combination a baby will have. For example, you could have the recessive red hair gene and not have the specific genes for the amber eye color.
Your hair and eye color come from your parent’s genes that get passed down to you. However, even two parents with amber eyes or red hair might have a baby without any of these traits. It depends on how the genes interact with each other.
The amount of melanin in the iris determines our eye color. In addition to melanin, lipochrome is a yellow pigment on the iris, that gives a golden hue to amber eyes without containing any more colors. All eye colors including amber eyes are passed down genetically from the parents.
Plus, your amber eyes come from the scattering of light surrounding the iris.
What Is the Natural Hair Color for People with Amber Eyes?
The natural hair color for people with amber eyes is any variation of brown hair. People with amber eyes are found in only certain parts of the world. These certain parts of the world commonly have different shades of brown hair.
For people with naturally brown hair, it’s common to have brown eyes. So you’ll find people with brown eyes in the same parts of the world where people might have amber eyes.
Which Race Has Amber Eyes?
According to Medical News Today, people of Asian, Spanish, South American, and South African descent are likely to have amber eyes in their lifetime. However, only 5% of the population is known to have amber eyes.
In theory, any race can inherit amber eyes depending on their genes and heritage.
However, Irish and South Italians can get this eye color, but it’s less common than people of Asian, Spanish, South American, and South African descent.
What Hair Color Will Bring Out Amber Eyes?
Warm hair colors that shine in sunlight are the best for enhancing amber eyes.
Here are a few hair colors that bring out amber eyes:
- Auburn
- Butterscotch (golden highlights)
- Copper
- Tawny (warm sand or candlelight)
These hair colors are known for being warm-toned and will enhance the golden or yellow colors in your amber eyes.
These warm-toned colors are recommended for amber eyes because dark and cool-toned hair colors look hard against the warmth of the gold in your eyes. It will contrast your eyes instead of making them stand out.
To Recap, it’s possible to get amber eyes and red hair naturally. Though it’s extremely rare to have this hair and eye color combination, but certain genetic types based on dominant and recessive genes can give you amber eyes and red hair.