WHY do I LOOK DIFFRENT?

ok. both my parents are white, and we have family books, with pics of family memebers going way back, but me and my sis came out darker and look nothing like anyone on either sides of our family. when i was little i looked white, but when i got about 6 i started changing. for instinced, i had blonde straight hair and now i have dark dark curly thick hair. i have a roman or italian nose as people call it, and the shape and size of my eyes, people say i have asian eyes. im also way darker in skin then i was before, and im often mistaken for puerto rican and filipino. my sis on the other hand was always kinda dark, with curly thin hair, big eyes people think are arabian or middle eastern, and often is mistaken for black, or hispanic. so my question is, since we dont have any of the features, or look like anyone else in our family, could our traits come way further back then everyone else in our familys?

WHY do I LOOK DIFFRENT?

Welcome to the real world. We all change over time. One of my kids had ebony black eyes for 3 years, now they're a pale green. Another of the kids was a complete towhead for 5 years, then his hair grew in thicker, wavier and blacker than anyone in the family. I vouch 100% that I never had an affair with the mailman.

We're all the product of thousands of years of 2 different sets of genes. What pops up here and there might have been missing for 10 generations. Then the right mix of things happens and VOILA! there you are.

Imagine that there are people where 1 grandmother 10 generations ago was a slave who had a baby fathered by her master. The baby was fair, so it was raised in the master's home. Eventually every African feature weeded out of the family and 200 years later they assume they're a nice European caucasian family. Then the recessive genes come out and the baby has nappy hair, dark skin and a wide nose. DNA tests show the baby is indeed the child of the fair-skinned parents. But the DNA combination just happened to be right to bring back the African features. It happens more often than we imagine.

WHY do I LOOK DIFFRENT?

What does your mailman look like?

WHY do I LOOK DIFFRENT?

Yes, it is very possible that maybe you had some phillipino, or polynisian%26lt;sp?%26gt; grandparents or great grandparents. Thier genetic traits may have become recessive and will only show up every couple of generations, depending on what other kinds of genes are introduced in later generations.

WHY do I LOOK DIFFRENT?

maybe you're adopted and havn't been told.

WHY do I LOOK DIFFRENT?

Weak recessive genes when combined by both parents can produce the trait in their children.

Now when you look at old pictures sometimes coloring and a lot of other features might not be so obvious.

WHY do I LOOK DIFFRENT?

Ever feed a backporch cat and her bunch of mismatched kittens? Well never mind that, over countless centuries we've all taken this genetic turn and that where ancestors come in. That's what you'll need to do, the basics of family history research who's-who, your genealogy.

WHY do I LOOK DIFFRENT?

Well, I can't answer your question with any certainty, but my family members are somewhat split down the middle. My mother and most of her sisters had black hair and brown eyes and dark skin. But her brothers were lighter skinned, but with dark hair. The next generation, which includes me, are also split up. Some of my cousins are very dark while others look very pale.

My brother had black hair and brown eyes and dark skin. I had light hair which turned to dark, and my skin is light (but darker than most white people) but I tan and don't burn. My eyes are a rainbow of colors. Some of us started out very light and as we grew, we got much darker. I have been told that of both native american and black races, some babies are born very light skinned and darken as time goes by.

The point is, that maybe your parents don't even know for sure what their heritage is. Maybe some genetics are showing up in you and your sister from generations back.

WHY do I LOOK DIFFRENT?

There are some very good answers here, but I have a question. Have you asked your parents about this? Maybe they DO know and don't realize you feel this way. It's amazing how much people can learn from their parents, but very often parents have no clue what their children are thinking.