Scientists at Australia's Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) have discovered that a certain gene called the trichohyalin gene is mainly responsible for creating curls. Professor Nick Martin, head of the QIMR Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory and author of the research, says that the variation in this gene determines the straightness or curliness of hair. Another fact to come out of the study, which appears in the latest edition of the American Journal of Human Genetics, is that the chances of inheriting curling hair is around 90 percent!
With this new genetic knowledge, Professor Martin says that it may be possible to come up with a pill to make hair straighter. "Potentially we can now develop new treatments to make hair curlier or straighter, rather than treating the hair directly," said Martin, who revealed that he has a meeting with a major cosmetics company planned for January.
Read the Telegraph article for more details on the study.