Meet the African tribe where people have blonde hair and blue eyes

Anna Ajayi 13:35 - 22 July 2025

You don’t have to travel to the West to find blonde-haired, blue-eyed people; one African tribe has had them for centuries.

Africans are one of the most genetically diverse groups of people in the world. Most people would think Africans are mostly dark skinned, with brown eyes and black hair. But deep in the South Pacific, on the Solomon Islands, lives an African-descended tribe that defies this norm.

The Melanesians of the Solomon Islands are a dark-skinned people with naturally blonde hair and, in some cases, blue eyes. No bleach, no dye, no foreign admixture. Just pure, genetic magic passed down through generations.

Though geographically located in Oceania, Melanesians are believed to have African ancestry, tracing their roots back to early human migrations out of Africa over 50,000 years ago. Their physical features remain distinctly African, and yet, they possess some of the rarest traits seen on the continent: blonde hair and, occasionally, blue eyes.

The Melanesians of the Solomon Islands

How the blonde hair came about

The blonde hair seen among the Melanesian people isn't due to European ancestry. It is instead linked to a genetic mutation in the TYRP1 gene, which is involved in melanin production.

Scientists discovered that this mutation is completely distinct from the gene responsible for blonde hair in Europeans. This means that blonde hair developed independently in Melanesians, a striking example of what scientists call convergent evolution, where the same trait appears in different populations through different genetic paths.

Up to 10% of the island's population is believed to have naturally blonde hair, usually more noticeable in childhood and gradually darkening with age, though some retain it into adulthood.

Some retain it into adulthood

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Blue eyes in Africa? Yes, but very rare

While blonde hair is relatively more common among Melanesians, blue eyes are much rarer. When they do appear, it's often due to a combination of low melanin levels and another recessive gene variation. It’s not exclusive to this tribe; blue eyes have popped up in small, isolated communities across Africa too.

In some Nigerian, Kenyan, and Namibian communities, children have been born with light blue or greyish eyes. But in most cases, these are natural, harmless genetic anomalies, proof of how diverse African genes truly are.

Blue eyes are very rare [BBC]

Challenging beauty stereotypes

For centuries, Western media has portrayed blonde hair and blue eyes as the pinnacle of beauty, and these traits have rarely been associated with Africans. But the Melanesian example turns that stereotype on its head.

In this tribe, blonde hair is not exotic; it's just part of life. Children grow up seeing people who look like them, in all their melanated, golden-haired glory. The idea that “African equals black hair and brown eyes” simply doesn’t apply here.

And yet, these communities have often been overlooked in conversations about beauty, diversity, and representation.

Because of colonial narratives and racial hierarchies, many African features that don’t “fit the mould” have been ignored or dismissed. When photos of blonde Melanesian children surface online, people often assume their hair was dyed or that their parents were white. But these assumptions are based on narrow definitions of identity.

Africa is vast, diverse, ancient, and full of surprises. We can’t be boxed in. The world’s limited ideas of what African people “should” look like need to change.

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