What are the two types of melanin?

What are the two types of melanin?

• A. Carotene and keratin
• B. Hemoglobin and elastin
• C. Sclera and hair pigments
• D. Eumelanin (brown/black) and pheomelanin (red/yellow)

Answer: (D)

Melanin comes in two basic forms that determine how skin and hair color present. Eumelanin produces brown to black shades, while pheomelanin contributes red to yellow tones. The overall color you see depends on how much of each type is produced and stored in the melanocytes, plus how they mix in the hair shaft or skin. That’s why you can have a wide range of brunette to black hair from high eumelanin, or copper and red tones when pheomelanin is more prominent. The other items listed aren’t forms of melanin; they refer to different substances like carotene, keratin, hemoglobin, elastin, or structures like the sclera, which don’t define the two melanin types.

Melanin comes in two basic forms that determine how skin and hair color present. Eumelanin produces brown to black shades, while pheomelanin contributes red to yellow tones. The overall color you see depends on how much of each type is produced and stored in the melanocytes, plus how they mix in the hair shaft or skin. That’s why you can have a wide range of brunette to black hair from high eumelanin, or copper and red tones when pheomelanin is more prominent. The other items listed aren’t forms of melanin; they refer to different substances like carotene, keratin, hemoglobin, elastin, or structures like the sclera, which don’t define the two melanin types.