I got a lot of comments on Instagram when I posted my results from the 23 and me DNA test, so I figured I’d share my experience and results here.
My husband Logan is such a curious person and has always asked me where my family originated from. I was born in Mexico and both of my parents and grandparents are from Mexico as well. That’s about all I knew about my family. Logan thought it was crazy how I didn’t know where my ancestors came from but I feel like that’s not a popular subject in Mexico as it is here in the States. We saw the DNA kit went on sale around Father’s Day and it was $20 off (original price $100) so we figured we’d order one. I do advise that you purchase it around a holiday since they always have offers.
There are two types of tests you can buy: the ancestry test (the one I got) for $99 and it reports on your ancestry composition and family DNA as well as gives you the option to connect with relatives; the health and ancestry test ($199) which has the same features as the first plus goes into health reports like carrier status, genetic health risks, etc. One thing to note about the second one, I believe it can affect your life insurance once you find out your health results so just make sure you do your research!
Once I ordered it, the kit took less than a week to arrive. It’s a small package that comes with instructions, a small tube to collect saliva and an ID number. You have to fill the tube with your saliva up to the marked line (it was super awkward and actually difficult to do!). Once you’re done, you seal it back up and ship it back in the same box, return shipping is included. From there it takes 6-8 weeks to get your results- I was like can’t it be faster?! I was actually pleased and it only took 4 weeks! I was nervous and anxious when I got an email from them saying my reports were ready to be viewed!
So…. what’s my background, you ask?! I’m actually 56% European- from Spain, which was not shocking since I assumed I had a lot of Spanish in me. The sorta surprising part was finding out that I’m 30% Native American! It wasn’t HUGE surprise because my dad had told me my great grandmother was a Cherokee Indian, I just didn’t know there was 1/3 in me! I also have 5% from the Middle East and 3% from West Africa. There’s a remaining 4.8% that’s unassigned, which means their algorithm is unable to assign a region of DNA to a specific population.
Overall it was a great experience and I totally recommend it. I would definitely suggest to look around on their site to see everything they offer, which is pretty cool! There’s so much you can learn about yourself and to think it was just from a saliva sample. You have the option of whether or not you want to share info with potential relatives and how much info you want to share. I decided to open up SOME of my results to my ancestors but was pretty conservative about it. A handful of them have asked to connect with me to see my actual results but I have chosen to keep that private at this time. Feel free to comment below if you have any questions!
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