Please note, this post contains affiliate links. 

I’ve been wanting to do Ancestry test for the absolute longest and when the team at Living Dna got in touch, I jumped at the chance. If you didn’t already know I’m of course a Londoner, but my heritage is Caribbean and I am half Bajan and half Guyanese. Guyana and Barbados to make it clear. 

However, I’ve always found that people never know where “I’m really from” from my appearance (must be the third eye), but I’ve always believed my race and heritage cannot be defined to a tick box. That’s  where the Living DNA test comes in. Essentially:

“Living DNA’s product is the only one of its kind which allows users to look back over 10 generations to see their ancestry throughout human history, and discover when they shared ancestors with people throughout the world. Most other ancestry tests only look at people’s recent family history, typically going back 4 or 5 generations at most.”

Source 

I was intrigued as I always felt ancestry tests leant more to those with European heritage/ancestry but I was wrong. Living DNA believe we were all connected at one point in our history.

The Process

The process is very simple. And to help explain it all, here’s a handy graphic:

Using a mouth swab was certainly something I hadn’t done before but if you read the instructions carefully, its only uncomfortable for a few moments. How else are you going to do it? Best of all, once you’ve done your sample, all you need to do is put it in the post box using the free returns bag meaning no queues in the post office.

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The Waiting Game 

You won’t get your results overnight, but what can you do in-between? Continue your daily life, fit in some trips, explore your surroundings or just ‘be’. After 8 or so weeks I received an email with…

My Results

I logged in straight away and I was pretty shocked about my results!

Who would have thought? I always felt that I’d have some Samoan, Polynesian or some kind of Pacific Island but nope, my ancestors are West African and South East Asian with a dash of Chinese and European. I knew there was a reason I loved rice so much. But on a real note, the Living DNA test has really made me think about who I am, where I’m from and I’m yearning to know more.

I suddenly feel a stronger connection to the world I live in.

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What does the kit include?

“A lifetime membership to Living DNA costs £120, including a swab kit, the DNA ancestry test itself and access to a personalised, interactive results platform. Test results typically take 8-12 weeks before they are available, and a bespoke coffee table book of the results costs an additional £39 plus postage and packing. A membership also includes free lifetime updates to people’s results as new ancestry research and population groups are added to the platform and as science evolves.”

Source 

Thoughts?

Overall, I now feel a yearning to go and explore these places on the globe and see where ‘I’m really from’. I had always assumed my heritage would lean more towards South East Asia, but West Africa really overshadows it, even if only by a fraction. Perhaps you’ll be seeing me in Lagos, India or China in the next few years! 

Find out more here.

Would you ever take the Living DNA ancestry test?

Char xo 

Please note, this was sent for my review but all views are my own. 

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