Redhead Day: 9 fun facts about red hair

[dalton99a]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/11/05/redhead-day-9-fun-facts-red-hair/93341504/

Redhead Day: 9 fun facts about red hair
Amanda Kesting, KUSA-TV, Denver
Published 8:38 a.m. ET Nov. 5, 2016 | Updated 4:40 p.m. ET Nov. 5, 2016

Got red hair? Nov. 5 is your day to celebrate.

It's National Love Your Red Hair Day!

The holiday was started by two redheaded sisters who wanted to help other gingers embrace and love their fiery locks.

To help celebrate, here are nine fun facts about redheads:

The highest concentration of redheads is in Scotland (13%) followed by Ireland (10%). Worldwide, only 2% of people have red hair.

People with red hair are likely more sensitive to pain. This is because the gene mutation (MC1R) that causes red hair is on the same gene linked to pain receptors. It also means redheads usually need more anesthesia for dental and medical procedures.

Having red hair isn't the only thing that makes some redheads unique. They are also more likely to be left handed. Both characteristics come from recessive genes, which like to come in pairs.

Redheads probably won't go grey. That's because the pigment just fades over time. So they will probably go blonde and even white, but not grey.

Rumor says Hitler banned marriage between redheads. Apparently he thought it would lead to "deviant offspring."

Redheads most commonly have brown eyes. The least common eye color: blue.

Bees have been proven to be more attracted to redheads.

Being a redheaded man may have health benefits. A study published by the British Journal of Cancer suggested that men with red hair are 54% less likely to develop prostate cancer than their brown and blonde-haired counterparts.

Redheads actually have less hair than most other people. On average they only have 90,000 strands of hair while blonds, for example, have 140,000. However, red hair is typically thicker so it still looks just as full.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I'm a redhead. My sister is a brunette and our brother is a blonde.

Our mother was blonde and our father had black hair.

I discovered that the entire family of my father's father's sister (my great aunt) are redheads.

Our point of origin is Lithuania (or the Russian Empire, depending on the time of map-drawing).

[Funtatlaguy]

2. Redheads where the curtains match the carpet are awesome 👏

[USALiberal]

13. Classy

[MosheFeingold]

15. I have black hair and (used to have)

A black and red beard. I was like a giant Jewish pirate.

Happy to have had the red hair in my beard go grey. (My top-of-head-hair is still a mass of unruly Jewish black curls, I fondly call a Jewfro.)

None of your concern about the rest.

[rickford66]

30. Not one of my early girlfriends.

Auburn curtains and orange carpet. Really gorgeous.

[Funtatlaguy]

31. Ok I'm not going to comment other than to say sounds like an

Auburn vs Tennessee game.
Hope the score came out in your favor.

[vlyons]

3. red hair is a double recessive gene

Both parents have to carry the gene. So the gene may lie hidden for generations.

[DesertRat]

4. My husband and I found that out when we had a redheaded baby

Neither of us have any redheads in our family until our son was born. What a pleasant surprise.

[Javaman]

9. it's a weird thing when it happens...

we have exactly one redhead in our family and he's not exactly a redhead. I'll explain.

my mom's family: blond hair blue eyes

my uncle the exception: blonde hair blue eyes, but a very very very red beard.

[SoCalDem]

39. We ended up with two brown-eyed blond boys

go figure

[Nitram]

8. What does "double recessive gene" mean? If you said it was a "recessive trait," it would mean the

same thing. Recessive traits are only fully expressed when both genes in a pair are recessive.

[MineralMan]

5. "Bees have been proven to be more attracted to redheads."

Boys, too, I think.

[Danascot]

21. Research also finds that boys are more likely to mess with bees and get stung.

This is based on research I carried out when I was about 10.

[MineralMan]

22. Hmm...could there be a connection?

I dated one ginger girl in high school. She's still a friend, 50-some years later.

[lark]

6. My cousin had beautifully unique dark red hair until she was 59.

It then started fading. She's now 69 and has beautiful auburn hair, not one strand of grey. I loved her hair so much, I dye mine the color hers used to be and love my curly red locks.

[Nitram]

7. Very interesting.

But I have to point out that all genes come in pairs. "Both characteristics come from recessive genes, which like to come in pairs." Perhaps what they meant to say is that "a recessive trait is only expressed if both genes in the pair are the recessive." A recessive gene will always be masked if one of the pair is a dominant gene.

[BruceWane]

14. What they meant

They meant to say is that you are more likely to have two pairs of recessive genes, i.e. red headed and left handed.

[Nitram]

38. That makes sense.

[OnDoutside]

10. Don't forget the Irish Redheads !

https://www.facebook.com/RedheadConvention/photos/rpp.158805700858427/1505991119473205/?type=3&theater

[appalachiablue]

26. Ginger power! My sister saw lots of redheads in the Netherlands,

Denmark and Sweden. We're three siblings and 100% redheads with brown eyes since it runs on both sides.

[OnDoutside]

33. That's really unusual, red hair brown eyes or is it auburn hair ?

[OnDoutside]

35. I must keep an eye out for redhead eyes in future ! Redheads here have always had

it tough, especially with the red hair and freckles.

[LAS14]

11. I'm a redhead (was) and have very low sensitivity...

... to pain. I've been told by two different doctors that this is associated with being a redhead. Different studies?

In my case, being female, the prostate statistic is probably true...

[d_r]

19. that is my understanding also

[eppur_se_muova]

12. It's all due to pheomelanin.

[titaniumsalute]

16. I'm a complete sucker for redheads, pale skin, freckles, blue or green eyes

Always have been. Can't explain it but redheads are the hottest people on earth!!

[shanti]

40. You're not alone

I've had an ex-hub and a bf who were nuts for red hair. This love was passed on to one of my sons. My hair is/was (it's white now) more of a medium auburn, with blue eyes and pale, non freckled skin, and I hated it growing up. Lesson learned: love yourself.

[titaniumsalute]

45. LOl...my hair was never red but it is white now also...and I'm 43.

As for redheads...

I've actually told some friends of mine with red hair to QUIT covering up their beautiful freckles. One girl truly hates her freckles and the other sort of hates them.

[MicaelS]

17. I was a redhead.

Now I'm 61, my hair has turned blonde.

[d_r]

18. i've heard the opposite

about #2 and #6, and for #8 I've heard more likely to have skin cancer though

[OriginalGeek]

20. Both my little brothers had fiery red hair

but I have dark brown hair. I'm 4 and 5 years older than them. My dad used to tell people he just got rusty between me and them.

[MoonRiver]

23. My grandson is a redhead.

But, he is right handed and has blue eyes.

[lunamagica]

24. I'm surprised most have brown eyes.. Redheads are usually associated with green-eyes

[Solly Mack]

25. I love red hair.

[NightWatcher]

27. I used to have a thing for crazy, fiery redheads!

Have gotten me in way more trouble than alcohol, drugs, or speed.....however those three factors usually came into play at some point in the night.

[livetohike]

28. I'm a redhead. The only one of my siblings and my Dad

had black hair and Mom was a brunette. I must have answered the “Where did you get the red hair?” question a million times with the answer “I don’t know.” None of my Grandparents on either side had red hair, although my one Grandfather said that his sisters had red hair. They were all in Czechoslovakia and I never met them.

I’m 66 now and my hair is more auburn, but no grey. Many bouts of skin cancer.

[appalachiablue]

36. All 4 grandparents were dark brunettes. But we 3 came out

with red hair with brown eyes like our mother. Father, dark brunette, had many siblings of all colors, brunette, sandy blond, auburn.

So we got the recessive redhead genes that kicked in strong. It's quite possible, even some auburn will do it! lol.

Redhead friend has a brother with dark brunette hair. He married a woman with the same coloring, and their 2 kids, 100% came out with red and brown eyes. Their ancestry is eastern Europe, Russian.

[livetohike]

41. That is so interesting! My sister is a blonde. Neither

of us had kids. My brothers have brown hair and their wives have black hair. All of their kids hair ranges from light brown to black.

Who knows when the red hair gene will pop up next.? Thanks for sharing your experience .

[TlalocW]

29. I have dark brown hair

And didn't discover my beard was bright orange-red until my sophomore year of college when I decided to not shave the last two weeks of that academic year.

TlalocW

[williesgirl]

32. My Mom, older brother and sister are/were redheads. My

Dad, younger brother and I are/were toe heads.

[shanti]

42. Redheads and

towheads seem to run together in some families.

[Luciferous]

37. My brother and I are both redheads, as are both of my grandmothers and my cousin.

I was hoping my kids would get the red hair since my husband also has redheads in his family but they didn't. My maternal grandmother and I both have blue eyes, and she is also left-handed and has beautiful white hair now. I'm starting to get some white so I hope it will look like hers

[Duppers]

43. My hair is reddish

Searched for an online pic closest to my color. I'm 72 but not grey...yet. I fit only some of these criteria - I'm not sensitive to pain, right handed, have brown eyes, thinner hair. They left one famous rumor about redheads: we are short-tempered. Guilty.

My mother's Irish ancestors are from Donagal; my father's is from central Germany.
And at my age, I must wear my long mop up in a top bun.

[shanti]

46. Lucky!

I wish I could grow a long mop, but it's not to be. It has gotten thinner and thinner with age, probably the main reason women of a certain age keep it short. Still, it's better than a wig, which I refuse to wear.

[Hamlette]

44. Redheads have more fun

I visited San Francisco twice, 2 weeks apart. One time I was blonde, one time red hair (neither matched the carpet).

I performed the same activities (was there for work) each time.

People are nicer to red heads.

[Bigredhunk]

47. Ha!

All these years, I never realized there was a day for me!