The Plight of the Redhead

You have no soul, you are a witch, you are evil, and of course you must have a terrible temper! (Terrill)

All lies!

Or if you prefer nicknames: rusty, carrots, ginger, freckleface, red, ruby, rudy, and the list goes on and on. (Ginger Parrot Ltd) If it is in love or by permission, fine by me, but how often have these nicknames been used to demean and put down a redheaded individual? Do we really want to all look the same? Why not celebrate our differences and the traits that make us unique! Even the most unique hair color has ranges of its own. Whether it is natural or bottle bred, red hair is special! Red hair - like many other traits - come in a variety of colors, but we are all family!

From the light strawberry blonde, to the dark auburn hair, we are as unique as we are rare.

Somewhere along the line in history, redheads gained a whole host of crazy myths that have stuck with us for generations! Redheaded figures can be traced back to many different cultures and many different time periods. Red hair has always been synonymous with the Irish or Scottish, but traces can be seen throughout history. At one point the Anglo Saxons brought red hair with them to the countries they conquered. At one point, there was even a pharaoh of Egypt who was depicted as a redhead! Some cultures revere redheads, others shun them, but the fact remains that redheads only make up 2% of the population today!

I may be somewhat biased, but I find red hair to be very beautiful, so it is time to set the record straight and get rid of some of these myths for good!

Redheads may not be witches, but we do have several genetic predispositions that set us apart. There are several little known differences that we share besides our fiery hair. Sadly, as if our lives weren’t hard enough with the nicknames and the myths, we are also more sensitive to pain. Alongside this, pain medications and anesthesia do not work as well. (Rettner)

Though our fair skin might get sunburn a lot easier, we can be easily distracted by our ability to bruise more easily and bleed more! I was convinced until several years ago that I was not capable of tanning, only burning. Turns out enough time in the sun paired with several gallons of sunscreen does the trick!

When I was in middle school I had a doctor remark “Hopefully you won’t need surgery, you’re a redhead. Redheads bleed more!” Needless to say I am glad I did not see that doctor again. This may not be a little known fact, but people really do not like it when you comment on their body. I was fortunate to not be bullied because of my hair as a child, but I know my mother was not as fortunate. With big curly red hair, she was a constant target for those playground taunts and unfortunate names.

But it’s not all bad! There are a few fun benefits of being a redhead. We do not go gray - we go straight to white! It is true - my mom’s going white not gray! The world has often found redheaded people fascinating. Many artists have chosen redheads as their muses throughout history. Even though some might choose to dislike, make fun of, or dismiss us, we still hold a prominent place in art history! (KTRK-TV)

Red hair is unique and different and special. In our current age of acceptance, I hope that if I have redheaded babies someday, the world will find them as beautiful as I do!