"Redheads are dying out, man . . ."

[Pagan]

I used to hate, hate, hate having red hair. Got teased a lot. Now I love it!

I think the fascination that people have with redheads is that, while there are a lot of us, it's still unusual. Combine that with the not-completely-unfounded myth about our tempers (especially if we're Scottish )....

I get a lot of comments on my eyes, which are army green. It's a very unusual color here. Most people have brown eyes (due to the high Hispanic population) with a few blue thrown in.

I've got a cockamamie genetic theory that's turning out not to be so nuts. It's that green eyes and red hair are a genetic marker for Celtic blood. Everybody that I've met that had one or the other, if you trace their family back far enough, you'll find Celts. And now there's evidence for it! http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives...8918.Ge.r.html

[Enjis]

I just LOVE red hair, and am so jealous of people who have it naturally.
Mine is dark brown, starting to gray, and I have been dying it light auburn for years. (luckily for me, my skin tome makes it look like my natural color)
I SO wish I had that rich copper that so many young kids can't stand!

Hee! We all want what we can't have...!

[Acolyte]

Wow, I always thought that blonde and light brown were the predominant hair colors for Caucasian people. Maybe I just haven't paid enough attention. Either way, I'm the only white person I know besides my mom who has naturally black hair.

Although I hope redheads don't die out...that would be a SEVERE disappointment.

[ForestDragon]

My hair's gone through two major changes in my life (not counting possibly going silvergray in the - hopefully distant - future). I'm told I was born with a full head of black hair. A picture of me in kindergarten shows me looking suspiciously blond (or very very pale brown). Once I got into grade school it went dark brown and stayed that way. My eyes are a bit different - that weird gray/green/brown usually called "hazel" I suppose for lack of a better description.

[Amethyst Hunter]

In ancient Egypt they would bury redheads alive in the sand as tribute to Osiris (lord of the dead; perhaps a retaliatory measure against his mythical slaying by his brother Seth, who was purported to have red hair).

I inherited crap hair from my family. Natural curl (don't you DARE tell me how lucky I am to have it, I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE the SOB with a fiery passion), prone to frizz, and the color? Blecccch! Boring. Calling it light brown/light brownish blonde would be the politest thing one could say of it. Thanks for nothing, German ancestors. It's been short most of my life because I don't have the patience or inclination to fuss with it. Also, to kill the curl (or at least tame it somewhat), I dump straightener on it every couple of months.

Finally worked up the nerve to defy my folks and started dyeing it about 7 years ago (for a while they weren't big on my haircoloring adventures; my darker shades they absolutely hate if I try tones of black). I tried out whatever shade took my fancy at the time, but I almost always went for darker colors. Some of those included reds, and they weren't too bad. I finally settled on dark browns/light blacks, which is what I use now. Currently my hair's a blackish-brown mix. Yay for OTC haircolor.

Redhead guy needs to chill. Odds are he'll be long dead before the last of the (natural) redheads bucks the kicket.

[mariamousie1]

When I was born, my hair was black. Then it all fell out and came in blonde. After a few years it darkened to red, then brown where it stayed to today. So I have had hair in all colours. I don't think red hair dying is a big deal as long as there's red hair dye. Er, sorry about that pun.

[draggar]

Slightly OT, but what is it with people and redheads? I can be walking around with a friend or family member, a little redheaded kid walks by, and the person I'm with has to make the statement, "Oh look, it's your little sister/brother!"

I don't think that, I think "damn, I love her hair". (the adult red head, not the child)

Yes, I love redheads. If I wasn't married, I probably would be living in Ireland now in the red-head capital of the world.

[MystyGlyttyr]

So long as there exists Clairol and Garnier, there will always be blondes and redheads.

*shuffles off to buy another bottle*

[ShinyGreenApple]

I wish someone would say that to me. I think that's an awesome thing to have someone say to another person.

Usually, I would have been thrilled to have something like that said to me, except that my eyes are actually hazel and change color on their own a lot, and I guess they were probably more grey that night than green. He kept saying how 'that can be fixed with a pair of color contact lenses, and then I would have green eyes and he could take me out of that place.'

*shudders*

He scared the people in line behind him, even

I also used to hate my red hair when I was little, but now I love it. It was a bright, carrot orange when I was born, then darkened. It was also really, really thin. My Mom used to put curls in it to try and make it look thicker. Oddly enough, when I started to hit my teen years, it came in thicker and darker. I've cut over a foot from it three times now. For whatever reason, I've kept the ponytails, and the newest one is about 5 times thicker and several shades darker than the first. (Yes, I know I should get around to donating them, I'm weird). It's a very lovely shade of auburn now with lots of blonde highlights and for some reason, a thick blonde stripe going right down the back.

People love it, and are always wanting to touch it. I've had one gentleman ask me for a strand of it to give him luck at a poker game, and an older lady I used to work with would always touch it 'to give her good luck for the day'.

Being a redhead is fun.

[Andara Bledin]

I tried buzzing it off completely a year or two ago to see if it would grow back a bit heavier. Didn't really help. I just keep it buzzed short now. Although last week my mom of all people ( Whom originally wasn't fond of me wanting to grow my hair out ) told me she liked it when it was medium length ( Around my chin ). So now even she thinks I should start growing it out again.

<whimper>

Mmm.... long-haired Gravekeeper.....

*blink-blink*

What were we talking about again?

I think people are way to into hairy potter and have Weasley fever

I've been a huge fan of strawberry blonds for as long as I can remember.

My hair's gone through two major changes in my life (not counting possibly going silvergray in the - hopefully distant - future). I'm told I was born with a full head of black hair. A picture of me in kindergarten shows me looking suspiciously blond (or very very pale brown). Once I got into grade school it went dark brown and stayed that way. My eyes are a bit different - that weird gray/green/brown usually called "hazel" I suppose for lack of a better description.

I have hazel eyes. Hazel is usually considered any color that includes both brown and green. Most hazels are brown with a little bit of green in them. I'm the other way, with predominantly green eyes with a bit of brown near the pupils. But I'm one of those color-changing hazels that can look anything from flat greenish-grey to bright green. Right now I'm a medium olive.

I have brownette hair. Brunette is actually very dark brown to black. Everything from the tail end of blond to brunetet is brownette. My particular shade has almost no red and highlights to blond instead and if I'm in sunlight, looks like spun light caramel. I find it quite attractive, myself.

As for redheads "dying out," it won't happen. Yes, darker hair is a dominant gene, but due to the fact that genetics are what they are, unless those who have no recessive genes at all outbreed those with the recessive genes to an extreme level, then the genetic disposition across the spectrum should be basically unchanged.

My father had dark brown hair and both of his parents had dark brown hair. My mother and most of her family have pale blond hair. But, it is obvious that my father carried genes for both blond and brunette because my brother is blond. We each got the recessive blond gene from our mother and he got the recessive from our dad, while I got the dominant.

In another example, two of the people who run things here at work are married, and they both have dark hair (she's a large percentage native American). Their son has the same color hair as their dad, but their daughter has dark blond hair (which she bleaches to a really unattractive light blond).

^-.-^

[Jester]

I am in a similar position in my family. My mom has blue eyes. My dad had brown eyes. My older sister has brown eyes. My younger sister has blue eyes. And I have....grey-green eyes. Which seems odd. Until, of course, you realize that my aunt, my father's older sister, ALSO had grey-green eyes. Which means the gene is there, lurking, just waiting to come out.

By the way, let's hear it for the green-eyed people of the world. We rock! And if you don't believe me, check out all the people getting colored contacts to have green eyes.

[Shengirl]

By the way, let's hear it for the green-eyed people of the world. We rock! And if you don't believe me, check out all the people getting colored contacts to have green eyes.

Rawk. For that matter, I also have a grey tint to my eyes sometimes!

I don't have the red hair to go with it, though. I was born with a head full of black hair (closest I've ever looked to my Hispanic last name or Italian heritage!), grew light, light blonde hair in my childhood, and have darkened to a dark dirty blonde. I'm a little afraid it'll darken more, because that would make me sad. I like being an intelligent blonde; it makes me feel like I'm defying something. >_>

[Rocko]

I swear I have the weirdest genes in my family. My hair itself is brown, nothing special there, but my cheek stubble comes in a mix of red and brown. I have a chin goatee, and it is almost entirely red, and every now and then I find a blond hair in it. My eyes are listed as brown on my driver's license, but they're only brown right around the pupil, around the edges they look to be a grayish-green. No one else in the family has this

[napoleana]

I so get tired of hearing that argument. Comes from a misunderstanding of recessive genes and believing anything you read. Yes, if your baby gets a blond gene and a red gene, the blond is probably going to win out. However, if they make babies with someone with a red gene (even without red hair), it's possible they will have red headed babies.

Despite popular theory, dominant genes do not destroy or devour recessive genes. They merely take the job and let recessive genes sit around on their ass waiting for the next person in line. You can even end up a red head from your great great grandpa without anyone between you & him having red hair.

Humans have been around for thousands and thousands of years, maybe millions, and we STILL HAVE PEOPLE WITH RED HAIR. And no, it's not because they were all holed up in Ireland until recently.

</rant>

[Andara Bledin]

My eyes are listed as brown on my driver's license, but they're only brown right around the pupil, around the edges they look to be a grayish-green. No one else in the family has this

Congratulations. You have hazel eyes.

Regarding smart blonds: At least half of my close relatives are blond, and at least half of them are also geniuses.

Although, as proven repeatedly by my brother, Intelligence is not the same as smarts.

^-.-^