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Hair Colour & Personality (Redheads: Fact & Fiction)

i have red hair, which has become a lot darker thses days when it's grown out a little, usually sport a number one crop ya see these days, but i spent two weeks in cuba recently, and came back white as white can be, as opposed to burning, as apparently i should.
 
I'm a redhead, I burn easy, I've had numerous skin cancers removed.
 
There are a lot of redheads in my family (My Mum and her sister, my brother and two of my three cousins). None of them I would describe as being firey. They're a pretty even-tempered bunch.

My hair, when I was a baby, was really dark, almost black. It went blonde my first summer, and then kept getting gradually darker again until I was about 15 and discovered Sun-in. It is now naturally a frankly dull mousey mid-brown, and infuriatingly resistant to dye- it will go slightly lighter, but not much, and it wont go significantly darker or redder. Or blue.
 
Have you tried henna? Check out Lush; you have henna options other than Lucille Ball-ish orange.
 
i've used red haircolor for probably 7 years, and i'm always on the quest for the perfect red. it's very elusive, and often, if i find it, the company quits making it due to poor sales. i actually want the red to look fake; apparently most people don't. :D
 
I haven't tried henna, I might have to give it a go. Actually, I quite like the idea of making my hair orange; it'd certainly get me noticed...
 
I've been a redhead-by-choice since I was 13, fwiw. :D
 
I have been a redhead all my life. I've never been a different colour. Dyes don't hide it very well, and i have to leave bleach on for such a long time, that it burns my scalp. A few years back i tried to bleach a few strands, and i had to leave it on all day, and my hair went only slighty lighter.

I did used to get teased a lot at school because of it, but i wouldn't say it ever bothered me.

I don't think it affects me much really, apart from burning really easily, and having very sensitive skin.

Obviously, i get in moods, but no more than anyone else.

I also just thought, although i am 23 E numbers and stuff still affect me a lot. I can't eat cadburys cream eggs because they make me high for a couple of hours, and then i get really severe depression for the rest of the day. I don't know if thats related to being ginger.

Also, i bleed a lot. A few weeks ago, i went for an injection and it bled quite a bit, and the nurse said redheads tend to bleed more.

Hum hum
That is all.
 
When I was growing up, gingery kids were teased in school, but so were kids with braces, unusually tall or short kids, fat kids, kids with glasses, etc.--it was just a characteristic to seize on and mock, and they weren't considered "worse" than other hair colours. Am I just being unobservant, or... :confused:

Though I must say most of the little blonde girls were awfully impressed with themselves. :rolleyes:
 
I was a red-headed baby, and remained that way until the age of about two; we have an old cine film of red-headed me in deep pink dress being kicked over by older (black-haired) sister on swing. However, as I aged, I went brunette; I do have some natural ginger highlights, particularly in the summer, but the white hairs are starting to creep in as well.

My best friend at school was auburn, and very freckly; I loved the colour, and wished mine had stayed ginger. Unlike a number of people I know, I have no prejudice against ginger men, in fact, I quite like them!

I suppose I could dye my hair, but there's so much of it, it'd take for ever, and quite frankly, I can't be arsed....
 
Ah, I love the Pre-Raphaelites. :) Didn't many of them use the same models? That could account why so many of the women seem the same (and of course they would want the ultimate woman--the redhead. ;) )
 
I'm naturally blonde, though I dyed my hair black a few weeks ago. and my schoolmates call me 'the walking dictionary', I am unusually smart, so I don't think that peoples haircolour has much, if any effect on peoples personality.
 
Leaferne said:
Ah, I love the Pre-Raphaelites. :) Didn't many of them use the same models? That could account why so many of the women seem the same (and of course they would want the ultimate woman--the redhead. ;) )
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I believe this is true. Either because they hung out together in the same bars, or possibly because they were all sleeping with the same women. Actually I suspect both were true.
 
anome said:
I believe this is true. Either because they hung out together in the same bars, or possibly because they were all sleeping with the same women. Actually I suspect both were true.
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Ah, sleeping with women in bars - my idea of heaven! :D
 
I can fake red hair, but not a red heads skin, those pictures are beautiful, and they're always so fair, my nan was, aubern and white skin, which she rigorously protected from sunlight.
Thse ladies do look suspiciously similar though. :lol:
 
When I was born, my hair was jet black, a blue kind of black, and when that hair came out it was nearly white it was so blonde! It stayed that way for several years, and turned ashe blonde, which then quickly morphed into light brown, then auburn brown, and now it's a very dark brown with red and blonde in it, so I guess I have a mixed kind of hair colour.
HOWEVER....nobody would know that except by looking up close at my eyebrows, since my hair is dyed purple, green, blue and black! :p
 
Apparently redheads feel less pain - it must be all the ginger jokes (although being auburn I wouldn't know honest. Or is it chestnut brown I forget):

Redheaded Women Naturally Resistant to Pain


11 August, 2005 03:37 GMT


Blondes may have more fun but redheads are less likely to feel pain, according to a study showing flaming locks are linked with stoicism in the face of suffering.

For reasons that have yet to be understood, women with red hair appear to be more resistant to pain compared to women with other colors of hair, and men, a scientist said yesterday.

The preliminary findings will be investigated in a study to be launched in Britain by the Medical Research Council's Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, which has recruited a panel of redheads to take part in the research.

Genetic Mechanism

One of the aims is to see if there is a natural mechanism at work in redheads that can be adapted to help in developing new painkillers and anesthetics, said Professor Ian Jackson.

"People would be interested in the possibility of developing new anesthetics or co-anesthetics. Treatment for chronic pain is difficult, for example pain from cancer. It's difficult to regulate and people are looking for drugs in that area," Professor Jackson said.

Studies on "redhead" mice, which have blonde fur but carry a similar gene to the one that causes red hair in humans, are helping the scientists target the pain-reducing mechanism.

Professor Jackson said that red-haired mice exhibit a similar ability of human female redheads to withstand higher pain thresholds compared to other mice.

Reds Need Less Meds

"The nature of it is still being worked out, but it does appear that redheads have a significantly decreased pain threshold and require less anesthetic to block out certain pains," he said.

Work on red hair and pain was originally carried out by Professor Jeffrey Mogil at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He identified a mutant version of a gene called melanocortin-1 (Mc1r), which is linked to ginger hair and fair skin, gives women a higher pain threshold, but does not appear to have the same effect on men.

It is thought this is probably due to subtle differences in the way male and female brains process pain.

In most people, the Mc1r gene produces a protein that reduces the ability of opioid drugs to block pain. But in redheaded women, who have a non-functional version of the gene, such painkillers are free to work unhindered.
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Apprently first printed in the Independent:
http://health.dailynewscentral.com/cont ... 001480/47/
 
I don't know if this has been mentioned here before, but IIRC people with blue eyes are less sensitive to pain than those with other eye colours - millions of dentists can't be wrong!
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
Blondes may have more fun but redheads are less likely to feel pain, according to a study showing flaming locks are linked with stoicism in the face of suffering.
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rynner said:
I don't know if this has been mentioned here before, but IIRC people with blue eyes are less sensitive to pain than those with other eye colours - millions of dentists can't be wrong!
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Hmm, I've gone from 'dumb blond' to 'gingah-mingah' over the years, what facial fuzz I can manage is ginger, blond and black. I've also got very dark, blue eyes - does that mean I'm oblivious to pain?
 
My mum and my brother are both very red. I don't know whether they are more resistant to pain or not, but growing up with them certainly made me more resistant to it.
 
I have a personal prefarence for red heads, I don't know why, I just find the hair colour attractive :D
 
And I have a prefernce for dark haired people, because they look smarter. From a distance anyway.
As for me, I was born blond, but my hair gradualy turned to dark brown as I grew older.

Are people's attitude and demeanor shaped by the color of their hair? Or could it be shaped by the expectations we have of them, which are based on their hair color ?
 
I was born blonde, and my hair stayed so until I was around 11 or 12, when it gradually turned dark brown.
Now it's going grey. Darn.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I was born blonde, and my hair stayed so until I was around 11 or 12, when it gradually turned dark brown.
Now it's going grey. Darn.
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Well, you still have hair. Mine is just a grey fuzz now.

We had an awkward customer in the shop the other day. He had a ginger goatee and moustache, and claimed to have bought an item from us that broke. But he didn't have a receipt, and none of us remembered him (and you would remember a ginger goatee and moustache). So if he did buy it here, it was sold to him by the ex-owner, who retired over two months ago.

But this thread makes me wonder whether the hair colour and the confrontational awkwardness go together.
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
Apparently redheads feel less pain - it must be all the ginger jokes (although being auburn I wouldn't know honest. Or is it chestnut brown I forget):

Redheaded Women Naturally Resistant to Pain


11 August, 2005 03:37 GMT


Blondes may have more fun but redheads are less likely to feel pain, according to a study showing flaming locks are linked with stoicism in the face of suffering.

For reasons that have yet to be understood, women with red hair appear to be more resistant to pain compared to women with other colors of hair, and men, a scientist said yesterday.

The preliminary findings will be investigated in a study to be launched in Britain by the Medical Research Council's Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, which has recruited a panel of redheads to take part in the research.
Click to expand...

Apprently first printed in the Independent:
http://health.dailynewscentral.com/cont ... 001480/47/
Click to expand...

Or do they suffer more pain?:

Ginger gene makes redheads more sensitive to the cold

Audrey Gillan
Monday September 12, 2005
The Guardian

Not only are they more likely to burn when the mercury rises, but they also feel the most pain when it drops.

Researchers at Louisville University in Kentucky have discovered that people with ginger hair are more sensitive than most. A study released yesterday shows that the presence of a ginger gene means many redheads need extra doses of anaesthetic during surgery because they suffer pain more acutely.

Scientists compared the pain tolerance of 60 ginger-haired volunteers with 60 brunettes. The redheads began to feel pain at around 6C (43F), unlike the volunteers with dark hair, who did not really begin to flinch until the temperature got down to freezing.

Researchers think that the ginger gene, known as MC1R, may cause the temperature-detecting gene to become over-activated, making redheads more sensitive to the cold. It is hoped that this research can be used to develop better pain-relieving drugs and anaesthetics.

Daniel Sessler, the director of the university's outcomes research institute and department of anaesthesiology, said the study had confirmed anecdotal evidence that redheads were more sensitive to certain types of pain.

"After a previous study we received more than 100 communications from redheads who claimed that anaesthesia often failed or that unusually high doses of local anaesthetics were required to achieve adequate analgesia," he said. "It suggested that the redhead gene may have some role in the pain pathway. That redheads are subject to sunburn and skin cancer must be linked to the difference in pain sensitivity."

Vanessa Collingridge, a red-headed television presenter and author, said: "I am like a reptile because I am so cold-blooded. I have caught hypothermia twice while filming in Scotland - and that was during the summer. Redheads are known for having lower pain thresholds and my midwife even warned me when I was giving birth to my son Archie. I usually need a double dose of anaesthetic when I go to the dentist."

Simon Cheetham of Red and Proud, a website that claims to represent redheads, welcomed the research, but said it shattered the myth of the tough, ginger Scottish male.

"The stereotype of a Celt is a wild, kilted man with red hair who takes no notice of the temperature," he said. "In fact most redheads don't really like extremes of temperature."
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www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1567843,00.html
 
My sister who's a redhead has a very low pain threshold. Apparently she was infamous at our dentist's when she was younger. But unlike me she doesn't feel the cold at all.
 
I have a little bit of red in my hair and I don't feel cold that much too but neither does my mumand she doesn't have red hair.
 
Lol My hair was always light red although it's faded a lot now. I had to laugh when you mentioned the dentist as I bit one when he insisted on pushing his fingers into my mouth while his assistant tried to hold me down. I've never really felt as cold as others I know though. I'm really fair but always felt attracted to dark haired men. I wondered about that but was interested to read that redheads descended from the Irish tend to do so. None of my children are red, I have two blondes and one dark (like her father) who has a very bright redhaired girl with the most beautiful creamy skin.
 
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