Brunette

Brunette literally means "little brown-haired girl" or "young brown-haired woman", but, in modern English usage, it has lost the diminutive meaning and usually refers to any brown or black-haired girl or woman, or the associated hair color. It is the feminine form of brun, the word for dark-haired men.

Brunette is the most common hair color: Around 79% to 88% of the world's population has brown hair. This ranges from very light ash brown to almost black.

Brunette shades vary geographically: Light brown hair is more frequent in Northern Europe, while dark brown hair dominates in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and South Asia.

The pigment melanin is what gives hair its color. Brunettes have a higher amount of a specific type of melanin called eumelanin, compared to blondes.

During the Renaissance blonde hair became so much de rigueur in Venice that a brunette was not to be seen except among the working classes.

Venetian women spent hours dyeing and burnishing their hair until they achieved the harsh metallic glitter that was considered a necessity.

Anita Loos, the author of the novel and play Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, wrote a sequel entitled But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes.

In Western popular culture, a common stereotype is that brunettes are stable, serious, smart and sophisticated. Brunettes were described as independent and self-sufficient by 67 percent of the men, in a British study, and as intelligent by 81 percent.

Lady Gaga is a natural brunette; she reportedly bleached her hair blonde because she was once mistaken for Amy Winehouse.

Brunettes have fewer hairs on their head than their blonde and redheaded counterparts.

While blondes might go gray faster, the silver strands tend to be more noticeable against brown hair, though it takes longer for all the hair to turn gray.