Red hair

FUN RED HAIR FACTS

Natural red hair occurs naturally in just under 2% of the human population. - approximately 140 million people. It occurs more frequently (2–6%) in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations.

Source Pxhere.com

The highest concentration of redheads is in Scotland with 13%, followed by Ireland with 10%.

Red hair appears in people with two copies of a recessive gene on chromosome 16 which causes a mutation in the MC1R protein. Some non-redheaded men have red beards because they have one copy of the MC1R gene.

The redhead or "ginger gene" is recessive and can remain hidden for generations.

40% of Scots carry the "redhead" gene.

Having red hair isn’t the only thing that makes some redheads unique. According to science, they are also most likely to be left handed because, both characteristics (having red hair and being left handed) come from recessive genes, which like to come in pairs.

Redheads produce more vitamin D than other hair colors, meaning they don't suffer as much from not being in the sun.

Studies have demonstrated that people with red hair have different sensitivity to pain compared to people with other hair colors. Red-haired people are less sensitive to electrically induced pain, but are more sensitive to thermal pain.

Redheads are more likely to have anxiety about going to the dentist because the same gene mutation that gives them red hair also makes them 20% more resistant to the effects local anaesthesia.

Most natural redheads will have brown eyes, followed by hazel or green shades. The least common eye color among red haired people is blue.

Each strand of red hair is generally thicker than other shades which compensates for the fact that redheads have less hair. On average, flame-haired people have only have 90,000 strands of hair while blondes have 110,000 and brunettes 140,000.

Red heads probably won't go grey as red hair retains its natural pigment a lot longer than other shades. So people with flume hair will probably instead go to rosy-blonde colors, then to silvery-white rather than grey.

May 26th is World Redhead Day. Besides celebrating red hair, the day raises awareness about the stigma associated with red hair, and the discrimination that redheads sometimes face.

Bees have been proven to be more attracted to redheads.

REDHEADS IN HISTORY

We call people with red hair "red heads" as opposed to "orange heads" because the phrase has been around longer than the color orange. The color orange was described as red up until the 1500's when the first reference of orange in the English language can be found.

The Ancient Greeks actually believed that redheads would turn into vampires after they died.

In ancient Rome, redheaded slaves were typically more expensive than those with a different hair color.

The hair color "Titian" takes its name from the artist Titian, who often painted women with red hair.

Portrait d'une Femme à sa Toilette, by Titian,

In one Lady's Magazine article printed in June 1775, a male doctor wrote that women with red hair have "generally become the best breeders of the nation".

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

Sources Immortal, 9News