But that's easy for me to say because I have blonde highlights. I have been faking it, so to speak, since 2008. On a scale of 1 to redhead, I'm what you call auburn. With my natural hair colour you might mistake me for a brunette during autumn / winter but come spring / summer there is no hiding my red highlights. I prefer how I look as a blonde - with my natural hair colour I felt that I easily got lost in the crowd - but maintaining my blonde mane is costly and damages the condition of my hair. It's worth it however, for the head massage alone.
Redhead. Brunette. Blonde. Stereotypes still exist when it comes to someone's hair colour. In the case of women, do any of the following sound familiar? A fiery redhead, a sensible brunette, a bubbly blonde. I try to avoid stereotypes although I believe that my personality has changed slightly since I changed my hair colour because people generally notice me more. A recent article by Refinery29 suggests that I am not alone in feeling this. I should however be careful about becoming addicted to all the attention : ) Friends, please keep me in check !
Let us look at some famous redheads from the history archives. Remember Boadicea the female warrior Queen? Pretty violent reputation. King Henry VIII was surely the inspiration for Craig David's song "7 days" - he went through wives at an alarming rate and reformed the Church so that he could get divorced. Queen Elizabeth I, "Virgin Queen", is always portrayed as frigid and moody. Vincent Van Gogh was nicknamed the "Dutch madman". And why are witches ALWAYS portrayed as redheads? I'm looking at you Mélisandre (Game of Thrones). You can see why Norma Jeane Mortenson changed her natural red hair to platinum blonde, thus becoming Marilyn Monroe.
On a more serious note, evidence out there shows that redheads are often discriminated against because of their hair colour. "Ginger" has negative connotations in the UK and is often used as a derogatory remark towards a redhead. (In France there is no translation for "ginger" - you are roux/rousse which means "redhead"). I have discovered that there's an Irish Redhead Convention in existence, which is awesome. This annual event, now in its 6th year, brings together natural redheads from all over the world to celebrate their uniqueness - after all, a tiny 0.6% of the world's population has red hair (Ireland is home to 10% of them, just behind Scotland where 13% of the redhead population live).
Rejoice whatever your hair colour. It looks good on you, so don't listen to the naysayers.
Lou xx