I decided that it would be interesting to ask some people with red hair some questions about what it's like having this hair colour.
Coming from a family of gingers,
I asked my dad these questions and below is detailed his responses:
1. Do you like your hair colour, and why?
Yes, I love it because it's different and there aren't many people with this colour.
2. Has your hair colour had an impact on your life?
When I was younger it was a good conversation-starter.
3. Were you teased for your hair colour?
Yes, especially at boarding school
4. Has your view changed through the years with regards to your hair colour?
Just gone a bit white round the edges
5. Any stories you can share?
When I was in my early twenties I had long hair and when I had it cut the hairdresser asked me if they could use it to make a wig!
6. Anything else you would like to share or add…..
Having red hair has always made me stand out / be different and I wouldn't change it for the world.
My only regret is that I didn't pass it on to my beautiful daughters, but hopefully their children will have it as it is said that the 'red hair gene' tends to skip a generation - we shall see!!
I then asked Bethan the same questions. And detailed below are her answers:
1. Do you like your hair colour, and why?
yep I love my hair colour as it is a rare colouring which makes me feel special and different
2. Has your hair colour had an impact on your life?
Not really, I do get quite a lot of attention sometimes because of it people are always complimenting me on it which has made me a more confident person.
3. Where you teased for your hair colour?
yep, but mainly jokes from my two brothers, they find it funny to call me gimli from Lord of the rings because I am short and have ginger hair.
4. Has your view changed through the years with regards to your hair colour?
I used to not like my hair colour as It made me stand out from the crowd and when I was younger I was very shy and did not like being pointed out. But now I love it and am proud to have such an unusual hair colour.
5. Any stories you can share?
One time a boy came up to me randomly in the street and said 'Did you know that your head is on fire?' and then ran away laughing. I remember at the time I was quite upset, but looking back it makes me laugh
6. Anything else you would like to share or add…..
I then emailed my uncle the same questions. And below is detailed his responses:
1. Do you like your hair color, and why?
Yes, I love my hair colour because it makes me special. According to my DNA analysis, under 2% of the British population have the same red-headed DNA as me!
2. Has your hair color had an impact on your life?
Yes - people's reactions to it have had an impact, especially in countries where red-heads are rare or unknown.
3. Where you teased for your hair colour?
I was teased at school - gingernut, duracell, carrot-top were some of the names I was called, but they never bothered me.
4. Has your view changed through the years with regards to your hair color?
As I get older and the ginger is slowly being replaced with white, especially in the beard, I suppose I have become more fond of my gingerness.
5. Any stories you can share?
When I first moved abroad at the age of 22 to a small industrial town in South-Central Spain I was surprised to notice that, as I walked around town, the local old ladies always seemed to be upset by me. They would frown and scowl and cross themselves in the Catholic manner while muttering to themselves whenever I passed. Eventually I found out that in that part of Spain (and perhaps in other Mediterranean countries where redheads are rare) there was a superstition that is was bad luck to meet a redheaded man because apparently, Judas Iscariot was a ginge and all the muttering and the crossing was a way of warding off the 'evil' that I had unsuspectingly brought into their lives! Who knew?!
Another story concerns my experiences in Arabia where I have been living for the past 20 years. Under Islam, along with the prohibition on men wearing silk or gold, they are also forbidden from dyeing their hair except with henna (as the Prophet Mohammed had allegedly dyed his beard with henna). As a result I would often encounter older men, especially the more religious ones, who had the most glorious bright henna-red beards. As I had taken the opportunity of living in such a beard-friendly society to 'go the whole ZZ-Top' and grow a huge beard myself, I was often mistaken for a very devout Muslim. This proved useful not only in my job of teaching classes of up to forty 18-year-old Saudi undergraduates, who I seemed to have a lot less trouble controlling than my clean-shaven colleagues, but also when dealing with local officials. Indeed, once at Jeddah airport Darcy and I were waiting in a long line to go through passport control when two armed guards approached us, pulled us out of line, sped us through passport control and customs, showed us where we could catch the connecting flight to Mecca and wished us a happy pilgrimage. We smiled and thanked them and, when they had gone, snuck round to get our connecting flight to a completely different part of the country!
6. Anything else you would like to share or add…..
I have never once in my life dyed my hair, although I feel that if I were blond or dark-haired I probably would have at some time. Being ginger is the best!
