Some Red Hair and Redhead Facts

I am a natural redhead and so it is with an ounce of chagrin, a good sense of humor and the occasional sheepish smile that I can list these interesting 'redhead facts.'

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

During the Middle Ages, a child with red hair was thought to be conceived during “unclean sex” or during menstruation.

Red hair doesn’t gray as much as other hair colors. Red hair initially tends to turn blond and then white.

The most rare hair color in humans is red.

According to Hamburg sex researcher Dr. Werner Habermehl, women with red hair have more sex than women with other hair colors. He also postulates that women in a relationship who dye their hair red may be signaling that they are unhappy and looking for something better.

During the witch hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, many women were burned at the stake as witches merely because they had red hair.

Mark Twain once quipped that “while the rest of the human race are descended from monkeys, redheads derive from cats."

Hitler reportedly banned the marriage of redheads in order to prevent “deviant offspring."

According to legend, the first redhead was Prince Idon of Mu who, upon discovering Atlantis, was imprinted with the island’s stunning red sunset and leaves in the form of red hair and freckles so future generations would be reminded of Atlantis’ first sunset.

According to Playboy magazine, “Redheads are like other women—only more so.”

Scholars note that redheads have influenced history out of proportion to their numbers. Famous redheads include Roman emperor Nero, Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, the ancient god of love Aphrodite, Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon Bonaparte, Oliver Cromwell, Emily Dickinson, Antonio Vivaldi, Thomas Jefferson, Vincent Van Gogh, Mark Twain, James Joyce, Winston Churchill, Malcolm X, Galileo, and King David.

In ancient Rome, redheaded slaves were often more expensive than those with other hair color.

Satan is often portrayed as a redhead most likely because red was viewed as the color of sexual desire and moral degradation.

Ruadh gu brath is Gaelic for “Red heads forever!”

During the witch hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, many women were burned at the stake as witches merely because they had red hair.

Some scholars postulate that the same gene mutation that causes red hair also affects the way redheads respond to pain and anesthetics.

In Egypt, redheads were buried alive as sacrifices to the god Osiris.