Growing up a redhead I reckon I’m well positioned to highlight the conflicted emotions that it brings…and to give a huge shout out to the rest of our special and different sub species. … (the REAL ones that is). Apparently we make up 1-2% of the world’s population which is clearly why so many women are jealous and pay phenomenal amounts of money to join our elite club.
But it hasn’t always been so cruisey. As a kid …and then right through high school, I stood out like the proverbial dogs balls !
Not only did I have a thick head of red hair (as opposed to just a’ thick-head’) BUT I was always amongst the tallest in the class as well. What hope did I have of going under the radar ? or blending in with the crowd?
But sometime in my later teens the penny dropped that I had something others wanted….and at least I could say mine was natural…cop that cheats!… (they say revenge is sweet).
There’s a lot written about us… and lot’s of ‘less than flattering’ name calling (ranger, blue, ginger, carrot top…just to name a few) There have been hate crimes against redheads… (redheadism) …and as recently as 2011 one of the worlds largest sperm banks actually stopped accepting donations from red headed men because there was no demand for red-headed babies … how sad is THAT? (almost as bad a Hitler banning marriage between consenting redheads ….for fear the coupling would produce more ‘inferior’ offspring …)
BUT hey.. were’re tough and resilient bunch… with higher pain tolerance that all you other softies, and apparently we can even manufacture our own Vit D.
So before you let fly with some racist redhead comment …. just remember …as YOU fade to grey …WE will gradually transition through all the beautiful shades of faded copper to rosy-blonde colours, then finally to silvery-white. No grey for us !!!
Wonder Years 