Everything about Red Hair totally explained
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This article is about people with red hair, also sometimes called redheads. For other uses, see Redhead (disambiguation) and Red hair (disambiguation).
Red hair (also referred to as
auburn,
ginger or
titian) varies from a deep orange-red through
burnt orange to bright
copper. It is characterized by high levels of the reddish
pigment pheomelanin and relatively low levels of the dark pigment
eumelanin. People with red hair are often referred to as
redheads.
Approximately 1% to 2% of the human population has red hair. It occurs more frequently (between 2% and 6% of the population) in northern and western Europeans, and their descendants, and at lower frequencies throughout other parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Red hair appears in people with two copies of a
recessive gene on
chromosome 16 which causes a change in the
MC1R protein. It is associated with fair skin color,
freckles, and sensitivity to
ultraviolet light, as the mutated MC1R protein is found in the skin and eyes instead of the darker melanin. Cultural reactions have varied from ridicule to admiration; many common stereotypes exist regarding redheads, and they're often portrayed as the “fiery-tempered redhead”.
As well as in humans, red hair can be found in other
mammalian species such as
orangutans,
squirrels,
goats, and
highland cattle. Red hair or fur can be found in some
breeds of
dog and
cat, and certain species of
fox and
deer.
Geographic distribution
Historical
Several accounts by Greek writers detail redheaded people. A fragment by the Greek poet
Xenophanes describes the
Thracians as blue-eyed and red haired. The Greek historian
Herodotus described the "
Budini", probably
Udmurts and
Permyak Finns located on the
Volga in what is modern-day
Russia, as being predominantly redheaded. The Greek historian
Dio Cassius described
Boudica, the famous
Celtic
Queen of the
Iceni, to: "be tall and terrifying in appearance ... a great mass of red hair ... over her shoulders".
The Roman
Tacitus commented on the "red hair and large limbs of the inhabitants of
Caledonia (
Scotland)", which he linked with some red haired
Gaulish tribes of
Germanic and
Belgic relation.
The
Kyrgyz people of central Asia once had predominantly red hair. Some today still retain this trait.
Genghis Khan traditionally and by some scattered accounts is said to have had red hair.
Red hair has also been found in
Asia, notably among the
Tocharians who occupied the northwesternmost province of what is modern-day
China. The
2nd millennium BC caucasian Tarim mummies in
China were found with red and blonde hair and most likely were of European origin..
Image:Thrace-ostrusha.jpg|A fresco of a red-haired Thracian noble woman in the Ostrusha Mound in central Bulgaria, 4th century B.C.
Image:MirceacelBatran.jpg|Prince Mircea I of Wallachia, fresco from the Episcopiei de Argeş Church
Image:Central Asian Buddhist Monks.jpeg|Red-headed, blue-eyed Central Asian (Tocharian?) and East-Asian Buddhist monks, Bezaklik, Eastern Tarim Basin, China, 9th-10th century
Image:Juan de Flandes 002.jpg|Portrait of a young girl by Juan de Flandes c. 1500. The subject is possibly Catalina de Aragón, Princess of Spain and later Queen consort of England.
Modern
Today, red hair is most commonly found at the
western fringes of
Europe. It is associated particularly with those in
Scotland,
Ireland,
Wales, and
England. This matches the movement of the
Celts and
Picts as they were pushed westward and northward in Britain and Ireland during the
Roman conquest of Britain, as well as the pattern of Viking settlement in the north of England.
Redheads constitute approximately four percent of the European population. Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads, as 13 percent of the population has red hair and approximately 40 percent carries the recessive redhead gene. Ireland has the second highest percentage; as many as 10 percent of the Irish population have ginger, auburn (red-brown) or strawberry blond hair.
It is thought that up to 46 percent of the Irish population carries the recessive redhead gene. Red hair reaches frequencies of up to 10 percent in Wales. In England, the county of Cornwall, the far north, near the Scottish border, and the counties of Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire also have significant proportions of redheads.
In the
United States, anywhere from two to six percent of the population is estimated to have red hair.
In Asia, darker or mixed tinges of red hair can be found sporadically from
Northern India, northern
Middle East (such as
Lebanon,
Iran,
Syria) and
Pakistan, and in rare instances in
Japan and the
South Pacific. Red hair can be found amongst those of
Iranian descent, such as the
Pashtuns.
In
Australia red hair makes up 3% to 5% this is due to the extensive amount of Australians originating from the
British Isles.
In
Argentina people with red hair also make up a significant amount of the population, due to
British and
Irish immigration during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Biochemistry and genetics
The pigment
pheomelanin gives red hair its distinctive color. Red hair has far more pheomelanin than other hair colors, but far less of the dark pigment eumelanin. Auburn hair has both high levels of pheomelanin and eumelanin.
The
genetics of red hair, discovered in
1997, appears to be associated with the
melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R), which is found on
chromosome 16. Red hair is associated with fair skin color due to low concentrations of eumelanin. This lower melanin-concentration has the advantage that a sufficient concentration of important
Vitamin D can be produced under low light conditions. However, when the UV-radiation is strong (like in the regions close to the equator) the lower concentration of melanin leads to several medical disadvantages - one of them is the higher rate of skin cancer.
The MC1R
recessive variant gene, which gives people red hair and fair skin, is also associated with
freckles, though it isn't uncommon to see a redhead without freckles. Eighty percent of redheads have an MC1R gene variant, and the prevalence of these
alleles is highest in
Scotland and
Ireland. The alleles that code for red hair occur close to the alleles that impact skin color, so it seems that the phenotypic expression for lighter skin and red hair are interrelated.
Red hair can originate from several different changes on the MC1R-gene. If one of these changes is present on both chromosomes then the respective individual is likely to have red hair. This type of inheritance is described as an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. Even if both parents may not have red hair themselves they both can be carriers for the gene and have a redheaded child. (
red hair genetics
).
Genetics
The alleles Arg151Cys, Arg160Trp, Asp294His, and Arg142His on MC1R are shown to be recessives for the red hair phenotype.
Also possibly related to red hair is the gene HCL2 (aka RHC, RHA) on chromosome 4.
Evolution
Origins
Red hair is the rarest type of natural hair color in humans. The pale skin associated with red hair may be of advantage in far-northern climates where sunlight is scarce. Studies by Bodmer and Cavalli-Sforza (1976) hypothesized that lighter skin pigmentation prevents
rickets in colder latitudes by encouraging higher levels of
Vitamin D production and also allows the individual to retain heat better than someone with darker skin. Rees (2004) suggested that the vividness and rarity of red hair may lead to it becoming desirable in a partner and therefore it could become more common through
sexual selection.
Harding et al (2000) proposed that red hair wasn't the result of positive selection but rather occurs due to a lack of negative selection. In Africa, for example, red hair is selected against because high levels of sun would be harmful towards fair skin. However, in Northern Europe this doesn't happen and so redheads come about through
genetic drift.
A DNA study has concluded that some
Neanderthals also had red hair, although the mutation responsible for this differs from that which causes red hair in modern humans.
Extinction
A popular myth is that red hair is likely to die out among the population in the near future. This is untrue and stems from questionable research and publicity by a hair products company. The
National Geographic article that started the rumor in fact states that "
while redheads may decline, the potential for red isn't going away".
Red hair is caused by a recessive gene that can skip generations before reappearing, and it's also relatively rare. But it isn't likely to disappear any time in the foreseeable future. however, one study reports a link between red hair and a higher rate of
bruising. It has been found that Europeans that are heterozygous for red hair exhibit increased sensitivity to UV radiation. Due to this sensitivity many people have advised redheads to wear
sunscreen. However it's becoming increasingly apparent that sunscreen protects against sunburn only and not against malignant melanoma and the FDA has proposed to change SPF to refer to Sunburn Protection Factor instead of Sun Protection Factor (page49089,49079 and 49077)(
FDA proposed changes).
Sensitivity to pain
In people with red hair, the cells that produce skin and hair pigment have a dysfunctional MC1R. Researchers have found that this dysfunction triggers the release of more of the
hormone that stimulates these
histonal cells, but this hormone also stimulates a brain receptor related to
pain sensitivity.
Two studies have demonstrated that people with red hair have differential sensitivity to pain compared to people with other hair colors, but they differ as to the direction of the effect. One study found that people with red hair are more sensitive to thermal pain (a natural
vitamin K deficiency is to blame for this) while another study concluded that redheads are less sensitive to pain from electrical stimuli. It has also been found that mutated "red hair" mice with non-functional MC1R are less sensitive to pain from multiple modalities.
Researchers have found that people with red hair require greater amounts of
anesthesia, however this is controversial and other research publications have concluded that women with naturally red hair require less of the painkiller
pentazocine than do either women of other hair colors or men of any hair color. A study showed women with red hair had a greater analgesic response to that particular pain medication than men. A follow-up study by the same group showed that men and women with red hair (and mutant "red hair" mice) had a greater
analgesic response to
morphine-6-glucuronide.
Red hair is found on people lacking pro-opiomelanocortin.
Culture
In various times and cultures, red hair has been prized, feared, and ridiculed.
Beliefs about temperament
A common stereotype of redheads is that they've fiery tempers and sharp tongues. In Anne of Green Gables, a character says of Anne Shirley, the redheaded heroine, that "her temper matches her hair", while in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield remarks that "People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie [hisdead brother] never did, and he'd very red hair."
During the early stages of modern medicine, red hair was thought to be a sign of a sanguine temperament. In the Indian medicinal practice of Ayurveda, redheads are seen as most likely to have a Pitta temperament.
Another belief is that redheads are highly-sexed; for example, Jonathan Swift satirizes redhead stereotypes in part four of Gulliver's Travels, "A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms," when he writes that: "It is observed that the red-haired of both sexes are more libidinous and mischievous than the rest, whom yet they much exceed in strength and activity." Swift goes on to write that: "...neither was the hair of this brute [aYahoo] of a red color (which might have been some excuse for an appetite a little irregular) but black as a sloe..."
Fashion and art
Queen Elizabeth I of England was a redhead, and during the Elizabethan era in England, red hair was fashionable for women. In modern times, red hair is subject to fashion trends; celebrities such as Rita Hayworth, Molly Ringwald, Lindsay Lohan, Melinda Clarke, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman can boost sales of red hair dye.
Sometimes, red hair darkens as people get older, becoming a more brownish color or losing some of its vividness. This leads some to associate red hair with youthfulness, a quality that's generally considered desirable. In several countries such as India, Iran, and Pakistan, henna is used on hair to give it a bright red appearance.
Many painters have exhibited a fascination with red hair. The color "titian" takes its name from Titian, who often painted women with red hair. Early Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli's famous painting The Birth of Venus depicts the mythological goddess Venus as a redhead. Other painters notable for their redheads include the Pre-Raphaelites, Edmund Leighton, Modigliani, Gustav Klimt.
In the Gothic subculture, red hair is desired, right after Black hair. The reasons are the distinctiveness of red color, its aura of drama and the contrast with black and white.
Prejudice/Discrimination towards redheads
Red hair was thought to be a mark of a beastly sexual desire and moral degeneration. A savage red-haired man is portrayed in the fable by Grimm brothers (Der Eisenhans) as the spirit of the forest of iron. Theophilus Presbyter describes how the blood of a red-haired young man is necessary to create gold from copper, in a mixture with the ashes of a basilisk.
Montague Summers, in his translation of the Malleus Maleficarum, notes that red hair and green eyes were thought to be the sign of a witch, a werewolf or a vampire during the Middle Ages;
In modern-day UK, despite being it one of the places with the highest populations of redheads, the words "ginger" or "ginga" are derogatorily used to describe red-headed people, with terms such as "gingerphobia" (fear of redheads) or "gingerism" (prejudice against redheads) used by the media. Redheads are also sometimes referred to disparagingly as "carrot tops" and "carrot heads". "Gingerism" has been compared to racism, although this is widely disputed and bodies such as the UK Commission for Racial Equality don't monitor cases of discrimination and hate crimes against redheads.; a family in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, was forced to move twice after being targeted for abuse and hate crime on account of their red hair; and in 2003, a 20 year old was stabbed in the back for "being ginger."
This prejudice has been satirised on a number of TV shows. The British comedian Catherine Tate (herself a redhead) appeared as a red haired character in a running sketch of her series The Catherine Tate Show. The sketch saw fictional character Sandra Kemp, who was forced to seek solace in a refuge for ginger people because they'd been ostracised from society. The British comedy Bo' Selecta! featured a spoof documentary which involved a caricature of red-haired "Simply Red" singer Mick Hucknall presenting a show in which celebrities (played by themselves) dyed their hair red for a day and went about daily life being insulted by people.
The pejorative use of the word "ginger", and related discrimination, was used to illustrate a point about racism and prejudice in the "Ginger Kids" episode of South Park.
Films and television programmes often portray school bullies as having red hair; for example, Scut Farkus from A Christmas Story or the O'Doyle family in the movie Billy Madison. However, children with red hair are often themselves targeted by bullies; "Somebody with ginger hair will stand out from the crowd," says anti-bullying expert Louise Burfitt-Dons.
Religious and mythological traditions
Red hair in Islam is the most preferred colour for hair. It is reported that the Prophet Mohammed used to dye his hair red using Henna. Henna or Hina is a flowering plant which traditionally has been used to dye hair red. There are no side effects to this. Al-Bukhari related in his Sahih, from ‘Uthman b. ‘Abd-Allah b. Mawhab: We went to Umm Salma, and she brought out for us some of the hair of the Messenger of Allah, and lo, it was dyed with henna and indigo.” (Bukhari, Libas, 66) And in the four sunan, from the Prophet, it's related that he said, ‘The best you can use for changing the color of white hair are henna and katam.’ (Tirmidhi, Libas, 20). In the two books of the Sahih, from Anas, it's quoted that Abu Bakr used hair dye of both henna and katam. (Muslim, Fada’il, 100)” (Ibn Qayyim; 259) (Side note here. What is Katam? It is a plant from Yemen which produces a reddish-black dye). The practice of dying hair Red among Muslims is High. They dye their hair red using Henna at least once in six months especially during Festivals. This is for Medical reasons also.
According to Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, the name of the Biblical character Adam, the first man of the human race, is identical to the Hebrew word for "red" or "ruddy." (However, 'red' is spelled differently in Hebrew than 'Adam', which is literally the word for 'person'. 'Person' and 'Adam' are spelled and pronounced the same, indicating a common origin.) Some speculate that Adam's name perhaps indicates his skin tone or hair color. Esau's entire body is supposed to have been covered with red hair. King David is also known for having red hair, based on the description of his physical appearance as "admoni", the Biblical Hebrew word normally interpreted to mean 'ruddy' and/or 'red-haired' (1 Samuel 16-17).
Early artistic representations of Mary Magdalene usually depict her as having long flowing red hair, although a description of her hair color was never mentioned in the Bible, and it's possible the color is an effect caused by pigment degradation in the ancient paint. This tradition is used as a plot device in the book and movie The Da Vinci Code. Thor, of Norse mythology, was generally portrayed as having red hair.
Ancient Egyptians associated both red-haired humans and red-colored animals with the god Set, considering them to be favored by the powerful and temperamental deity. Several Pharaohs associated with Set are described as being redheaded, including Rameses the Great.
There is a tradition amongst astrologers that the planet Mars ("the red planet") is more likely to be rising above the eastern horizon (on or near the astrological Ascendant, which supposedly influences a person's appearance) at the time of the birth of a red haired person than for the population in general.
The name of the ancient kingdom of Rus may have been derived from the local word for red hair. The name of Russia was subsequently adopted from the same root. See Etymology of Rus and derivatives (third bullet under Etymology) and Russia.
Achilles, the central character of Homer's Iliad, is described as having red hair, possibly contributing to the original myths of temperament.
Modern fiction
The Sherlock Holmes story "The Red-Headed League" (1891) was a favourite of its author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and included a sub-plot revolving around a pseudo-society restricted to redheads. The 1840 comic play Der Talisman by Johann Nestroy is about prejudice against redheads.
In Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins, redheads are said to be children of the moon, thwarted by the sun and addicted to sex and sugar. Similarly, in The Illuminatus! Trilogy, green-eyed redheads are said to be the favorite cohorts of The Devil.
In the Harry Potter series, members of the Weasley family all have red hair, as did Lily Potter, Harry Potter's late mother, and Albus Dumbledore (before his hair went white with age). J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, has stated that she's fond of redheads, despite the prejudice she observes they experience in the UK.
In David Lynch's 1984 movie production of Dune (based on the Frank Herbert novel Dune), the Harkonnens are depicted as having bright red hair.
The hero of Time Enough For Love, by Robert A. Heinlein, observes that mutant humans with exceptional longevity tend to have "the mark of Gilgamesh", for example red hair.
Red hair is the mark of the magic-using aristocracy in the Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Red Hair'.
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