Ridiculous comments about red hair

Teenage DS has curly flaming red hair down to his waist, and never had any negative comments about it. Everyone loves it, including me - it is gorgeous!

His father used to have the same, however suffered vile bullying for it. Times have changed a lot, at least where we are.

I love red hair!

There are somethings that it’s fair game to make rude comments on which can impact a person’s life unfortunately red hair is one of them. Another example would be something like height.

DD came home from school really upset a few years ago because she didn't have a soul apparently.

She's been bullied a bit for her gorgeous red hair but said people are worst to the red haired boys. It's horrid.

I have red hair and my son is ginger and honestly - the conversations I’ve had over the years about his hair are unreal. Pre-7, he had a monstrous ego because everyone stopped to comment on his hair. Everyone. He had copper ringlets until he was 6 and I couldn’t walk 3 steps in the supermarket without being stopped. All very well meaning but ultimately tiresome. Now he’s 15 and not cute (to anyone other than me) - and people just talk about him like he’s not there. They catch sight of him and start talking about gingers.

Absolutely ridiculous.

He has never been bullied for being ginger but does get insults shouted at him eg at football matches. He’s well used to being called a ginger c*. It infuriates me.

No, no, that's not right at all.

You want to say 'he can dye his hair but you'll still be a total cunt'. 😆

(Fans self)

Also, it didn’t do Robert Redford any harm…. ❤️

Redhead Tim Minchin does a great song about this issue:

I'm a proud Mum of a redheaded son. He started off a striking bright orange, but now it's darkened to a beautiful auburn colour.

He loves the fact it's rare.

YANBU. You always get weirdos saying rude stuff on public transport, it's par for the course alas.

FWIW, the handsomest man I ever met had red hair (well, strawberry blond). Women throwing themselves at him all over the place and I doubt he was bullied in school.

@Phonedown Your ex's sister sounds vile. What a disgusting thing to say. I assume you don't need to have anything to do with her now.

The comments have been really eye opening. I truly didn't know that people with red hair were so rudely treated. I do remember some people teasing others over their red hair in primary school in the 80s. No idea it was as bad as some personal examples shared and in 2023 as well! Terrible.

My beautiful eldest daughter has inherited her Dad's lovely red hair and she has never been bullied for her appearance.
Her dad hates his red hair (despite him being a ringer for Joshua Homme) because he was bullied as a kid.
I'm blonde and got bullied loads because of my hair, yet I yearned for red hair and have even dyed my hair red.
Your beautiful little one will have a happy life and will be the envy of some others, trust me

I have red hair.
I really, really dislike the word 'ginger' for it as it was used in school and beyond as a pejorative term. I think many will feel the same.
It's not at all the same as racism, and it's still not ok to belittle someone, let alone a child, for a colouring.
I have been fetishised, bullied, stroked without consent, stoned once, (by teenage bitches. I was 33), catcalled, singled out and stereotyped for it my whole life. I would have been a different person if I hadn't been a redhead and had those experiences because of how I look.
It is or can be awkward colouring, and that's ok to voice. My eyelashes and eyebrows are invisible without dye and that kind of thing looks odd and sleepy and it really bothered me in childhood. Then I spent teenage years fighting with my mother about mascara.
I think I was aware of my appearance earlier than other children because it was so often commented upon. It's one of my earliest memories.
That said, I would not be without it. It's a formative part of my life. It helped that I am much better looking than average even if I say it myself. However I mostly think redheads learn hard but early who the dickheads are and get themselves better friends.

I never had more than the occasional rude comment but was brought up in Wales and there were three redheads in my class. However my hair is still naturally red at 69, so who is laughing now!

In the west coast of Scotland where sectarianism is still rife, having red hair can be a problem. I come from a very ginger family. My older sister got beaten regularly by bullies at school for being ginger and my little brother was jumped and viciously beaten whilst waiting for a train when he was a young teenager for having the audacity to exist with red hair.

Social and interpersonal discrimination still absolutely exists for people with ginger hair and with Irish ancestry. The more structural and institutional racism that people of colour experience is not the same. It doesn't mean that on a personal level the impact of discrimination can not be devastating.

Op - I have heard literally everything there is to say about red hair. My ex's sister told me she would have an abortion if she knew she was having a ginger child. She also told me she didn't eat orange food whilst she was pregnant just in case- so that tells you the level of her intellect. Please don't let other people's waffle affect you or your beautiful child.

This is a discussion I had with sixth form students this week. Apparently, girls ‘get away with it’. I’m ginger (female) and have 2 redheads in my form, one boy. He is not bullied, according to him.

Ugh.. I have two lovely little gingers. One time a lady in a shop said about my son 'oh dear, hopefully it'll change colour as he gets older' 🙄🙄

It's not about whether you think ginger hair is beautiful or not, its the fact that people with it are treated differently or at worst subject to abuse. I'm not ginger but my sister, my MIL and DH are. My sister has beautiful thick glossy hair and was always proud of hers, she constantly is complimented on it. On the other hand my (now almost bald) DH had fuzzy wiry hair that would grow up and out, afro style rather than down. I'll be honest, I never liked his hair. But there are many types of hair, colours or textures that I don't like. Everyone has preferences but they would never comment, especially when types of hair are so often connected with race and those comments could rightly or wrongly be construed as a racist slur. But the difference is because he was ginger he was bullied and teased constantly over it. He often makes the point that on the media it's the only thing remaining that it's ok to poke fun at, comedians on panel shows often joke about it, for example. 'Gingerism' or whatever you want to call it is a real thing, it is the subject of very real prejudice for many. I think we need to call this out each and every time, just as we need to call out other prejudices.

I know what you mean. But commenting on skin colour isn't always racist or aimed at "people of colour" E g. "wow your face is so red!" ( rosacea), " why are you so pale, you look unwell" ( to a pale white person) etc

That's really sad op. Your child will experience some negative comments, that's life.

Try some Medieval studies, maybe the Inquisition would be a good place for references - or History of Art and some literature, such as Dickens or Shakespeare (Fagin and Shylock).

You'll find red hair is used as an identifier of Jewishness in the context of racism and abuse.

Extensions, gotta be. I'll keep telling myself that. Beeyatch.

With hair that gorgeous hers and yours, I think I would too!

In fact I'd be bloody smugly insufferable to everyone.

(Btw my fave singer is not Mick Hucknall, a man who really ought to learn to grow old gracefully. Garish dyed red hair framing a wrinkled face is so not a good look.)

Yes it is.

Negative comments about skin or hair colour/type/length/weight are just as offensive as each other

It's not like we have any control over how we're born

Negative remarks about how we were born, what we're born with and how we or our parents 'cope' are an offensive attack on us

All the many little wisecracks have a cumulative effect on our perception of ourselves and can trigger body dysmorphia.

She looks lovely but I feel like she has made having her hair into her whole personality 😂