That colleague made comment about ginger babies

My friend and her DH are both ginger and so their 3 kids have gorgeous red hair. She is quite self deprecating but in a jokey way

You realise that saying you find dark blonde hair 'disappointing' on a child is no different from saying you'd find ginger hair 'disappointing' on a child, don't you?

It's weird. Ages ago I pointed out to DH a site about 'ginger people have no soul'. Seems ginger hating is a thing. DH didn't get it, he thinks red heads are attractive.

Really stupid comment. I'd love to have red/ginger hair; the best I can do is red highlights where my greys are because red dye won't take on my dark hair.

She was probably just relieved because she thinks ginger people are more likely to be singled out for abuse, especially at school. Certainly that used to be the case.

YANBU, it's a horrible thing to say.

It would be horrible regardless of what characteristic she'd mentioned, in fact. If she'd said it would have been horrible to have a blonde baby or a baby with curly hair or something, that would also be a crass and unpleasant. I've never really understood why people feel it's OK to talk like that about ginger hair when they woudn't do it about any other feature.

There is a child in DS2s class who has the brightest orange hair and it's all thick and curly and bouncy. Exactly like Dennis in Hotel Transylvania. I commented to his mum how glorious his hair is and she beamed and said actually she always got lots of positive and admiring comments. Which was nice to hear. So hopefully negative comments will die eventually. Or hopefully people will realise how stupid they sound when they make them.

I'm boring mousy brown. I'd love to be ginger.

My DD was born with red hair. She's now auburn. She was never teased. I don't understand why red/ginger hair is considered fair game for teasing. We were lucky...when DD was small Brave came out and DD loved Merida to bits. Merida has red hair and did brave things.

Of course yanbu. Karate chop her on the windpipe and blame pregnancy hormones.

Get used to it, and have that perfect response to the people who will openly say to you 'What a shame she/he has ginger hair',
'Like me, you mean?'

I have a gorgeous ginger nine month old (I'm blonde and Dad is sandy brown so she might be in for a surprise!) and it's so lovely. She seems to inspire ginger solidarity in red haired people who coo over her and she gets lots of attention generally/people remember her among other babies. I really hope it doesn't change as she grows older.

It's orange these days anyway not ginger apparently 😂

@penguinbiscuits Eh? How am I like the colleague? I'm not ashamed that my son is blonde. He's utterly adorable. I was just sad the colour he was born with faded away. I've not said his current hair colour is 'horrible' or 'the worst' or anything like that.

When my daughter was giving birth the midwife told her she could see the baby’s head. The midwife said most women ask at that point “it’s not ginger is it?”. It’s interesting why it’s hated so much

I’m ginger and have a ginger 18 month old. Thankfully we’ve not had any negative comments yet. It’s definitely one of the last forms of acceptable bullying - so insensitive if anyone in the room has had fertility issues too. I’d of replied to say something like as long as she grows up to be kind to others, her hair colour is irrelevant.

My son has ginger hair. It is gorgeous. When he was a baby, someone would stop and comment how lovely it was every time we left the house, to the point I was worried my other child would feel left out! He's school age now and we get it less, but people still comment positively. Thankfully no negative comments so far. I also love that it makes him easier to spot in a crowd at school. The school put photos of them in a group on the app and I can always find the back of his head quickly!

Haha, I generally have zero interest in babies, but ginger babies attract me like a moth to a flame, I think they're gorgeous. I always tell the mum, if I get the chance, how stunning their baby's hair is. I don't intend to have any children, but if I did they would be very likely to have red hair. Everyone in my family on both sides is either a blond(e) or a redhead.
(I can never believe that derogatory comments about red hair is anything but jealousy)

Ginger hair is lovely. I spent hundreds in my 20s dying mine, alas now I'm old and skint I'm back to my natural mousey blonde.

This has reminded me though that I once worked with someone who insisted that the naturally ginger bloke at work smelt of piss and twiglets because all gingers do. He was exactly the sort of twat that you would imagine he is from that statement.

I pay an absolute fortune to get my hair a decent approximation of ginger as a boring natural brunette whereas my daughter has the most beautiful red hair naturally. I would LOVE to be mistaken for a natural red head.

The derogatory comments stem from the historical anti-Irish or anti-Celtic mentality.

Just be satisfied that she's obviously a moron to make a comment like that.

I can't speak for everywhere but we live in South London and dd17 has never had any issues. Young people seem to be more tolerant these days than a lot of adults were

It IS racist. The reason British people find it ‘acceptable’ to mock ginger hair is because it’s associated with being Irish.

It harks back to a horrible time when it was normal in Britain to discriminate against Irish people. It’s disgusting and I call it out when I can because I think people often doesn’t realise that their silly ‘anything but a ginger!’ comments are rooted in racism.

Ime ginger babies get way more attention!! Sadly, very sadly my teen dd dyes hers black. Not because it's ginger but she had a Goth phase!! Roots too much to handle she says!

Tell her she's showing her age. The younger generation don't seem to be nasty about red hair and are more tolerant generally. Dd 17 has never had any issues. I've only heard comments from adults about it. Always adults who aren't very bright.

You say the colleague was rude but then you add that you were 'disappointed your kid is blonde'.....

I don't think you're very different from the colleague.

What a prat she is. I've red hair as has my my daughter. Son is more of a strawberry blonde but we are all very curly. Teasing 'gingers' is still very much a thing unfortunately but I think more and more people admire the colour now. As for high pain threshold I can agree with that. My daughter is so stoical in the face of pain that she didn't even cry with a broken bone!