I'm a redhead- ask me anything.

[Blackbirdblue30]

Just joining in :)

Red hair, brown eyes here. I'm Irish so red hair is fairly common here, but almost always accompanied by blue eyes. I have dark eyes, dark eye eyebrows and lashes, not very freckly, and always get comments on what an unusual combination it is!

I've always loved being a redhead and am devastated by the greys slowly becoming more dominant

No problems with GA here but have had issues a few times at dentists when multiple injections have failed to numb my mouth....
Also PPH post-birth. Sorry to be derailing your AMA OP!

I love red hair think it is stunning.

DD3 has auburn hair and when the sun hits it it glows. I think she cannot be true ginger red as I noticed she’s got a bit of a light tan despite the factor 50. She also has dark very long eyelashes.

Red hair and blue eyes here, brown eyelashes and brows aswell. DD is redhead with browny greeny eyes. I’m 41 and when I compare my hair to hers I can see I’m fading and loosing the red abit

To the eye lash tinters

Do you do it yourself? Any tips?

I've been tinting my eyelashes for years.

There was a recent change to the eyelash kits to silver nitrate, but I use the 'old style' kits which are marketed for eyebrows.

It takes patience, trial and error, close proximity to a water source and a steady hand.

There is a tint and lift procedure as well - salon process only.

@plantlover I go to the salon every six weeks.

I don’t wear mascara FWIW (can’t be arsed).

I’ve sometimes been tempted to try eyelash extensions but my free time/disposable income don’t really stretch to it.

Red hair brown eyes here, in answer to someone up thread I've also been told my an old bf who had previously been married to a redhead that we smell different. He assured me it was bad, just different.

I have a low pain threshold am prone to fainting and not good in the heat. I used to hate my hair colour, but I love it now.

Grr wasn't bad!

Bright green eyes here

l'm a redhead too (well.... strawberry blonde now going pepper and salty) and l've never had a problem with anaesthetic. My mother did, but she was dark haired.
l do bruise like a peach, though. l had surgery a few years ago and the surgeon couldn't believe the post-surgery photos l took for him. He said he'd never had a patient bruise like that in 20 years as a surgeon.
l had another doctor greet me with "oh, l bet you're a bleeder!" when he saw me. Which l am. When l had my hip surgery two years ago, l had to have two bags of saline and two of blood afterwards, which apparently isn't 'usual'.
However, l do have a very high pain threshold! Swings and roundabouts.

Awww I’m a redhead. Hi everyone!

I’ve got brown eyes, a very yellow based skin, squillions of freckles and I also get a bit of a “glow” in the sun. Not lovely porcelain red head skin at all!

I can (secretly) admit I was a bit disappointed not to have a red-haired baby....although my kids are mixed race so I knew it wasn’t possible. Still a bit sad though. What’s worse is than none of my numerous nieces and nephews are either, and they don’t have any excuse. My kids are surprisingly light skinned though (much more than other mixed-race members of our family) and all have copper glints in their black hair in the sun. So my genes are obviously incredibly strong and hopefully I will have red-haired grandkids if they pick their partners carefully.

Sorry for delay, I've been away :)
I have dark grey eyes. My eyelashes etc are pale blonde and I've coloured them since I was 14, I used to use eyelure but the formula has changed and it's shit now so on the hunt for a new one. If I don't colour them I look like a potato. Eyebrows are important!

Yes re painkillers! I haven't had to have an operation, however the standard dose of anaesthetic at the dentist didn't work for me so he now has to freeze my face from cheekbone to neck if I need a treatment. Ordinary painkillers don't work for me either it's like swallowing a smartie.

Yes, I got a lot of teasing. Where I come from, 'ginger' was used as a term of abuse and I can't stand the word to this day. The abuse can be really horrible. Only last summer, teenage girls threw a stone at me (I wouldn't buy them cigarettes) and shouted 'ginger bitch'. It's the first thing people do if they want to have a pop, shout 'ginger'.
I also had a bit of fetishising too. From smaller stuff like being on holiday as a child and local children had never seen my hair colour before and came to touch, a parent's friend who kept patting it, old ladies and every primary school teacher commenting on it too, up to adulthood when some guy wondered aloud about what redheads are like in bed. We aren't a different species!

I haven't heard that we smell different but I have heard that we taste different...

If my hair needs a bit of richness I use Clairol Natural warm Auburn, but it washes out very quickly. My hair doesn't take dye very well tbh. I tried the henna from Lush a few years ago but it was far too bright and looked very artificial.

My pain threshold is pretty high too but I feel heat and cold more intensely than other people.

I'm the only redhead in my family, a genetic anomaly. :)

If I had a kid I wouldn't mind if it was a redhead but I think it's a lot easier if you're a girl, re the no eyebrows and eyelashes stuff. I was also one of the most freckled children Ive ever seen and was 25 before they began to fade properly. I think I would try to prevent that or at least make it not so intense if I had a redhead child.

This is the most shallow question ever, but do you redheads like your hair?
I've always felt awfully plain with my brown eyes/brown hair combination. Because of This, I always thought redheads/blondes were quite lucky. Imagine my surprise when I joined mumsnet and saw people moaning about it!

I like it now but I hated it as a child. Honestly, I think the awkward colouring was what I disliked more than the actual hair colour itself. Invisible eyelashes and eyebrows make your face look weird, ditto lots of blotchy freckles. Red hair can be bushy and frizzy too.
Make up and some hair products did wonders.

Also- we don't age the same! I'm 34 and look about 28. The other red head women I know all look 5-10 years younger than they are too. Revealing my age to new people always gets statements of surprise.

I look young too! Regularly get IDed buying wine. I’m 38.....

I love my hair. Love it love it love it

Blackbirdblue30 Yes!! to everything you've said! l suffer with extremes in temperature. l can't bear this heat just now, but l hate the cold too.
My parents both had dark hair (my dad's was black!) but my maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother were both redheads. l'm the only grandchild who has red hair though! lt was very coppery when l was in my teens, but then it turned strawberry blonde-ish. lt's looking more blonde these days now with the silver threads though.
And the age thing - l'm 60 this September and people don't believe my age. To be fair, l've always looked after my skin, but l do agree with you. l have no wrinkles besides a few round my eyes, which are laugh lines, so l don't mind at all.

I've never needed a general anaesthetic or serious pain relief, thankfully. I bruise incredibly easily, though and always have at least a couple of mystery bruises on my legs.

My eyelashes and eyebrows are dark brown, so I've never had to tint them. I wear SPF30-50 every day of the year and avoid the sun because I hate it, but I don't seem to burn as easily as paler redheads; however, my face and arms are permanently covered in freckles upon freckles.

I used to get mercilessly picked on about the hair at school: ginger is definitely a pejorative round my way, but it was usually said with both "g"s hard, like at the beginning of the word guitar or end of king. I hate the sound of it said that way; you can put a lot of scorn and aggression into it!

So interesting that you think redheads might age differently, Blackbirdblue30. People regularly thought I was 10 or 12 years younger than I was until recently. I think I've suddenly caught up a bit in the last year, though (38 now). I've heard that we don't go grey but I am, unfortunately. I won't be dyeing it, though: I don't want to look like someone who wants to pretend to be a redhead when I actually am one!

Sorry for treating your AMA like a support group!

My parents both had jet black hair and hazel eyes, and I have one brother with blond hair and one with dark brown. The dark-haired one has a slightly gingery beard and a single red hair springing up from the crown of his head that I used to find hilarious when I was a kid.

Yes @CatOwned - love it! Never had a problem, even as a child. I'm very dark red with dark brown eyes however, not typical "ginger" with pale skin, freckles etc (not that I don't like that colour either - it's beautiful!) and have only received compliments. I feel being a redhead is a very strong part of my overall identity.....wouldn't change it for a thing!

Auburn DS always gets compliments on his hair. But like others on the thread -he is a bleeder - terrible nosebleeds !

PersisFord I used to work with a Pakistani who's neice, brothers, uncles and assorted cousins had red hair ( not mixed race). I've also seen mixed race Carribbean / Caucasian people with red hair, so it is possible!

Weedsnseeds ooooh good!!