to not understand why people are so negative about red hair

[memoo]

As my DD's hair grows it looks like she is going to be a red head.

She is only 11 months old and already we have had quite a few negative comments the latest being "at least she will be able to dye it when she gets older"

I just don't get it! why is having red hair looked upon as a bad thing? its just a hair colour FFS. And why do so many people think its ok to make jokes about redheads?

If a person makes an derogatory comment about a persons skin colour there is uproar but red heads seem to just be fair game

Red hair is also considered exotic and attractive in Holland (where my DH is from). MIL has dyed her hair 'ginger' from her usual mousey colour. I have jet black hair and love red heads! It just seems to be the brits who have this prejudice!

YANBU I think those people are just being plain rude!

DH and I are both blonde, although his is darker than mine and his beard is mostly gingery! DD (14 months) has beautiful strawberry blonde hair--some days it is more blonde, and other days more gingery. I adore her hair and love how interesting the amount of shades are given how small she is and how fine her hair is, but my mum and assorted idiots (sorry mum!) always remark on "what a shame it is about the ginger".

I get very cross about it--they may think its hilarious now while shes too tiny to take it in, but I'd hate for her to develop a complex about her hair later in life. It may go blonder or it may go gingery. Either way she'll be beautiful: I just hope I can get that through to her between all the "jokes".

IMO

they are saying that children with red hair will get bullied, they are just putting it in a very poor way.

I'd really like someone who's made derogatory comments to come onto this thread and explain because I don't get it either

Apart from anything else, when the sun shines through red hair it is one of life's beautiful things.

I had bright coppery red hair as a baby, and it's darkened to brown as an adult. So I take every opportunity possible to dye coppery tones back into it

People who are negative towards redheads are nutters.

Love it. Yanbu. Sxotland, Ireland and USA all love it - and they're right to!!!

If someone says that comment about at least she can dye it - just say 'yeah, some people are ugly/short/fat (whatever could innocently apply to the person saying it) and can't do much about it'

My DS (13) has the most beautiful shade of red hair plus green eyes and freckles. He has never been bullied and has no problems attracting girls (v v handsome boy, think Mac in Green Room). My DD (15) is a brown eyed brunette and is sick that her brother got, I quote "the good genes".

i like red hair. my super-blond DCs have a pleasing strawberry tint to their hair that i hope will deepen.

I have red hair ok disliked it at school but as grew older quite happy to stand out ,

atm its right down my back , very thick and not a grey hair in sight where most my firends with dark hair now have to dye their hair.

Oh and amount of people that complement me on teh colour of it and wish theirs from ab ottle could be same shade

There was a teenage girl in the hairdressers last week and she had long beautiful wavy red hair. Her mum was making her get it cut short

They were having a heated argument discussion about it. I hope she won, it was so lovely.

I once read this on another forum posted by a red-head:

At public school, everyone's got a nick-name, not many of the chaps had as many as I did. Some of them were alright, some were downright filthy, but the one that always returned was 'thick fucking ginge twat'. To make matters worse, I was the only ginger in the family, and the lads never tired of the old 'I bet the milkman's ginger' jokes. Oh, how I laughed.

When I was almost 13, my mum died in a car crash. My dad was never very good with the emotional stuff, and anyway, he and my mum had been living apart for a while before it happened. Gran was great, but being the only red-head at the funeral only made it clearer to me that I must have been conceived outside wedlock.

I fucked my A Levels and didn't really know what to do, so I joined the army. Thought I might see a bit of the world and get to shoot someone - might make me feel better. I used to get pissed quite a bit and go clubbing but girls didn't really feel comfortable around me.

I'd do anything to join in, once there was a fancy dress party - mainly army guys - so I thought I'd make myself the butt of all the jokes and go as a nazi. That went down like the proverbial lead balloon.

God knows what I'm going to do with the rest of my life now. My brother's going into the family business, but he's made it plain that there's not much room for me.

Perhaps I have been exposed to an unusual environment but, I honestly have NEVER heard people REALLY criticizing red hair (I agree with an earlier poster that people sometimes tease people over attributes that are actually advantages - I'm blonde and have always got mixed reviews too, to the point where I actually started using 'chestnut brown' henna)

Red hair is absolutely lovely - crikey you only have to look at it to see that it is truly beautiful. No-one can REALLY not notice this can they? Sometimes jealousy can get the better of people I think.

My youngest looked like he might be red when he was young he had the most beautiful strawberry blond hair - but its sort of gone reddish brown now, I've suggested highlights but so far he's not interested. I will keep trying.

I think its because small minded people react in a small minded way to anything that is unusual, it's sad really. I have reddy brown hair myself (was strawberry blonde as a child) and typical pale skin/freckles and I love it. It was never really red enough for any teasing at school but I remember getting an awful lot of attention on holiday in Spain (but in an admiring way) I suppose there they see 'different' as a positive thing!

There is a definitely a weird ginger bashing culture in Britain. Two of my red headed friends who were dating and were on a night out together had a total stranger come up to them and say "don't ever breed" Incredibly rude and intrusive but I bet they thought they were being funny.

I think you may have a point Saladbomb, People are mostly that sort of light brown without any highlights that gets called 'mousey' in this country; so perhaps that's why people outside the mainstream like blondes and redheads come in for so much teasing. I'd never really thought about it as 'fear of the unknown' before, could still be jealousy though.

I don't get the joke Acekicker??

Nice, Acekicker.

By the way "girls have never felt comfortable" around Harry??

He's beating them off with a shitty stick FFS

My son has wonderful golden red hair it is deep and bright very similar to the colour that Titian uses in many of his paintings.

We have always told him how beautiful it is, because we feared he might be teased. He is now very boastful about it and often espouses how fortunate he is to have it! No one has ever been unkind, on the contrary when he was a pre schooler it was a commonplace occurrence for people to say how astonishing and unusual it was.

He is still quite little though, so we hope that things will not change as he gets further up the school system.

Both my DDs are gorgeous red heads.

The best comment came from a colleague telling me I was lucky I had girls as red hair looks fine on girls but not attractive on boys.
Errr.....they get their colouring from their Dad!!!

I think i may have a little ginger nut in DS after 1 brunette and 2 blondes i have the full set now.
I have visions of the little boy in the finger of fudge commercials, remember them ?

Now you mention it dott my youngest was always being complimented when he was a baby/toddler. People were always telling him and me how lovely he looked - when we went out to the shops and markets stallholders would constantly give him things, like apples, grapes and stickers and smile and chat to him all the time. I used to worry that he'd get the idea that all he had to do was smile his way through life.

I think it's ridiculous. I'm naturally mousy blonde but with pale skin and freckles so I dye my hair red because it looks better. I love red hair and don't understand prejudices about it at all. DS1 is strawberry blonde.

Nowt wrong with that alicatte a smile goes a long way :o

BTW I didn't exactly meant its 'fear' of difference. I just meant that some people revel in difference and being different and some people would rather blend in and be 'normal'. The negative comments in the OP say far more about the person commenting don't they? Personally my retort would have been "well life would be very boring if we were all the same" I have been picked on throughout my life mainly for the things that I am proudest off as an adult, I can't think of anything worse than being 'normal/average/boring' But some people fear standing out from the crowd more than anything else.

My son has the most amazing hair colour. Each strand is either blonde, or light brown or bright orange (no other way to describe it - the hairs are orange!). The overall effect is the most beautiful foxy glowing hue. His hair is browny-reddy-gold. It's gorgeous.

When he was born people commented on his 'red' hair because I am blonde and DH is dark brown, but we always gushed about how beautiful it was... so people soon shut up.

Youngest son is a gorgeous ginge but I would say that :) he's developed a sharp sense of humour to cope with the flack he gets at school.

For red heads everywhere:

Ragged yes its a British thing and almost definately an anti-celtic thing

I remember the first time I visited Dublin and realised i wasn't in a minority, being a freckly redhead :):):)