AIBU to not be devastated that my DS has red hair

[EvenFlo]

I have a beautiful, healthy 7 week old son who is smiley and basically gorgeous (biased of course).

But shock horror he has a mass of red hair!!

The response I am getting to this from some people is utterly ridiculous - 'oh don't worry it will change', 'oh I am sure it will go blonde', 'oh he is lovely regardless'. This is usually accompanied by slightly sympathetic head tilts.

WTAF - he has hair that might be red (or dare I say ginger) - he doesn't have a bloody life threatening illness or contagious disease. It's just hair!

Does anyone have any suggestions for suitably cutting responses to these comments. It maybe I have it wrong - maybe having red hair is far more terrible than I am realising.

Rant over.

I am entranced by red-headed babies. In my book it's like winning a very big prize. Red hair is absolutely beautiful. Be proud

This, though I'd extend it out to being entranced by most redheads. Gorgeous.

I was stunned to give birth to a blonde just over 18 years ago. I wondered where she had come from.

8 years ago, I had my first ginger baby, then a second a year later.

DD1, however, has more than redeemed herself, she has just got engaged to and is planning her wedding to her ginger haired fiance.

I am guaranteed ginger grandchildren though hopefully not too soon.

Congratulations to your DD1 MammaTJ how lovely.

Lovely to see all the love for gingers here, i always tend to assume those who mock red hair are generally rude/racist and obnoxious by default.

Who the feck thinks like that? My mind boggles.

Oh, I bet he's gorgeous. REDHEADS ARE BEAUTIFUL AND PRECIOUS, Y'ALL.

Just tell them: "Three words. Michael. Fucking. Fassbender."

Fassbender - King Ginge

My DH and DD anre both redheads. I was a little disappointed when DS come out mouse brown like me! I absolutely adore ginger hair, I don't get whats wrong with it

Red hair is stunning. Two if my best friends have red hair and they are just absolutely stunning. Jealous. I comment on it all the time because it's so eye catching and they are beautiful ladies. Take the compliments and tell the wierdos to bog off.

I have three DSs.

The eldest has beautiful auburn hair. He used to attract all the old ladies on the bus when he was a toddler cooing over his beautiful hair. When he was older and they'd tell him what beautiful hair he had he'd eye roll and say "I know".

My middle DS has bright ginger hair, it is stunning and poker straight. I am so envious of his hair.

DS3 has bloody brown hair and is quite upset he doesn't have ginger hair like his brothers. He hates not looking like them. When he was born though, idiots people would say how lucky he was getting away with not being ginger. I'd smile and reply "He can always dye it when he is older"

We have always called the older two ginge as a NN, not in a nasty way but a nice way, so that if/when they would hear it in a negative way they'd not be that bothered. So far so good. Ds1 is 10 and as yet only had one incident. Soon stopped when I spoke to the child's mum.

DH is ginger, but more blonde than red. If I dare say he is ginger in front of his mam she kicks off as if it is disgusting to have a ginger child and how dare I suggest she had borne such a being. I do it all the more just to annoy her

I love deep red coloured hair it's truly stunning.

I find redheads very attractive, and loathe this ginger hating. My hair is a dark mouse with bits of grey.

A lady I work for has two red haired daughters - one is 3 and one is 5.

Their hair is BEAUTIFUL. Long, thick, tumbling auburn waves. Utterly, utterly stunning. I would kill for hair like theirs.

How rude. I don't know why people cause such a fuss over ginger hair. It's just another hair colour. Very unfair the amount of stick redheads get. I'm also not a fan of the criticism very pale skinned people get in a country obsessed with tanning. Pale skin and ginger hair are quite beautiful, as all skin and hair colours are.

I thought this relevant to the discussion and quite interesting.

A lot of people really don't like ginger hair and find it very unattractive. It is very rude for them to project these thoughts at you and your baby though. I think you should point this out to them as they are being entirely unfair and nasty.

"It could be worse.... he could be a tactless knob jockey."
Srsly, thrust him towards them, beaming, saying "Look at my gorgeous GINGER heart-throb!" X

My dh has red hair (although it's faded significantly since he was a teenager) and with a touch of red in some of my family I (and my parents) really hoped one of our dc would be red. Sadly not, although ds2 may be strawberry blonde...

However we got SO many comments about how lucky we were that they aren't ginger, I hated it especially when pregnant. I told off a friend who said "I bet you are hoping it won't be ginger" as I love my DH and would like my children to look like him!

Unfortunately my MIL is very anti-ginger and told my family at a dinner about how when DH was born the first thing she asked was "is he ginger" as she didn't want him to be. He was pretty pissed off about this and still refers to it. Every time she sees the kids she talks about how ginger their hair is (I wish it was) but in a very negative way. Not much I can say to her though without upsetting everyone but if it continues when they are a bit older and understand we'll have to do something.

what utter bollocks!! hair is hair. any colour is bloody fantastic.

also let me add op, kids dye their hair!! my dss and dds have been most colours in their teens and so was I.

total non issue but for people to comment negatively in a baby is horrible.

we all at least wait to get to the car and say ' God it looks just like Churchill'

Thing is it is such a shock when people make comments like 'don't worry it'll fade as she gets older', 'such a shame but she can dye it I suppose' that you stand there stunned. It is only later you wish you'd have said 'did you mean to be so rude?'

dd2 is almost 3 now and we get more compliments than anything else. She is gorgeous!

My daughter has beautiful red hair. When she was younger people used to comment on what a beautiful colour it was and that people paid money to have that shade of red. She's 16 now and still red...we tease her and call her "Ginge" as do her closest friends, but anyone else gets short shrift.

I would absolutely hate it if she changed her hair colour,but I don't think she ever will because she knows it kind of defines who she is, makes her recognisable.

Hate people who are ginger/red haters!

I'm 48 and when I was growing up red hair was something that everyone wanted. My best friend had very dark auburn hair and I was so envious.

My first proper boyfriend had hair like this i30.tinypic.com/21kw0hi.jpg and I still have quite a thing for ginger men.

Red/ginger hair can be gorgeous, as can blonde, brunette or black hair. It isn't everybody's preferred colour, which is of course fine. It's not exactly strange to have different tastes.
Sometimes it's the very pale skin tone/pale eyelashes associated with red hair that puts people off. Some people like tanned, olive, or black skin.
Of course it is very rude to slag off ginger hair. And therefore it is equally rude to slag off 'boring' brown, or blonde, wouldn't you think?

Bowing down at the feet of Tim Minchin. I am not worthy.

My mum always wanted a red haired child and was v disappointed she didn't get one!

What about a quietly said 'Paaardon?'

Surely that would make your point?

Your baby sounds beautiful.