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Original poster

To think people are so mean about ginger hair!

135 replies

Mopmum35 · 30/09/2019 15:05

So why are people so mean and disrespectful of people with ginger hair?

It really upsets me.
What is wrong with ginger hair?
The amount of people that take the piss is shocking! I'm not ginger but it still gets on my wick. It's sad. Does anyone agree?

OP posts:
WhatAGreatDay · 30/09/2019 16:19

It's a weird British thing and I've always assumed that it's based on a hatred of Irish/Scottish people.

I once went to a stand up comedy show in Edinburgh and the English comedian went on and on about "gingers". The American I was with had no idea what she (the comedian) was talking about and guessed that "gingers" was a nickname for people who get angry easily. She was shocked when I told her afterwards that it was people with red hair.

Straycatstrut · 30/09/2019 16:20

I haven't heard bad comments about ginger hair since I was at school (15 years ago!) it's sad if it still happens

I'm noticing a LOT more red headed & freckly models, adult & kids and I really think they stand out as really stunning.

I've always fancied ginger guys! (first crush was freckly ginger bad boy!)

OwlsMedicine · 30/09/2019 16:22

My ds has absolutely wonderful red hair. I do worry about horrible people bullying him about it as he grows up but in the high schools I used to teach in, the kids didn't seem to make such an issue about it (compared to how I saw red haired people getting treated when i was a teen) I think the likes of Ed sheeran and Ron weasely etc have helped people be less mean about red heads.

Ionacat · 30/09/2019 16:25

I’m a red head and whilst I now love my hair colour and started to from my late teens, I did get bullied in primary and early secondary. My youngest is a redhead and I really hope she doesn’t face it but she is already quite feisty...... It’s the ginger pubes but that winds me up - when is that ever acceptable?

Katex888 · 30/09/2019 16:26

I find red heads so beautiful, and people will always bully others if there’s even a speck of difference. Be ginger and proud

User24689 · 30/09/2019 16:30

I'm 35 and was bullied in primary school for my strawberry blonde (not even properly ginger) hair. Older boys in secondary school used to regularly ask what colour my pubes were. Happened on my first week in Y7.

When I was a student some fully grown drunk men rounded on me when I walked past a Wetherspoons in Sheffield and told me I was a "fucking disgusting ginger dog". To be honest I was not an unattractive teenager at all and as an adult get lots of compliments on my hair though it has darkened and often when I recount this I get shocked responses as I am "not ginger" - like that is some sort of reassurance!! Imagine comforting someone who has experienced racist abuse with "it's okay, you aren't really black".

I was really glad both my children turned out blonde though I'm ashamed to say that. Only because J couldn't bear for them to go through the same!

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 30/09/2019 16:32

I used to get teased mercilessly for being ginger, rude remarks and comments about pubic hair all the time (it is still ginger, unlike my head hair which is dull and grey)

My lovely ginger ds1 hasn’t had it as bad at all. He’s nearly 17 so hopefully past the worst.

User24689 · 30/09/2019 16:33

Just going to add I've spent a lot of time in Australia and it's a thing there too. Maybe even worse.

NotTonightJosepheen · 30/09/2019 16:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HappyDinosaur · 30/09/2019 16:46

I love red hair, people just say silly things sometimes, I'm not sure they really understand or mean it half the time. I get fed up with the dumb blonde comments as I'm pretty sure that being blonde does not make me stupid. I've learned just to ignore that type of comment now that I'm older, but it was hurtful when I was younger.

FreeSpiritJen · 30/09/2019 16:48

Why the feck do these morons ask what colour your pubic hair is? If it's ginger on your head, of COURSE your pubes are going to be ginger!

It's pathetic and rude and usually comes from the same arseholes who think it 'turns a woman on' when she inserts a tampon. Hmm

FWIW, even though ginger is classed as quite 'cool' now, I know some ginger people have had a rough time, and people have been very abusive to them.

Personally, I think ginger is beautiful, I mean absolutely stunning - because it's so unusual. Smile

My hair is shitty mousy. Too blonde to be brown but too brown to be blonde. I hate it and have always had it lightened.

I think ginger is waaaaay more popular and well-loved now than it used to be (pre 2000s) but some people are still rude to some ginger folk. As I said, the 'is your pubic hair ginger too' question is a joke. I would say 'nope, it's fucking black with pink stripes, you thick, ignorant cunt.'

My DH had light ginger/strawberry blonde hair growing up, and his skin is quite pale. He has had sooooooooo many comments - even now in his middle age - saying he 'needs to get a tan' that he is sick to death of it. I have started saying to people 'my husband's skin colour is fuck-all to do with you, he is perfect as he is, so do one.' I get some filthy looks but don't care. I am sick of people saying he is 'too pale.'

No he is not. Fuck off you cunt. Hmm

A few people I know (who are ginger) get similar comments, as ginger folk generally tend to have pale skin.

Gingers rock though. It's a beautiful hair colour! Smile

solidgoldbaby · 30/09/2019 16:49

I am auburn and my husband is strawberry blonde (well he was before he went bald 😂) and have two red headed sons.

I’ll be honest, if anyone makes fun of them then I’ll be hard pushed not to knock them the fuck out. Their hair is pretty cool!

solidgoldbaby · 30/09/2019 16:51

My DH had light ginger/strawberry blonde hair growing up, and his skin is quite pale. He has had sooooooooo many comments - even now in his middle age - saying he 'needs to get a tan' that he is sick to death of it. I have started saying to people 'my husband's skin colour is fuck-all to do with you, he is perfect as he is, so do one.' I get some filthy looks but don't care. I am sick of people saying he is 'too pale.'

@FreeSpiritJen you’re quite right. Can you imagine the uproar if you said someone was too brown? 😮

Loopytiles · 30/09/2019 16:51

Two friends at school were bullied over many years for this, at school and beyond, some of it was sexist too, eg horrible comments from boys/men about ginger public hair. AngrySad

2018SoFarSoGreat · 30/09/2019 16:52

I was teased mercilessly at school, many moons ago. Every single day. The pubes question was incredibly common from grown men, from early teen years. I think they thought it was perfectly acceptable then, at least it did not ever appear to shock any adults in earshot.

I prayed not to have a boy with red hair. Now I'm very sad DGS's have only a tiny glint of red in their very dark hair. Times have changed. I think.

RainbowAlicorn · 30/09/2019 16:53

My DH has ginger hair, I love it, it is such a gorgeous colour. My DD has Auburn hair.

Sashtag · 30/09/2019 16:54

Yeah I grew up in the UK and this sucked.

Constant comments from kids and teachers in school.
Very unwelcome comments from potential employers in interviews.
Excluded from various nightclubs.

I was a fairly confident and gregarious child/teen of the surface but it does really chip away at your self-worth.

Sashtag · 30/09/2019 16:58

Just to add, I'm male and, while I didn't get comments from older women until I was at least 16+, I certainly got the 'ginger pubes' comment a lot from women my own age and older regularly from about 16 onwards.

PivotPivotPivottt · 30/09/2019 17:02

When I was younger people at school were bullied for having ginger hair. I don't know if it's still as common, my 7 year old is desperate for ginger hair. She has brown hair and tanned flawless skin and constantly says she wishes she has ginger hair, pale skin, freckles and glasses! All of which were features that people were bullied for when I was at school. My niece has gorgeous long ginger hair and as far as I'm aware no one has ever commented negatively.

OneForMeToo · 30/09/2019 17:07

The boys always tended to get it worse than the girls here. Girls hair was admired and wanted but the boys where ginger pubes/ginger nut/ginger ninja and all sorts.

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 30/09/2019 17:15

I was called 'copper cunt' by some particularly nasty older boys at school. Also got the collar and cuffs question on many occasions.
Two of my three children are red headed, both have brown eyes and dark eyelashes and eyebrows, I think it's a stunning combination. My daughter hasn't had any bullying that I'm aware of, my son a little but he's not a shrinking violet type personality and he's always had plenty of mates so not a typical victim. There's quite a lot of 'banter' around his hair colour but he takes it in his stride. He has been yelled at in the street though on a few occasions by passing white van men. When he was in year 7 he came home from school very upset having been followed down the street by a van with three men in it yelling 'ginger cunt'. What morons Angry

DelphicOracle · 30/09/2019 17:15

constantly for most of my life. Areyoufree -me too - showing things like "do your collars and cuffs match" or "do you have ginger pubes"... Fucking weirdos..... Who says that shit to a child.

At the time I was mortified but as I got older I got better at retorts...

I do sadly have a bit of a temper when I get going, and although the "abuse" element has died right back - now more old ladies saying they love it - I still get Firey Redhead comments....

I love it now and wouldnt change it for the world!

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 30/09/2019 17:20

I also agree that 'gingerism' is the last acceptable 'ism' and therefore many comedians jump on the band wagon. Both Harry Enfield and Catherine Tate did sketches on 'fucking ugly ginger babies' (to paraphrase) when mine were little and, not to get too snowflakey, it's upsetting when you have a beautiful red headed baby and wonder what sort of bullying they're going to endure when society thinks it's an acceptable way to behave.

MitziK · 30/09/2019 17:26

I'm auburn. So dyed my hair dark brown from age 11 and watched other kids having 'gingy-mingy' chanted at them. Even so, I got grief as a teenager for 'looking like a pikey' thanks to the bazillions of freckles. Had 'fuck off you fenian bitch' hissed at me when walking past an Irish pub (with orange flags outside) aged 17.

DD1 got abuse at infant school. From the other mums. They were fucking cunts.

I was joyful the day one of them shuffled into the playground with their second child. The eyebrows were all you could see, as she'd dressed the poor thing in a massive woolly hat and snowsuit (in May). She went to pull the hat down further and I saw a tiny scrap of hair.

'Oh, how beautiful! Lovely ginger hair!' I said very loudly.

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 30/09/2019 17:42

Ds is a ginge

One negative comment when he was young a women said how what beautiful hair (which more often than not sounds patronizing) then went in to say poor thing you know he shall terribly bullied at school

I cried for days after

He has never been bullied and is fine being called ginge it’s one nickname it’s golden ginger not red but not strawberry blonde as some will insist

It’s an unusual colour. It was very bright at times when he was young and always longish comments were daily - I don’t believe they were all genuine