Ridiculous comments about red hair

[SweetSouls]

My child has a lot of fiery red hair. They are a year old.

They get lots of nice comments - old ladies in particular love him.

However I get some weird ones too. ‘Still ginger’, one of my friends comments whenever they see him.

Well this morning on the train, a woman came up to me to tell me my child would be very badly bullied at school because of the way they look.

They are one year old. Why would someone come and say that to me? It is absolutely bizarre.

I never had more than the occasional rude comment but was brought up in Wales and there were three redheads in my class. However my hair is still naturally red at 69, so who is laughing now!

I have red hair.
I really, really dislike the word 'ginger' for it as it was used in school and beyond as a pejorative term. I think many will feel the same.
It's not at all the same as racism, and it's still not ok to belittle someone, let alone a child, for a colouring.
I have been fetishised, bullied, stroked without consent, stoned once, (by teenage bitches. I was 33), catcalled, singled out and stereotyped for it my whole life. I would have been a different person if I hadn't been a redhead and had those experiences because of how I look.
It is or can be awkward colouring, and that's ok to voice. My eyelashes and eyebrows are invisible without dye and that kind of thing looks odd and sleepy and it really bothered me in childhood. Then I spent teenage years fighting with my mother about mascara.
I think I was aware of my appearance earlier than other children because it was so often commented upon. It's one of my earliest memories.
That said, I would not be without it. It's a formative part of my life. It helped that I am much better looking than average even if I say it myself. However I mostly think redheads learn hard but early who the dickheads are and get themselves better friends.

My beautiful eldest daughter has inherited her Dad's lovely red hair and she has never been bullied for her appearance.
Her dad hates his red hair (despite him being a ringer for Joshua Homme) because he was bullied as a kid.
I'm blonde and got bullied loads because of my hair, yet I yearned for red hair and have even dyed my hair red.
Your beautiful little one will have a happy life and will be the envy of some others, trust me

@Phonedown Your ex's sister sounds vile. What a disgusting thing to say. I assume you don't need to have anything to do with her now.

The comments have been really eye opening. I truly didn't know that people with red hair were so rudely treated. I do remember some people teasing others over their red hair in primary school in the 80s. No idea it was as bad as some personal examples shared and in 2023 as well! Terrible.

YANBU. You always get weirdos saying rude stuff on public transport, it's par for the course alas.

FWIW, the handsomest man I ever met had red hair (well, strawberry blond). Women throwing themselves at him all over the place and I doubt he was bullied in school.

Redhead Tim Minchin does a great song about this issue:

I'm a proud Mum of a redheaded son. He started off a striking bright orange, but now it's darkened to a beautiful auburn colour.

He loves the fact it's rare.

Also, it didn’t do Robert Redford any harm…. ❤️

(Fans self)

No, no, that's not right at all.

You want to say 'he can dye his hair but you'll still be a total cunt'. 😆

I have red hair and my son is ginger and honestly - the conversations I’ve had over the years about his hair are unreal. Pre-7, he had a monstrous ego because everyone stopped to comment on his hair. Everyone. He had copper ringlets until he was 6 and I couldn’t walk 3 steps in the supermarket without being stopped. All very well meaning but ultimately tiresome. Now he’s 15 and not cute (to anyone other than me) - and people just talk about him like he’s not there. They catch sight of him and start talking about gingers.

Absolutely ridiculous.

He has never been bullied for being ginger but does get insults shouted at him eg at football matches. He’s well used to being called a ginger c*. It infuriates me.

DD came home from school really upset a few years ago because she didn't have a soul apparently.

She's been bullied a bit for her gorgeous red hair but said people are worst to the red haired boys. It's horrid.

I love red hair!

There are somethings that it’s fair game to make rude comments on which can impact a person’s life unfortunately red hair is one of them. Another example would be something like height.

Teenage DS has curly flaming red hair down to his waist, and never had any negative comments about it. Everyone loves it, including me - it is gorgeous!

His father used to have the same, however suffered vile bullying for it. Times have changed a lot, at least where we are.

This is mine. The midwife said good news it's a girl, bad news it's she has red hair when I was born

Was he ginger? I'd have said strawberry blonde at a push. If the people saying they never had any problems were actually strawberry blonde maybe we aren't talking about the same thing.

Looking at photos of Robert Redford he must have dyed his hair as it is anything from very light blonde through red to brown depending on the film.

Please don’t question Robert Redford’s redhead genes. That’s just rude. He’s one of the hottest men on the planet, ageing well with naturally red hair (ginger/ strawberry blonde/ pedant) and piercing blue eyes….. sorry, did you say I have a crush 😻

It's so sad there's such a stigma around red hair, at least he's unique.

Try to teach him to be confident and embrace his hair as he grows .

My late Dad, beautiful, strong, wavy, auburn hair. Magnificent, a strong and wonderful guy. Me proud to be auburn, son has just a hint of it but all the looks. It’s wonderful and our family heritage is Norman. It’s strong, I like it

Ds2 is ginger and I try to encourage him to accept it because it can't be changed.

We stopped buying Milka chocolate after their casting call for kids for advertising specified no red heads.

If you want to follow a lovely ginger (hunky) model on Insta/fb, there's one called Calum Harper, he's modelled for some big names, started off in Japan where they loved him. Great inspiration for Red haired boys and their mums, he's also very endearing. I have red hair and like it lots, especially as I age and haven't gone grey or white yet.

@Blinkityblonk I love Callum, he doesn't look particularly good looking when chatting in his videos but he certainly looks amazing when strutting his stuff and in magazines....those cheek bones!

Ohhh i do understand its awful. Our DS is small. He gets comments constantly. it's awful.
Hes 6 now and the same people still talking about it - its as if because its is height its fine.
The sooner we stop mirroring to kids its ok to scrutinise our differences in appearance, the better

Dorky Calum and Top Model Calum don't seem like the same person. I think extreme looks are in and he's extremely white and ginger, also works out, and has the cheekbones too! Great role model for Red haired men for sure!