Worried about Dd being ginger in the uk

[Takestwohourstoniptotheshop]

Redhead, Golden haired…

We are moving back to the uk next year. Dd was born in the country we’re currently living in. The majority of people are dark haired, brown eyes and tanned skin.
Dd is reddy gold hair, blue eyes and fair skin. She gets attention everywhere she goes about her hair and eyes, people compliment her a lot and are very gushing about her looks, it’s lovely

My impression is that this is very different in the uk and cruelly this is used as an insult almost, is this still the case? The thought of it is heartbreaking

Um, no they don't. My daughter's hair is flame red and beautiful. Blue eyes too. Why on earth do you think this would be a problem in the UK??

I was in a normal state school in the 00s and I got a lot of negative comments about being ginger. Lots of ginger minger, ginge minge, what colour are your pubes, ew ginger etc etc... not only from other kids (which was daily) but also men shouting it out of cars and vans. This would cause me to blush and with such pale skin I'd go bright red which would then also be commented on in a negative way. Pale skin was also very not in fashion back then.. as in everyone was getting fake tans and wearing foundation darker than their skin tone. I basically grew up thinking I was disgusting looking and hated my appearance. I used to beg my parents to let me dye my hair blonde.

Anyway once I left school the comments decreased (except from random men in the street which continued) and now I'm older it's entirely stopped.. although actually some young school age boys did shout ginger at me the other day!

I think being pale and ginger is definitely more in fashion now, more people dye their hair red and I think you definitely see gingers on adverts etc now. So I'd hope it's not such a bit thing.

I have red hair, my DH is more of a strawberry blond. DS has the most wonderful red hair. We often get stopped in the street and complimented on it. I have never experienced any kind of anti-ginger sentiment, nor has my DH. My DS is noticeable at school because of his hair colour but it’s only ever commented on in a factual way.

I'm in my 30's and have never been bullied for being ginger. Older people always used to stop me to admire my hair as a little kid, but that didn't bother me.

I think some children bully others regardless of having a 'reason', they just pick something about their target to make fun of.

I think it’s better now than when I was a child, 1970’s.

OP, from your responses you seemly overly anxious. Could you be projecting your anxiety about moving countries on to this one (hypothetical) issue your daughter may experience? I really wouldn’t give it another thought and if it’s becoming obsessive for you, maybe speak to someone. This is being blown out of all proportion. Nothing has actually happened yet and it may not.

Boys tend to get teased for it more than girls do.

I don't know if it's area dependent but 18 year old dd has had no problems at all with it just outside South London. Young people generally seem more tolerant these days. I think it was a problem in the past. Although having said that my sister said she didn't have problems with it from the 70s onwards

Similar to me, I left school in 2000

I'm a redhead and in the main I've not had much of a problem (now mid 50s) throughout my life and in different parts of the UK. It generally tends to be the real carroty coloured people that get teased, in my experience anyway.

Like a PP pointed out, anti-ginger attitudes seems to have grown out of anti-Irish and Scottish sentiments, as they are most likely to be red heads. For boys there's the added disadvantage that that it stands out, so is unmanly!

It is only the pig ignorant who'd make a comment though.

On the compliments she gets, it's great for a child to be self-confident, but not just about her looks. My DD had a cute mop of curls when little, I made a point to tell her I was so proud of how kind, smart, funny, arty etc she was, to balance my mum and aunt saying how beautiful her hair was, and how she could be a model when she grew up as she was tall.

Obviously I thought she was beautiful too, but the downside of the beautiful curls was combing them, and she wouldn't let me cut her hair, as she was so proud of it.

I have “reddish gold” hair and only ever had compliments on it. My DDs aren’t redheads but generally don’t hear of kids being picked on for being ginger. It’s usually seen as a positive thing. I do live in a part of the UK with higher than average number of redheads though so possibly too common here to pick on every ginger kid!
You might here the odd ginger comment but more as “banter” among lads than actual bullying I would say.

It’s often used as an insult. I’m in a line of work where we are frequently abused by the public and ginger colleagues do tend to get the worst of it. Red hair is unfortunately not seen as a good thing in the UK but comments on appearance whether good or bad are generally best ignored in my experience. If she likes her hair then nobody else’s opinion matters.

I dont think this is worth worrying about op. I did get a lot of mostly attention because of my hair when I was a child. As an adult almost no one ever comments.
I agree with the person who said [paraphrasing] not being fawned over will probably do her good. Hair is just...... hair! Much better to get lots of attention for having achieved something (won a race, playing an instrument etc) than just cos you happened to be born a certain way.

My baby has lovely reddish/blonde hair and brown eyes and gets lovely compliments. I’m sure when she goes to school there’ll be the occasional taunt maybe but no one escapes school without the odd school yard insult. If it wasn’t hair or would be something else. I think red hair is lovely

Depends on the area of the UK

Oh give over!

In the 90s I heard the ginger minger taunts but having said that, the most popular girl in my year at school had bright orange hair. She was very confident, friendly and good at sport so nobody picked on her. I think kids can be cruel and if they sense lack of confidence then they will pick something to be mean about, whether that’s hair colour, height, weight, glasses, etc.

i think it depends on the shade. My daughter has only ever had compliments. She has a beautiful colour of red.
my hair was more mid toned. I remember two girls in my class at school would regularly tell me if they had my hair they would kill themselves. Horrid girls.

I was clearly speaking about my personal experience, and from looking at other posts on here it's not an unusual one. I'm not sure how you managed to read what I wrote as I'm any way suggesting you imagined insults

As a red head and mother of red heads it's definitely a lot more acceptable for girls. I do think there were issues a few years ago but these days the girls just get complimented

I have ginger hair (strawberry blonde or red/gold). As a female i have mostly had complements all my life. But it's true that if someone wanted to insult me as a kid, they'd usually include my hair colour in some way (ginger minger, that sort of thing), but uf it wasn't my hair they'd have picked something else, spots, glasses, etc. So I wasn't getting insulted because I was ginger, it was just used by unimaginative idiots as the first thing they could think of. To be clear, being ginger has never been the primary reason I was targeted, and by far the majority of people have complemented my hair.

I believe I can be slightly worse for boys though.

I was teased pretty relentlessly at school 15-20 years, but pretty low level stuff. Eased off by the age of about 14 ish and nothing but positive comments since. I think times have changed though and it's not like when I was at school. I wouldn't be concerned.

I’ve got red haired family members - they’ve never had a problem. All kids get teased - thin, fat, tall, short, hair colour, wearing glasses etc.

Part of school life. 🤷‍♀️

Do you live under a rock! It's very much a thing.