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

go to the hair dye section of boots - theres plenty of people who dye their hair red

My little boy is 10 and he loves his red hair, he hasn’t had any negative comments. Ed Sheeran has done a lot for the cause😆 I think it’s viewed as something quite trendy now

She's a girl she will be fine if you had boy it may be different. The teasing maybe worse.

My partner worked with a man who is not the cleverest tool in the box. When his wife was pregnant he told him that if the baby came out ginger he would kill it. People like this exists he should be killed not his lovely baby 😡

I love Ed Sheeran and the kids probably grew up listening to him as did mine.

My daughter is a redhead. She’s 18 soon. I genuinely thought we’d moved on from my childhood in the 80’s but she was teased about her hair colour in school and told she should unalive herself once because she’s ‘ginger’. Maybe they’d have bullied her anyway regardless I’ll never know. Thankfully she knows how gorgeous her hair is from the adults who’ve frequently told her over the years.

Best colour hair to have. My son's hair is this colour, it's amazing.

Both of my step children are ginger haired. They are popular well respected boys and doing amazing.

Hello Ginge
How’s your minge?
Is it red
Like your head?

Also called Carrot Tops as a child. And some weird university lecturer telling me I MUST have Celtic ancestry and refusing to believe me when I said my ancestors were Baltic and North German Jews, and this colouring is really not unusual with my background.

But people are politer these days, maybe apart from the midwife when I was in labour, who said “Oh, matching collar and cuffs I see!”

I was a bit shocked to find my incredibly right-on tolerant teens making jokes about 'gingers'. I really thought we'd be over this by now. It seems like the last acceptable prejudice.

Yes I did take them to task over it.

@Takestwohourstoniptotheshop

you say reddy gold? is that strawberry blonde which is somewhat different to this

I'm ginger and my two daughters are as well Sure, we've heard all the jokes and comments but it's usually only a gentle ribbing without malice. If you've built up her self esteem she'll be fine and maybe create her own comebacks. I used to say at least I didn't have boring brown hair. I really don't think there is a ginger bullying issue specific to the UK. Bullies will use any difference to pick on someone... glasses, too short, too smart...

ermm.. @charabang

according to the oracle, which is ofc, wikipedia 😉

I think it is less common now than it was when I was at school in the 90s. I don’t remember any comments in primary school but secondary it was constant (including from adult men, as a PP mentioned).

DS did have one child tell him that “ginger people don’t have souls” in Reception, but that same child spends a lot of time trying to stroke his hair in line because it is “princess hair” (golden and curly).

I will be completely honest. I am red hair but tanned skin due to my father being olive. I do feel it has changed in the past 20 years.
I was teased, not bullied per say.
It wasn't fun but I was a hardened forces brat as they call us so I knew how to deal with it.
I saw others get alot more stick than I would.
These days though people love it and pay to have their hair this colour.
It is not the same anymore.
I would also say it depends on which part of the UK you are moving to.

Absolutely. If people are hit and punched just for their hair colour, it's really not ok. The term "Ginger" has a long history-William's best friend in Crompton's series was called this, though as far as I remember, never meanly and he seemed fine with it, but we never found out his actual name.
I don't remember nastiness about hair colour when I was little, but other posters on here mention how they're treated, and a friend was once assaulted (head smacked against a wall) by someone he'd never even met, on a night out. You are right, we need to call out bullying, whatever the "reason".

I've lived here for almost 20 years and have reddish hair that I used to dye redder. I never got any negative comments from anyone. Some people may have referred to me as "that ginger one" but in a way they would have gone "that brown haired one", so no malice. I don't recall hearing anything negative about ginger people in general either, although I'm aware that it used to be a thing. I was under the impression that this was more in the U.S. than here, but I probably got it from South Park. 😅

DC is in primary school and "the popular girl" has awesome red ringlets and she's very freckly and I don't think anyone's said anything negative about her looks. Everyone's always talking about how adorable she is (actually that and the fact that she is just the nicest kid ever, just a ball of positivity 🥰).

One of our daughters had red hair and is in UK and she hasn't reported any issues. Her hair is lovely cascading ringlets and it looks fantastic and most of the men in her peer group seem to think so too.

Not sure what it's like now but when I was in high school the ginger haired children would get some insults but not bullied as such. If your daughter feels she wants to change her hair colour so she feels more confident i would let her.

My daughter’s best friend has the most gorgeous red curls. And she gets complimented on them by strangers so much there are times when I almost felt like saying “hey my daughter’s cute too”. (That’s mostly a joke). This is in the UK and they are both seven, I’d say the attitude has completely reversed since I was a kid

OK, write a book about the experience, but try to stick to some resemblance of truth.

My son has ginger hair - on the darker end of the spectrum.

Moved back to UK from USA when he was 10.

Went to primary for part of a year, then secondary. We live in a part of the UK where in my childhood you'd be ripped apart for having red hair. It was awful.back then.

Not once bullied over red hair or our unusual last name. Not once. Very different culture in school now it seems.

I think she'll be fine.

Irish woman here with lots of gingers in the family.

Yes, unfortunately a lot of family members have been bullied due to their hair colour and pale complexion/freckles etc.

I'm in my mid fifties and fortunately I don't think it's as bad today as it used to be.

But even after 14 years on Mumsnet I still get a bit irritated at the ridiculous gushing from some posters, because it reads to me as a bit false.

I've no reason to believe they're anything other than genuine but at the same time, the gushing can be so over the top.

IMO. Urban areas kids are more tolerant … it’s bored rural kids who will bully about anything.

Red yes, but ginger is orange.

My sister has orange hair and as she says, no-one with her pale skin colouring and freckles would choose that hair colour for themselves.

On the other hand my niece dyed her hair yellowy orange when she was younger and it looked great against her darker skin tone.

In the south east here and my dd still gets some nasty comments about her red hair. Such as your not bad for a ginger. She has said she is glad not to be a boy as it is worse for her male friends with similar hair colour. She is also noting that it is never taken seriously as bullying or discrimination and can be hurtful.