Parents of red haired children

[Hoping11]

I have recently given birth to a beautiful red haired baby! We don’t know of anyone in either of our families with red hair so it was a shock for us, although genetically speaking it must be in both families history, several generations back. I’d love to hear from other parents of red heads...

Is your child’s skin particularly sensitive to sunlight? Should I be using sunscreen from a very young age, even in the uk on dull days?

Has the shade of your babies hair changed much? I know brunette and blonde babies change a lot, but is it the same for reds?

Are you offended by the term ginger? Is teasing of red haired children at school still something to be prepared for, or is this outdated?

If you’ve had a surprise red head, have your subsequent children had the same hair colour? If we have more, I’d love them to be red too so our baby isn’t the only one in the family.

I’d love to see your gorgeous red head babies! I never noticed the colour of children’s hair and now I have my own, I spot beautiful little red haired children everywhere ☺️

Her hair is the most beautiful colour, in dull light it looks brown but in brightlight it looks like fire lots of red and gold. I found dressing her in pinkish colours made her look washed out and sickly so tend to dress her in natural colours, brown, creams, greens and mustards which suit her colouring much more.

Interesting! DDs and I have similar hair but look good in pink. Mustards, browns and yellows are a firm no go. Do love green though!

Interestingly people with red hair can tolerate spicy foods then people without.

Rubbish! I can’t tolerate anything even remotely spicy so that has to be anecdotal. I have incredibly sensitive skin and feel pain from things others wouldn’t. Apparently redheads have fewer layers of skin.

Also, after giving birth, my doctor always asks if I haemorrhaged because red heads are more prone to this.

I was a surprise redhead, both my parents had brown hair but my aunt has exactly the same hair as me as she was the suprise redhead of her generation! I really gravitated to other red heads when I was little as no one in my family looked like me (my aunt had tuned brown by the time I was born), it can be quite isolating. I had a lot of jokes about being the postman's daughter when I was young.

My husband also had red hair but so do both his parents and his brother so it was more normal for him. Our daughter has red hair (it was the only option!) and seems to have inherited my husband's lighter red hair but my pink toned skin.

I'm so pleased to hear parents ask about sunscreen for red haired children. My mum tanned and only had factor 4 tanning oil in the house so that's what I was sent out in the sun with and had some terrible sunburns as a child. I've worn moisturiser with SPF since I was a teenager and the benefit is I was still being asked for ID into my 30's!

Lucky you! Neither of my parents were red haired (blonde and black respectively).

I personally hate ‘ginger’ myself. Especially ‘a ginger’.

I burned as a child but then you do need to cover most babies don’t you? My sister burns very easily but I tend not to as I’ve got older. We never had the very very pale white skin that some people have (not old redheads).

My hair had gone more foxy as I’ve got older - it was a proper red when I was a hold though. I always loved it - toy so stand our (I always joke that I can never spot DH or ds in a crowd with their boring hair).

And I rarely shave my legs (small victory there) or need to bleach facial hair (as my friend does).

Dd is 14 and at the local comp. She's never had any problems apart from one mean comment in year 3, but one mean comment isn't bad going. We are SE England just outside London. Dd is popular with lots of friends and never bullied.

I have 2 children, my first who I had with my ex has brown hair but my 2nd is unexpectedly red/ ginger, no one in our immediate families has red/ ginger hair so we've no idea where his has come from. I'm currently expecting baby no 3 so we'll see what colour hair this one has.
Everyone who talks to my son comments on his hair & says what a lovely colour it is. It really suits him. In the summer it seems to go a bit blonde but in the winter it's very ginger. He just has the usual amount of sun cream in the hot weather, never bothered the rest of the time & he's fine.

I'm so pleased to hear parents ask about sunscreen for red haired children. My mum tanned and only had factor 4 tanning oil in the house so that's what I was sent out in the sun with and had some terrible sunburns as a child.

My parents were so strict on suncream. Factor 50 always! I still burnt. Worst time was whilst I was in the Caribbean with factor 50 on and it wasn’t even the sunniest day. I had second degree burns on my legs and ended up in A&E. The pain was so intense and I had awful heat stroke. My legs were twice their normal size and I was incredibly lucky that they didn’t scar.

I'm a red head, my nephews and grand son are red heads too. My nephew burns incredibly easy and if we are abroad and he is swimming/in the sea we have to use factor 100 or his face and ears blister. Much better safe than sorry. We find denenes to be the best to apply and we use a baby soft sponge to rub it in and keep it in a little plastic bag. In the uk the best sub cream we have found for daily usage is altruist, totally grease free and is invisible feeling. Sun cream helps to keep freckles from appearing, they only happen with sun exposure. I'm covered in them and love mine but my nephew has much less as he burns so easily and is always slathered in the stuff.

If you and your husband both carry the gene then it's a 1/4 chance in simple genetics that any off spring will be ginger.

Check out Tim Minchin, only a ginger can call another ginger ginger. Is brilliant!

I am a red head (child of two brown haired people, so I was a surprise - the colour links back to my great great grandma!). I now have a son who is also a red head.

We have pale skin and do burn easily. I use a minimum of factor thirty on bright days (both of us) when we'll be outside and factor 50 on sunny summer days. Also ensure my LO has a summer hat and pick swim wear that covers him up - like a wet suit or the UV protection long sleeved swim tops and trousers you can buy. :)

Babies hair changes so much my first DS had dark hair, by 3mth strawberry blonde, then blonde he’s nearly 20 now and still blonde. DS2 dark hair all rubbed off by 4mths, then came back brown, he’s now 18 dark blonde.

@Roselilly36

DH was really blonde as a baby but his hair is nearly black now. I joke that his parents swapped him because the cute blonde, cherub-cheeked baby disappears from photos and miniature DH appears with seemingly no transition.

Mother of a red haired DD here. Not totally unexpected as my father, one of my siblings and my niece and nephew are red haired. I have two DC but my DS is mousey brown haired like me and their father.

DD unusually had very honey coloured skin when little so never had a problem with burning when she was younger but she is paler now as she's turned 20. However we are all very pale skinned so the sun cream regime was important for everyone.

When she was little she really wanted to be blond and more like other people and as a teen she did get teased a bit. She's hated being called a ginger by other people but she developed a thick skin and a bolshy sharp witted humour to respond. Now she loves it. She completely stands out from the crowd with a huge main of curly hair - but she also straightens it quite often. She is unusual as she also has blue eyes. She always has a ton of boys after her.

When she was younger her hair was a strawberry blond but as she's got older it's got darker and more coppery. We don't have really bright redheads in my family. This darkening has happened with all my family.

What I would say is it really ceases to be something you think about much at all. I think it comes up a bit when they are little but after a while it's just not a thing. Their whole personality is what matters. My DD is a talented artist and sweet, funny and kind. Not a red head.

By the way my SD dresses in every colour - clashy colours are great. She obviously looks great in green and blue but she also looks fantastic and striking in red, orange and pink.

I was once chased down the street (literally) by a woman who stopped me to say how much my bright red jumper suited me.

I was also once called ‘magnificent’ when I was sitting drinking coffee in a cafe window (it had an elaborate gold frame painted on it) wearing a huge long purple coat - I was looking quite pre-raphaelite that day (of course he was a rather odd man who walked into the cafe to tell me).

My sister wears yellow quite a bit too. I’m usually more green and brown.

I was born with red hair but its faded to more of a reddish brown as I've got older. DH on the other hand comes from a long line of red headed people and has very long, very red hair. Our dd was born with dark hair that has become golden as time has gone on, it has a slight red tinge in the right light but is far from red. My nephews however were born with bright red hair that hasn't changed a bit. I do have the pale complexion and easily burnt skin of a red head so sunblock, even when you think you won't need it is a must!

Neither of my parents have red hair and I (their firstborn) was born with lots of dark hair. So they were very surprised when my sister was born with very curly ginger hair! It straightened and darkened over the years so now it's auburn. My youngest sister has strawberry blonde hair.

I think my sisters burn a little easier than me but there's not much difference. I think they had the odd comment when they were at school but nothing actually malicious. They've had more random compliments really.

My redhead looks washed out in yellow (typically that's her school uniform polo colour!) and suits pink and red. Orange not quite as good a colour on her, fine with most others though. I can't wear yellow without looking ill either but DH and DS can so suspect it's skin colour more than hair colour!

One of mine is an auburny-brown that goes the most gorgeous colour in the sunlight. My mum's sister's part of the family are redhaired so I assume it came from that part of the genes. I whack suncream on them both any day it looks like being bright. I'm the one who burns (I'm a dark blonde - was white blonde as a kid) at the slightest rays of sun - the kids both tend to be like DH and tan like buggery.

As for the "ginger" thing - their best friend (and mum's my friend) are a family all of really red-heads - and their email address is something like "thegingermob" or similar (I forget the exact wording) so I work on the assumption they're fine with that. All I hear from DD2 (brown haired) is complaints that she wants nice coloured hair like her friend's... or purple... or curly hair like her friend with Afro hair (never gonna happen - her hair is poker straight like mine).

My daughter has the most gorgeous ginger bum length hair, she is like a mermaid and it's the first thing anyone comments on. It's beautiful and I'm so jealous!!!!

We also have a ginger dog and collectively they are the ginger terrors!

Once she came home from school saying she wanted to be blonde, I told how rare her hair colour is how difficult it is to dye it that colour and how people pay hundreds to look like her.