“What’s the difference between a terrorist and a redhead?”
“You can negotiate with a terrorist.”
After my last post on the popular stereotyping of red hair in the media and in society, I did a little more research of my own into the causes and roots (sorry) of the red hair gene. Anyway I unearthed a ton of material and I thought I should do my bit by passing this information onto others.
This latest foray all began when I was thinking about how neither of my parents had red hair. It’s true, that despite the fact I look like both my parents, that I have still fantasised that I am actually an orphan or the unwanted offspring in some dark family secret. Sadly, I found out that it’s actually just a recessive gene and that any redhead gene carrier (not necessarily red-headed themselves) can pass the gene on to their offspring. Boring…
Anyway, because my grandfather had red hair and there is a history of red hair on the other side of my family, it was extremely likley that both my mother and father are carriers of this gene. Hey presto, their chance of producing a ginger kid themselves was fairly high. According to Wikipedia (I know, groan…) something like 40% of Scottish people are carriers of the gene and that number remains high throughout the whole of the British Isles and Ireland.
While reading this I also discovered a few popular ginger ‘facts’ which are actually total fabrication. For example, you may have heard recently that red hair is a dying trait. Bzzzzt, wrong:
A popular myth that red hair is likely to die out in the near future exists.[23] This is untrue; it stems from questionable research and publicity by a hair products company.[24] The National Geographic article that started the rumor in fact states “while redheads may decline, the potential for red isn’t going away“.[25]
Red hair is caused by a recessive relatively rare gene, expression of which can skip generations. It is not likely to disappear at any time in the foreseeable future.[24]
I also found that having red hair actually has several distinct advantages. Including the ability to produce high levels of Vitamin D and the ability to retain heat better than someone with darker skin. Proof, if any further were needed, that ginger people have superpowers!
Studies by Bodmer and Cavalli-Sforza (1976) hypothesized that lighter skin pigmentation prevents rickets in colder latitudes by encouraging higher levels of Vitamin D production and also allows the individual to retain heat better than someone with darker skin.[18] Rees (2004) suggested that the vividness and rarity of red hair may lead to its becoming desirable in a partner and therefore it could become more common through sexual selection.[19]
Not sure I really buy the second part though… Further controversial studies have also found that Ginger haired people have a higher pain threshold, although this effect can swing in both directions, something I myself have noted whenever I get man flu…
In people with red hair, the cells that produce skin and hair pigment have a mutated MC1R. Researchers have found that this mutation triggers the release of more of the hormone that stimulates these histonal cells, but this hormone also stimulates a brain receptor related to pain sensitivity.[32]
Two studies have demonstrated that people with red hair have differential sensitivity to pain compared to people with other hair colours, but they differ as to the direction of the effect. One study found that people with red hair are more sensitive to thermal pain (a natural low vitamin K level is to blame for this)[33] while another study concluded that redheads are less sensitive to pain from electrical stimuli.
Get in there! Even more super powers. Apparently I have a latent resistance to electrical shocks. I bet Doctor Mohinder Suresh would love to get his hands on my blood sample. Perhaps my favourite piece of information though was the following:
Red hair was thought to be a mark of a beastly sexual desire and moral degeneration. A savage red-haired man is portrayed in the fable by Grimm brothers (Der Eisenhans) as the spirit of the forest of iron. Theophilus Presbyter describes how the blood of a red-haired young man is necessary to create gold from copper, in a mixture with the ashes of a basilisk.[46]
I think this is the only thing so far that might have any actual basis in truth…
