What about redheads is so special? Check out these facts about redheads to find out.
11 Strange Facts About Redheads You Never Knew
Updated on Feb. 26, 2025
Non-redheads can have a redheaded child
Red hair is an inherited trait but it’s recessive. That means you have to inherit the gene from both parents. Here’s the important part: Those parents don’t necessarily have to have red hair to have ginger offspring. There are plenty of people walking around without red hair but who could conceivably produce redheaded kids.
Red hair and blue eyes are the rarest combination
The MC1R (or melanocortin 1 receptor) gene determines hair, skin and eye color. If you’re a redhead, your MC1R gene has a mutation—or possibly several. It’s why redheads are so rare. And if you have red hair and blue eyes, the rarest hair and eye color combination, the genetic stars were in alignment. According to evolutionary biology professor Mark Elgar, PhD, of the University of Melbourne, the odds of having both traits are around 0.17%—that’s about 13 million people out of the 7.6 billion on earth.
But why is this combo so rare, especially if blue eyes aren’t the rarest eye color? Many genes and gene variations play a role. But beyond that, both traits are recessive, and having two parents who can pass down two sets of recessive genes is very unlikely.
Redheads are not going extinct
Red may be the rarest hair color in the world, but that still means that possibly as many as 158 million “gingers” (what redheads often call themselves) are walking the earth.
Right now, it is estimated that redheads make up about 1% to 2% percent of the world population. That might seem like a perilously low number, but the world is big and redheads are here to stay. In facts, sections of Ireland, Scotland and Wales have the highest concentrations of redheads at around 10%.
Redheads have a higher risk for skin cancer
The skin cancer risk may be one of the best-known facts about redheads. “There’s no question that red-haired individuals are at a much higher risk for skin cancer than brown-haired individuals,” confirms Gregory Papadeas, DO, a Denver-based dermatologist and past-president of the Colorado Dermatologic Society. This includes melanoma, a cancer that starts in the cells that produce melanin and is potentially the most serious of skin cancers.
Unlike other hair colors, redheads carry two copies of the MC1R gene, which governs the production of melanin, a pigment that gives your skin, eyes and hair their distinctive colors. “Melanin works as a shock absorber, protecting you from ultraviolet light. It’s a person’s innate sunscreen,” says Dr. Papadeas. But two copies of the gene actually add up to less melanin, which means you’re susceptible to damage from the sun.
Redheads have a higher rate of gynecological cancers
Here’s one of those major facts about redheads you might have missed. According to a large review study published in 2017, female redheads have a higher risk of gynecological cancers like cervical, uterine and ovarian cancer. The redder the hair, the higher the risk. The authors of the study speculated that the increased risk was related to being exposed to higher levels of estrogen before birth. “Estrogen creates a predisposition to certain types of cancer and it looks like there’s a three-way relationship between being a woman, having red hair and having these diseases,” says Peter Frost, PhD., an anthropologist who studies the role of sexual selection in shaping visible human traits.
Of course, there’s no one shade of red, but many that are individual to the owner. As a result, the study isn’t the final word, though, as it relied on women’s own rating of how red their hair was, a subjective measure. “The next step would be to look at red-haired individuals in the flesh and measure the degree of redheadedness,” Frost says.
Redheads may age faster
A study in Current Biology found that people who had two copies of the MC1R gene (which confers red hair), appeared as many as two years older than people who did not hold both copies. According to the authors, this was about the same as the effect of smoking on perceived age.
The link between red hair and aging had nothing to do with skin damage from too much exposure (which produces wrinkles and dark spots), as you might expect. Instead, the gene variants seemed to be connected with pathways that governed sagging skin, among other things. According to the authors, this is the first evidence of a genetic basis for perceived age. Whether or not it will lead to the fountain of youth is another question.
Redheads may feel more pain
According to Frost, if you’re a woman with red hair, you have a greater sensitivity to pain. A study in the journal Anesthesiology found that redheads needed 19% more anesthesia than blonds or brunettes. Another study found that the difference depends on the type of pain, with redheads being more sensitive to cold and heat, though not to electrical shocks when compared to those with other hair colors.
Researchers believe the differences may be related to genes involved in melanin production, which affect hormones involved in pain perception. The findings may also have to do with estrogen production, says Frost. Why this might be is not entirely clear.
Redheads produce more vitamin D
Vitamin D is essential for bone health and is synthesized when you’re exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) rays from the sun. One 2020 study found higher levels of a precursor to vitamin D (calcidiol) in redheads, suggesting that gingers could produce more of the vitamin than other hair colors. The level of calcidiol also corresponded to how red the hair was.
Similar to why people blush, it’s not exactly clear why this occurs. The authors speculated that people in parts of the world with low intensity UVB rays (namely central and northern parts of Europe) developed this ability to survive where the sun rarely shines.
Red hair is biologically connected with fair skin, which may explain some of this. “The pale skin that goes with red hair would certainly give you an advantage under cloudy skies,” says Harvey. “It gives you a little bit of a genetic advantage.”
Redheads are not approached as much as blonds
Yes, there are actually done studies on the perceived attractiveness of redheads. One group of researchers instructed the same woman to sit in different nightclubs with her hair dyed either blond, brunette or red. The bottom line? The woman was approached most often by men when she was a blond.
Another study published a year later and conducted in much the same manner (except using wigs) found that men were more likely to ask blond women to dance. Don’t take this as absolute gospel, though. The first study also found that when men looked at an image of the woman as blond, redheaded and brunette, brunettes were considered more approachable—as well as arrogant and physically attractive. The blond version was considered more needy. Go figure.
Redheads may have more children
Despite having more fertility problems, redheads may procreate more often, according to a study in PLOS One co-authored by Frost. This could be explained by any number of factors, none of them conclusive: Redheads seem to have more sexual partners and start having children earlier in life.
Harvey, who is a “red” herself, has her own theory. “I think the association between redheaded women and sexuality came about through the fact that we can synthesize vitamin D more effectively,” she says. “Above everything else, we have a nice strong skeleton and pelvis for carrying and bearing children. It might go back to some primeval association. If males chose redheads, it increased their chances of breeding.”
Redheads may have more sex
Here’s a weird fact about redheads and the human body: Research shows that women with red hair are more sexually active. A 2022 study that looked at 110 women (34% of them redheads) found that redheaded women (34% of the total sample) scored higher on measures of sexual desire, reported more sexual activity and more sexual partners. They also started sex earlier than people with other hair colors.
It’s not entirely clear why this is the case. The authors speculate that it could be due to partners’ more frequent attempts to initiate sex, rather than the woman’s desire. “Perhaps it’s the exotic novelty factor,” says Frost.
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Sources:
- Peter Frost, PhD recipient in anthropology from Université Laval in 1995
- Jacky Colliss Harvey, author of Red: A History of the Redhead
- Gregory Papadeas, private-practice dermatologist in Denver
- University of Southern Mississippi: “The Importance of Appearances in Literature: What Does It Mean to Be a Redhead in Literature?”
- Symbolic Interaction: “Ugly Duckling to Swan: Labeling Theory and the Stigmatization of Red Hair”
- World Population Review: “Percentage of Redheads by Country 2023”
- National Library of Medicine: “MC1R gene”
- The University of Melbourne: “Are Redheads with Blue Eyes Really Going Extinct?”
- International Journal of Cancer: “Estimating the attributable fraction for melanoma: A meta-analysis of pigmentary characteristics and freckling”
- Gene: “Natural hair color and skin cancers: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study”
- Photochemistry and Photobiology: “MC1R, Eumalenin and Pheomelanin: Their Role in Determining the Susceptibility to Skin Cancer”
- PLOS One: “Health status by gender, hair color, and eye color: Red-haired women are the most divergent”
- Current Biology: “The MC1R Gene and Youthful Looks”
- Science Advances: “Reduced MC4R signaling alters nociceptive thresholds associated with red hair”
