Reds lose out in chat-up stakes
While we may have the second biggest percentage of redheads in the world, it appears Irish men back up university research suggesting that blondes are the most attractive to men in a bar setting, followed by brunettes and finally by redheads.
The research put men’s stronger attraction to blondes down to the stereotypes surrounding each hair colour in 21st century society.
Fashion stylist Angela Scanlon put the academic theory to the test in Dublin in her entertaining RTÉ documentary Oi Ginger when she donned a blond wig for a night out and later went into the same bar with her own titan-coloured hair. While she was inundated with male attention in the bar with a blond head of hair, she was left virtually alone when she arrived back shortly afterwards sporting her own natural, coppery colour.
Red hair has come into vogue in recent years with Rihanna and Katy Perry having gone red in the past, while Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks and supermodel Lily Cole are seen as international sex symbols.
Despite being highly fashionable, the research carried by the University of Westminster revealed redheads are six times less likely to be chatted up by men in bars and clubs.
Dr Viren Swami carried out the study by sending one of his female colleagues to different bars and nightclubs sporting different hair colours.
He said: “Very simply we found she was chatted up most often when she was a blonde, second often as a brunette, and least often as a redhead.
“Blondes are rarer in general but so are redheads. Blondes only make up 1% to 2% of the population but so do redheads. The difference is the stereotypes we associate with those particular hair colours. Blondes are rare but they are also associated with sexuality or promiscuity, with being funny. Redheads don’t have those associations.”
While the distinctive hair colour is one of Ireland’s best-known features, the documentary reveals how it is the last acceptable basis for discrimination. Irish redheads open up about being bullied and teased during their childhoods purely on the basis of their hair colour. But none would switch their distinctive hair colour as adults, they say.
Oi Ginger airs on RTÉ Two tomorrow at 9.55pm
