So turns out that other than Christina Hendricks no one really likes redheads. Ok, I’m obviously kidding. But there has been a psychological study done that found men and women who have red hair aren’t treated the same as their blonde and brown haired counterparts.
There have been many studies conducted regarding the mating habits of humans but this time around scientists are finding that the color of your hair might be affecting your chances of finding a mate – and it can possibly be as harsh as racial discrimination.
Experiments were conducted by putting men and women in different colored wigs in different situation (nightclub, hitchhiking, etc.) to see how many people will approach them/accept their offer to dance/stop to pick them up.
Blonde women were the most approached, whereas ginger women didn’t fare so well, being the lowest to be approached. Blonde men however didn’t receive any more acceptance to their offers to dance (dark haired men were the highest). In both situations though redheads were seen as not as attractive. Wow!
In Nicolas Guéguen’s (Université de Bretagne-Sud, France) most recent research, a female subject sat in a nightclub for an hour and the number of men who approached her was measured. The experiment tested four different wigs on each subject and was carried out on 16 different nights in a four-week period. “In that crucial hour, overall, 127 men approached the women wearing a blond wig, 84 men approached the brown wigged lady, 82 went up to the black haired woman but only 29 approached the red haired lady.”
Why is this? Well perhaps a study conducted by Viren Swami and Seishin Barrett, psychologists at the University of Westminster, London, might shed some light. A theory that they propose based on their research is that females are rated as more ‘needy’ by men when they have blonde hair than when she has red or brown hair. They argue that this could be what encourages men to approach them – possibly because it induces feelings of dominance or confidence, which in turn reduces their inhibition. Basically it reduces their fear of rejection. However, redheads are rated as most temperamental and sexually promiscuous of all the hair colors.
So perhaps on a night out where you just want to pick up a nice girl to have some fun with, you don’t want to go with the one which gives you vibes of someone who might have some ‘drama’ – whether that vibe is true or not.
It’s important to note that these experiments were not conducted for long-term relationships, and were based purely on first impressions – but I guess in the dating world, sometimes that’s all one needs. Sorry redheads!
