In a sea of brown and blonde, redheads make up just 4.2% of the upper school, yet their unique hair color sparks everything from compliments and curiosity to harsh stereotyping. For some of the 17 redheaded students in grades 9-12, their red hair has become part of their identity.
Redheaded students shared how their hair color shapes their identity and the types of comments they’ve received over the years.
Ninth-grader Emma Brewton has auburn-colored hair that comes from her great-great-grandmother. She has a positive perspective on her color: “It sets you away from the crowd, and I just think it is really pretty, even if some people disagree,” Brewton said.
When she was younger, she received negative comments, like being called “soulless.”
Most of the time today, she attracts attention from older people, such as “your hair is so beautiful” or “your hair is stunning.”
When Senior Annie Painter was younger, she felt like the comments from adults and beauticians on her strawberry blonde hair were purely positive.
“I love my hair now, but I hated it around middle and early high school. Most of sophomore and junior year, I was completely blonde,” Painter said.
Redheads, often referred to as “gingers,” are perceived in different ways on social media. Red-haired people have built communities on a number of platforms. Through the use of hashtags on Instagram and TikTok, they exchange stories, beauty tips, and pictures.
According to TikTok analytics, 405,000 videos have been posted using “#ginger” over the past three years on the site. This hashtag has many variations: cats, songs, hairstyle suggestions, “dances to do as a ginger,” and leprechauns.
Depending on how users interpret these “trends,” they may be taken mockingly.
There are widespread myths and jokes about redheads, too: they have fiery tempers, have no souls, or descend from Vikings.
These views were once spread only in person and have now become circulated on social media.
Sophomore William O’Brien with orange-reddish hair, shares his thoughts: “I am sort of used to [the stereotypes], I don’t really care that much now. I used to not like it though,” O’Brien said.
Sophomore Morrow Piper agrees: “I don’t really feel affected by it because it’s not a big part of what I see on social media but when I do see the ginger stereotypes I see it as a good thing rather than bad. Being a ginger is pretty cool because the first thing people usually see about me is my red hair.”
According to a BBC article on hair and genetics, red hair appears in 2% of the world’s population.
