It's Titian NOT Red!

Red Hair. 

I've experienced a lot about the hold that red hair has on people when my daughter was born 5 years ago. Our Kindergarten teacher was adamant that it be call titian, so named after Tiziano Vecelli, an Italian painter during the 1500's whose use of colour profoundly affected the art world then and on through the years. Redheads can get teased, to be sure. Carrot top, ginga,  ginge, red, but much more often my girl has lavish attention paid on her by complete strangers, who gush over her gorgeous color, accompanied by another genetic trait - great body.

Red hair, geographically, is most commonly found at the northern and western fringes of Europe; it is associated particularly with the people located in the United Kingdom and in Ireland. Redheads constitute approximately 4 percent of the European population. Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads; 13 per cent of the population has red hair and approximately 40 per cent carries the recessive redhead gene. Ireland has the second highest percentage; as many as 10 per cent of the Irish population has red, auburn, or strawberry blond hair. It is thought that up to 46 percent of the Irish population carries the recessive redhead gene.

Red hair is also fairly common amongst the Ashkenazi Jewish populations, possibly because of the influx of European DNA over a period of centuries, or in the original founding of their communities in Europe, although both Esau and David are described in the Bible as red-haired.

In the United States, it is estimated that 2-6% of the population has red hair. This would give the U.S. the largest population of redheads in the world, at 6 to 18 million, compared to approximately 650,000 in Scotland and 420,000 in Ireland.

The pigment pheomelanin gives red hair its distinctive color. Red hair has far more of the pigment pheomelanin than it has of the dark pigment eumelanin. The genetics of red hair, discovered in 1997, appear to be associated with the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R), which is found on chromosome 16. Red hair is associated with fair skin color because of low concentrations of eumelanin throughout the body of those with red hair and those of us who know redheads know that means 70+ SPF on sunny days!! 

For the past few years, there have been rumors that redheads are going extinct, but that’s not true. Because of intermarriage, the numbers are declining, but there will always be redheads, because there will always be carriers of the recessive MC1R gene. Since it is a recessive trait, red hair can easily skip a generation. It can then reappear after skipping one or more generations if both parents, no matter their hair color, carry the red hair gene. This past weekend, as my daughter and I were at the American Museum of Natural History, we saw Conan O’Brien (ancestors originated from County Kerry, Ireland) – the world’s most famous redhead!  A few hours later, at the playground, there were 5 red headed boys and my girl. That’s a high concentration of recessive genes in 47,114 square feet!!

The draw to red heads takes many shapes - International Red Head Day, the first weekend in September in the Netherlands, is well established but other events like Kiss a Red Head Day and Hug a Ginger Day seem to have questionable motives  ;-)         
In our home, its Hug and Kiss a Red Head Day everyday.