National Redhead Day

"You'd find it easier to be bad than good

if you had red hair. People who haven't red hair 

don't know what trouble it is. "

Anne of Green Gables

My friend Kathy, a fellow redhead, sent me an email telling me that today is National Redhead Day. Who knew??? What an awesome day to celebrate!!! As far as I know, there is no National Blonde or Brunette Day.

"Redheads are sunshine

mixed with a little

hurricane."

When I checked into this day, I discovered that there is another Redhead Day. It is the name of a Dutch summer festival that takes place during the first weekend of September in the city of Breda in the Netherlands. Also,  World Redhead Day is celebrated on May 26.  Wow! Why haven't I ever heard about this before???

Because I know you are fascinated by this topic, let me share a few more dazzling redhead facts.

Less than 2% of the world's population has red hair. The highest concentration of redheads can be found in Scotland (13%) and (10%) in Ireland.

The rarest hair/eye color combination possible is red hair and blue eyes; most redheads have hazel, green, or brown eyes. (I have blue eyes.)

A 2004 study showed that redheads need 20% more general anesthesia than people with dark or blonde hair. I asked about this once before surgery, and the anesthesiologist confirmed that it was true.

Redheads are supposed to be more sensitive to pain, but I'm not sure that is true.

Final fun redhead fact: we don't go grey. Most redheads will find that their red hair fades to a strawberry blonde and eventually white, but we won't go grey. :-)

Now, less you think having redhead is easy, let me tell you otherwise. When I was in elementary school, one of the police officers who crossed us at the lights would yell, "Okay, boys; okay, girls; okay, Red!" I got used to it, but I didn't like it one bit. Also, grown men driving by would think nothing of yelling out the window, "Hey, Red!" That happened all the time. Now, I admit that when I was little, my hair was very bright, bright red, but grown men should have known better!!! (In September, on National School Photo Day, just for fun, I posted my fourth grade school photo. If you want to see just how bright red my hair was, click here. :-)

So, on behalf of my friend Kathy, Prince Harry, Little Orphan Annie, Anne of Green Gables, we wish you all a very happy National Redhead Day!!!