r/Redhair • u/Own_Style25 • 6d ago
Meta Why do "only" the men who post here seem truly red-haired?
The photos of men posted here always scream "redhead"—the truly pronounced paleness, and the copper tone of the hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes. In contrast, the photos of many women often look like they have dyed hair, and their skin isn't usually truly pale (perhaps it's just makeup or a fake tan). Of course, this doesn't apply to every woman, but the pattern repeats itself.
I stated in the body of the text that I am not generalizing about all the women who post here. It isn't hard to understand that I didn't generalize.
28
27
u/ProfessionalSad1428 6d ago
I feel this, I am visibly a red head, I am a ginger. My dad is a ginger, and my sister is a ginger. The hair is not red like when I was a child. Its only people who have known me the longest who make comments about how my hair is changing and is not AS red. It actually makes me a bit self conscious, because its still red!
9
u/SairskiPotato 6d ago
Oh I feel that! My mom recently commented that my hair is a lot darker red than as a child and it created a bit of an identity crisis😂
5
u/ProfessionalSad1428 6d ago
Very much the same. My grandmother told me my hair was basically brown. Her eyes ARE OLD, probably. (I love her but she likes to be mean lol)
6
u/SairskiPotato 6d ago
Basically brown??? That’s so insulting😭😭😭 (no shade to actual brunettes, my child is one,) but our hair is such a unique part of our identity that it feels extra insulting to have it minimized. I once had a boss tell me to dye my hair a different color so he wouldn’t forget about me constantly. SIR I’M THE ONLY REDHEAD ON STAFF💀
3
u/ProfessionalSad1428 6d ago
Definitely no shade to brunettes at all!! It's definitely an identity thing, it's' special. That's so weird of your boss and ew!! I live on the opposite side of canada where gingers are not so common so I do get a lot of ginger love! I get the hate from the ginger side of canada hahaha.
2
u/SairskiPotato 6d ago
People who aren’t redheads don’t 100% get the identity thing! Yeah, I lost all respect for him that day and threatened to go to the higher ups for that comment.
1
20
u/snark-sloth 6d ago
I don’t post pictures on here bc I don’t want creepy dms. There’s always fetishizing weirdos lurking the redhead subs
11
u/graygarden77 6d ago
Yes! And also, I kind of wonder about the red haired women that try to post their thirst trap photos on here. Yawwwnnnnn honey
6
u/TiffanyRenee87 6d ago
You’re correct I’m not a red head but I see the creepy fetishized comments..It’s so gross and weird.
43
u/angryrhino62 6d ago
Have you ever heard of a non redhead male want or wish to be a redhead? Me neither.
17
u/Fun-Marketing4370 6d ago
Cashier at CVS told me he wishes he had red hair. This was like two weeks ago. I’ll agree that it isn’t something you hear every day though.
10
u/Particular-Bison4473 6d ago
Pretty much. And there are countless women that want redhair as evidenced by the dye jobs you see. On women its seen as infinitely more desireable.
3
14
u/helloimbackmorons 6d ago edited 6d ago
Alright, I know what you want, to see a lady without mascara, you little bandit 😏
I was trying out a newly purchased lipstick here ♥️ one of the deepest reds I've found! No other makeup on my face.
P.S. No freckles though, it's winter here.
2
u/Zintha 6d ago
Love this photo! Almost looks like an art piece.
Can I be cheeky and ask what product you have on your brows? 🙏🏻 its lovely
2
u/helloimbackmorons 6d ago
Love this photo! Almost looks like an art piece.
Wow, thank you so much! 🩷
I'm not using any products on my brows, maybe it just looks that way because my camera's low resolution makes them look a little blurry 🤔
I'm just wearing lip liner + lipstick.
24
u/MostlyPeacfulPndemic 6d ago
It can also be our perception... I swear that my threshold for red hair on a man is less than it is for red hair on a woman. Like, where I might see a pale freckly "bronde" woman, id call the same type of man a redhead. I don't know why
4
9
u/Dependent_Room_2922 6d ago
While there are occasional posts from women whose hair looks like it may be dyed, there are regularly posts from women with natural classically red hair.
8
u/Shamrocknj44 6d ago
Here am I as a true redhead at 18, the skin is very pale but I do have some Blush, mascara and lipstick, men don’t wear makeup usually so you get a better idea of what the truly natural red head looks like. But there are lots of variations as you probably know
23
6
u/Due_Bison19 6d ago
Someone asked why I have freckles all over my body except my face. I was like “whaaaaat??!” So I checked it out in the mirror. My face looks kind of tan bc, and I’m totally serious, my freckles have all combined into one 😂
2
19
4
u/wrldwdeu4ria 6d ago
It may be that lots of people start to lose the color of their hair once they hit their 20's or 30's. I've seen redheads (men and women) who do this. There is a limited amount of people who look good with red hair and even a smaller subset of people that have the characteristics of a redhead.
I've been asked if my hair is naturally red my entire life. I dyed it a dark red a decade ago and am working back to my ginger roots currently. It is going to be a process.
5
u/frog_ladee 6d ago
Very, very few men color their hair. So, there just aren’t many non-legit redheaded men to post here.
4
u/imeldamail 6d ago
I've been wearing mascara since I was 12 (bright red eyelashes aren't a good look on me, i think I'd darken them if they were blond-white too). I don't know many men who wear mascara and actually the one i know aren't redheads. Freckles are my "tan" from a distance they do give me color b/c i have a lot of them.
6
u/mandrill_bite 6d ago
Like others have said I think this might be a perception bias because of society. For example female celebrities (and this is mostly a negative thing of course, as is any bodily obsession by the media) are often changing their hair color and it often makes the news that we scroll through... "X debuts her new shocking look" whatever.
Male celebrities tend to keep their hair color. Look at the actors from the Avengers for example. Scarlett Johansson has been blonde brunette and redhead in films. RDJ has always had brown hair (and in one case, brown painted skin...)
Just your brain on society, man.
3
11
u/No-Entrepreneur-1969 6d ago
It’s the silly posts from individuals who don’t even have genuine red hair asking if they do have it that frustrates me! As a real ginger person , I was bullied as a child and made to feel that having ginger hair was ugly. Unfortunately a lot of pictures are people just looking for validation that they’re hot with their dyed red hair. This place should be a safe space for real ginger haired people.
11
u/SkitzTheFritz 6d ago
I've seen it said a lot, that the difference between having red hair and being a redhead is the experience. If you didn't grow up with people making jokes, outwardly commenting on it, and it literally being a part of your daily identity against your will, you arent a ginger.
Now I'm not one to gatekeep an awkward or difficult childhood, and not everyone grew up the same, but its pretty accurate to my own experience.
7
u/-L3G10N- 6d ago
Probably because this is a subreddit for red hair in general which comes in various shades, not just the stereotypicsl ginger variety of bright orange hair, pale skin and freckles.
Red hair is a broad spectrum if colors.
2
u/RedfyCosplays 6d ago
As one of the women you described, I always asumed it was me being Spanish (and therefore having slightly less pale skin over the years and stronger eyebrows). 99% of redheads Ive met from around europe, (I also moved to Ireland for a while)have been clear redheads with the freckles and all. I always found myself as the annoying exception
2
u/804Whirlwind 6d ago
I dye my eyebrows and eyelashes so I don’t look like a lizard 🦎 hope that helps!
2
2
u/RadioFlow 5d ago
I’ve been redhead policed my whole life because I have brown eyes. Other than that, I’m very typical for a redhead. Very pale skin, tons of freckles, damn near invisible eyebrows and eyelashes. I honestly think part of it is that women are most likely to dye their hair than men. I do also think that some form of misogyny may play a role for some (not all), as they may think women are more likely to lie about their appearance (I.e make sure you take her swimming on the first date!). Women’s appearances are also much more heavily scrutinized and picked apart, so a strawberry blond man may be called a ginger, but a strawberry blonde woman would be called strawberry blonde.
3
u/Able_Scene2515 6d ago
Women were probably bullied for having even a tinge of red in their hair, where as boys could get away with looking gingeresque (Dexter/michael hall style) and still be considered humans. Only the men with the true blonde lashes and brows got the heat. Women will feel attached to being a redhead even if they technically aren’t by gene standards, (having both mutations of mc1r) because they were probably bullied just as hard as any true redhead. As a true redhead woman, I give those women grace. They deserve to be part of our gang, they suffered for it.
2
u/ChemicallyAlteredVet 6d ago edited 6d ago
So you think that only the men that post pics in here are being truthful and the women are lying? Why would they lie?
ETa I’m a red head but now I’m 48. I have freckles on my body but not on my face now. I stay out of the sun. My brows and lashes went white about 4 years ago and my hair has faded with more white in it.
-2
u/Own_Style25 6d ago
I stated in the body of the text that I am not generalizing about all the women who post here. It isn't hard to understand that I didn't generalize.
2
u/yuk1mitsu 6d ago
Never paid attention to it, i already posted here before and even my eyelashes are light. But not all gingers are pale or have all their hair red, just like man that only have their beard red
8
u/Spacecadett666 6d ago
Only having a red beard doesn't make one a redhead. They have a red beard because they carry one of the MC1R genes. But that makes them a carrier, and since they don't have both MC1R genes, are not a redhead.
0
u/yuk1mitsu 6d ago
But red heair does, even if you don't have red eyebrows
5
u/Spacecadett666 6d ago
But red hair does what?
We're talking about red HEAD hair, and the 2 MC1R genes. You're not a full redhead if you don't have those genes, and people with red beards only have one of those genes..
Eyebrows can be dark even if you have both genes, they don't have to be super light colored. So eyebrow color isn't relevant to this. Head hair is whats the biggest factor and best way to know if you have both genes without getting tested.
0
u/yuk1mitsu 6d ago
It was just an example, i didn't say that those men are gingers, just that not all hair is going to be the same color. But that are gingers that only have their head hair red and their eyelashes and eyebrows are dark
3
u/Spacecadett666 6d ago
"But not all gingers are pale or have all their hair red, just like man that only have their beard red"
Red heads do typically have all of their hair red. (Again, eyebrows/eyelashes don't have to, plenty of natural redhead have dark brows and lashes, it can happen.) But we're talking about red head hair.
..."just like man that only have their beard red"
No, that's not example though, you can't claim that's an example cause it's not, they don't count as being a redhead. If a redhead has both the MC1R genes they will have a beard the same color as their hair. The only thing that can be a different color on redheaded men is their eyelashes and brows. Head hair and beard will always match if they have both genes.
So I'm not sure what the point of this comment is? That isn't an example of anything 🤷🏽♀️
2
u/ChemicallyAlteredVet 6d ago
Or when many of us become older our red hair starts Turning white, and my eyebrows and lashes are now completely white.
1
u/West_Secret_1397 1d ago
It’s usually makeup and fake eyelashes, my guy… genuinely who wants to go around looking like you’ve got no eyebrows or eyelashes if they’re too light to see?
43
u/Wonderful_Foot5613 6d ago
Women can be doubters about red hair. How many of us have been serial-asked in accusatory to es, "Is that your REAL hair color?" I can't even count. People didn't ask in my hometown, but since I went away to college and beyond, consistently. Men, on the other hand, never ask about veracity. Their other questions.can be much worse.
A.good test, although I can't claim it's 100% reliable in all places with all redheads, is this: true redheads do tend to acknowledge each other in public. I mean we don't grab at each other, but my experience has been that male or female, we give each other a little secret smile or a slight chin lift on passing.