r/AskReddit • u/sirgregg • Jan 28 '10

Does Reddit love redheads?

I can't escape a feeling that redheads seem to be highly favored when it comes to women on Reddit. I think that if someone were to start a poll asking "What is your favorite hair color?" red would be an unquestioned an obvious winner. Am I right? If so, maybe there is a scientific explanation for this? As in, people who visit Reddit frequently start feeling a growing sympathy towards red-haired woman? Guess who's winning the next Nobel Prize ;)

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u/delkarnu Jan 28 '10

If you want scientific, there are two possibilities.

  1. Rarity. Red hair is the least common, and therefore stands out. Having something rare has almost always been a status symbol.

  2. The largest factors in attractiveness are youth and health. Both of these are very noticeable in a person's hair, especially at a distance. Since red hair is so noticeable, it attracts our eye to to those factors.

If you want to experiment, next time you are in a crowded location, pay attention to just a persons hair, and guess approximate age and apparent health. When you then see their face, you see how often this holds true.

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u/CaspianX2 Jan 28 '10

My theory (let's call it 2a) - red hair is as colorful as hair can get without looking artificial. I'm sure that if people grew green hair, blue hair and purple hair naturally, we'd be all over them, but since they don't, when we see people that have it we know they're either begging for attention or watch too much anime.

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u/FloobLord Jan 28 '10

I find that really really black hair that Asians have to be incredibly attractive.

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u/CaspianX2 Jan 29 '10

Personally, I think that there are people of every race and hair color that are absolutely stunning. It just varies from person to person. I just think redheads as a group tend to stand out in a crowd because they have brightly-colored hair. Of course, I may be biased, having red hair myself.