Any other parents of redheads?

[Anonymous]

I have a 3 year old DS with bright red hair, freckles, and blue eyes. Whenever we go anywhere with him in public, multiple people will stop us to comment on him and/or sometimes even gasp at him/his hair specifically.

I know this sounds like a humble brag (I apologize), I’m just curious if this happens to other parents of redheads?

Our older children have blonde hair and neither DH nor I nor anyone in our families has red hair. Nobody ever gasped at my other kids lol.

[Anonymous]

Lol, me too. And I'm black. I've got 2yo twins with red hair and we can't go anywhere without it turning into a complete circus.

I also had red hair when I was younger (now kinda brownish) and it always made me stand out. In our family there are a few redheads in every generation thanks to Scottish roots.

[Anonymous]

I have four red heads and we get a lot of comments.

[Anonymous]

My brother is a redhead and this happened to him all the time as a baby. He’s 30 and my mom still talks about how annoying it was!

[Anonymous]

I’m a 55 yr old red head. Was always stopped. I hated the attention and my siblings resented that I received so much of it. Plus my parents both had brown hair so there was always the inevitable “where did you get your red hair from?” With the wink wink thrown in. Hopefully that no longer goes on. Please respond with something like we’re so proud of all of are girls for being so kind/ working hard/ etc. include all the children and deflect from focusing on appearance.

[Anonymous]

Another mid-50s redhead, although now I need some artificial help. Yes people always commented - although I never felt anything other than complimented by the comments. My kids sadly didn't get anything beyond a little red glint to their hair, but their cousins got fire-alarm, Ronald McDonald red hair. They get a ton of attention (again, I think it's all positive.) All I can say OP, is someday they and you will miss it. Having my hair darken in my 40s felt like losing my identity.

[Anonymous]

My sister is a redhead. Early 40s now but I remember people stopping her and asking about the color etc…

[Anonymous]

Weirdly, it happens to my son who is light blond! But my sisters both have very red hair and did get dropped. Mine is less red but as a child (and sometimes now) people commented on it. I admit I enjoyed the attention, but I’m sure if I was actually stopped it would feel intrusive and irritating. DS doesn’t seem to mind but he is 10.

[Anonymous]

All the women in my family are redheads (mom, cousins, sister, daughter). More stares than comments.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks for all the replies. To be clear, it doesn’t bother me. Sometimes I like it, other times it’s slightly annoying but only rarely.

DS has been a very difficult child to raise so I guess I like that at least people think he’s cute. He has SN, though you can’t tell from looking at him.

I guess I don’t think redheads are THAT rare, but it’s nice to know y’all get tons of attention too.

[Anonymous]

My redhead is now 12 and he still gets comments. It drives him nuts. We've worked on a polite "thank you" to people he knows while giving him permission to ignore strangers. Everyone who mentions it thinks they are saying something new and original to him, but it's annoying to him.

[Anonymous]

DS, like DH, is a redhead and gets comments all the time about his hair.

[Anonymous]

Another blue-eyed red head here and, yes, constant unwanted attention. One of ours had red har as a baby and the older kid was super annoyed at how much attention that baby got.

[Anonymous]

Yes everyone asks "where did she get her curly red hair from?" since both parents have brown hair. What do they expect me to say? "The milkman!"?

[Anonymous]

Most people say nice things and we just say a polite thank you and move on. I sometimes feel a little weird saying thank you on my kid's behalf, but she's too young to field these comments on her own and I'm trying to show her how to gracefully accept a compliment without making a huge deal of it, and this is the easiest way.

The only time it annoys is when people want to lecture or give advice or something. Sometimes I get strangers who want to admonish me to be careful with sunscreen or who have these ideas about what red hair "means" about personality, and I cut those conversations short and will walk away from someone who is being rude. When she was a baby I'd get people coming up and saying "this is very lucky, do you know how lucky you are?" and it was kind of weird because it would start out with me saying "oh, thanks -- yes, we do think it's lucky!" but if they kept going I'd be backing away because it was weird how people had such strong feelings about my kid's hair color. Some people are weirdly intense about red hair.

I had red hair when I was younger and experienced this too, but honestly, it's more a one off. People who know you aren't talking about your hair all the time. It becomes something older people always comment on at a wedding, but that's not that big of a deal to field every now and again.

I hope DD isn't made fun of in school due to her hair. I've heard that can happen sometimes but did not experience it growing up. Her hair is a brighter red than mine was, though.