Blonde facts for kids

Blonde children

A blonde person is someone with light-colored hair. The word can be spelled as blonde or blond. Some people have blonde hair because they have less pigment in their hair. This pigment is what gives hair its color.

Often, being blonde is something you inherit from your family. This means it's genetic. Blondes have special genes that make their hair light. Sometimes, light hair is not genetic. This can happen with a condition called albinism. People can also use chemicals, like bleach, to make their hair lighter.

Where Natural Blondes Live

Most people in the world do not have naturally blonde hair. People with blonde hair by their genes are mostly from Europe. Some Aboriginal Australians also have a different gene that makes their hair blonde.

Common Areas for Blondes

Natural blondes are most common around the Baltic Sea. This includes countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland. Ireland also has many natural blondes.

There are also many blondes in the Baltic countries and Slavic countries, especially Poland. You can also find many blondes in northwestern Russia. People of European descent living in Kazakhstan since the Soviet Union era also often have blonde hair.

Other Regions with Blondes

Natural blondes are also common in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Sometimes, hair can become lighter due to things in the environment, like being in the sun a lot.

Anthropologist Peter Frost's map of blonde hair. The lightest yellow shows where blonde hair is most common (80% or more of the people). Darker colors mean fewer blondes. The darkest areas have almost no natural blondes.

Images for kids

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  Footballer Lars Unnerstall, who has blond hair and a blond beard

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  A detail from a portrait of Sigismund Casimir Vasa (c. 1644). He had blonde hair that became darker as he grew older.

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  Women with different shades of blonde hair at a concert in Canton, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, in June 2014.

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  A blonde girl from Vanuatu.

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  A Pamiri child in Tajikistan.

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  An Uyghur girl in Turpan, Xinjiang, China.

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  Mary Magdalene (c. 1480–1487), a painting by Carlo Crivelli showing her with long, blonde hair.

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  Propaganda from Nazi Germany often showed people with blonde hair and blue eyes.

See also

In Spanish: Rubio para niños