Red hair Facts for Kids

Female with red hair

Red hair intensifies in sunlight

People with red hair are often called redheads. This hair color is natural and can range from deep red to bright copper. You might also see shades like auburn or even strawberry blond. Red hair is special because it has a lot of a reddish pigment called pheomelanin. It also has less of a dark pigment called eumelanin.

Redheads often have very light skin and many freckles. Their eyes can be lighter in color too. Because of their skin type, redheads are more sensitive to sunlight.

How Red Hair Gets Its Color
Famous People with Red Hair
Images for kids
See also

How Red Hair Gets Its Color

A close-up view of red hair

A Roman fresco of a woman with red hair. This artwork is from Herculaneum and was made before 79 AD.

The unique color of red hair comes from a special pigment. This pigment is called pheomelanin. Red hair has much more pheomelanin than it has of the darker pigment, eumelanin.

The Genes Behind Red Hair

The way red hair is passed down is linked to our genetics. A specific gene, called the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene, plays a big role. This gene is found on chromosome 16. About 80% of people with red hair have a certain change in their MC1R gene.

This gene also affects skin color. A lower amount of dark pigment in the body, caused by the MC1R gene change, leads to fair skin. Fair skin can be good in places with little sunlight. It helps the body make enough Vitamin D. But in very sunny places, less pigment means a higher risk of skin problems.

Freckles and Sun

The MC1R gene variant often makes it hard for skin to tan. When fair skin with lots of pheomelanin is exposed to the sun, it often develops freckles. So, freckles are very common for redheads.

How Red Hair is Inherited

Red hair can happen if there are certain changes to the MC1R gene. If a person has two copies of one of these changed genes, they will likely have red hair. This is called recessive inheritance. This means a child can have red hair even if neither parent does. Both parents might carry the gene without having red hair themselves.

Famous People with Red Hair

Many well-known people throughout history have had red hair. Here are just a few examples:

Images for kids

Woman with red hair
Actor Rupert Grint with red hair
Portrait of Ismail I of Persia
A young British woman with red hair and freckles
Mustafa Amini, Australian footballer of Afghan descent
Mexican Boxer Santos "Canelo" Álvarez with red hair. Álvarez has been nicknamed "Canelo" for his red locks, which is Spanish for cinnamon.
Ögedei Khan, son of Genghis Khan and second Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, is shown with a light-colored reddish beard and mustache.
Roman Fresco of a relaxed seated woman from Stabiae, 1st century AD
Woman with mixed reddish-brown hair, Papua New Guinea. Melanesians have a significant incidence of mixed-fair hair, caused by a genetic mutation different from European blond and red hair.
Most likely a posthumous painted portrait of Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt with red hair and her distinct facial features, wearing a royal diadem and pearl-studded hairpins, from Roman Herculaneum, mid-1st century AD
Polychrome Roman marble statue depicting the goddess Tyche holding the infant Plutus in her arms, 2nd century AD, Istanbul Archaeological Museum
Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1470–1475, by Sandro Botticelli
Elizabeth I of England, ca. 1588
The Accolade, 1901, by Edmund Blair Leighton
Hundreds of redheads together at the Redhead Day, September 2007
Mary Magdalene is commonly portrayed with long red hair, as in this 1859 painting by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys

Red hair facts for kids

Contents