Praise the flame-haired Gods: turns out all ye fiery redheads have a reason to be so smug about the rareness of your MC1R gene mutation (known as the 'redhead gene')...
The Big Redhead Book: Inside the Secret Society of Red Hair, notes that gingers are "the unicorns of the human world", with science making quite a few interesting discoveries.
They can create their own vitamin D
Redheads have adapted the ability to created their own vitamin D due to cloudy European environments. So when a redhead goes outside, they produce more vitamin D in a shorter time period than people with other hair colours.
This gives them an evolutionary advantage too, as higher levels of Vitamin D can help prevent rickets, diabetes, and arthritis.
They've a way higher pain threshold
Several
scientific studies show that redheaded women can tolerate up to 25% more pain that women with other hair colours.
They feel temperature more severely
The University of Louisville discovered that the redhead gene can make people way more sensitive to temperatures... Whether that gives a
Mean Girls-esque "there's a 30% chance it's already raining" skill is yet to be proved.
They're more commercially popular
A 2014 report by Upstream Analysis found that 30% of TV commercials in America featured a ginger haired person in a main role, while a redhead appeared on CBS network every 106 seconds.
Makes sense that Emma Stone made the switch from blonde.
They're thought to have a better sense of humour
Circus clowns apparently first wore red wigs to stand out from the black backdrop of the theatre, and it's this tradition that has led to the American perception that red hair is symbolic with humour.
Header image: Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com
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