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Redheads won't go without fiery fight

Long live redheads

Date published: 3/28/2008

By Edie Gross

AS I RECALL, my Angel of Death wore wire-rimmed glasses and brown loafers.

He sidled up to my mother and me--both redheads--while we enjoyed overpriced frozen coffee drinks at a bookstore in Florida and announced unequivocally that we were on the verge of extinction.

"You know you guys are a dying breed, right?" he said before shuffling off to the Self Help for Antisocial Disorders section.

It was the first we'd heard of it, but apparently the demise of the redheaded population--just 2 percent of the world--is predicted with some regularity.

The latest news reports claim we'll die out by the end of the century--no doubt with the few remaining survivors doomed to haunt the bogs of Louisiana, the ivory-billed woodpecker of the freckle-faced world.

A lesser species might be worried. But we redheads have weathered worse.

In ancient times, Egyptians would bury redheaded men alive as offerings to the gods--perhaps to the deities in charge of SPF 80 sunblock?

In the Middle Ages, we were burned at the stake for suspected witchcraft. Though if you think about it, wouldn't a real witch simply conjure up a cauldron of Nice & Easy and turn herself into a God-fearing brunette?

We've been depicted as every villain from Judas and Satan to Scut Farkus, the bully in "A Christmas Story."

And we've endured all manner of name-calling: Carrot Top. Big Red. Strawberry Shortcake.

I'd rather be dead than red in the head.

And you wonder why our tempers are short.

THE MUTANT GENE

In seventh grade, I sported an impossibly big crimson bouffant. It was the '80s after all.

The first time I walked into the cafeteria at Southwood Junior High, a ninth-grader with big ears and horse teeth spotted me and bellowed "FIIIIIIRRRRREBAAAAAALLLLL" repeatedly until my face flamed as red as my hair.

This became a daily, soul-crushing occurrence until my nemesis matriculated to high school, where I fervently prayed that well-built seniors incarcerated him daily in his own locker.

I desperately wanted to be a blonde. My eyebrows were blond. So were my eyelashes. I couldn't understand why the hair on the top of my head couldn't be.

It wasn't until ninth-grade biology that I discovered the problem: Red hair is caused by a recessive gene, one that isn't working quite right.

How red hair happens Scientists blame a mutant gene for causing red hair, a trait that may have developed some 50,000 years ago in Northern Europe. At the time, the pale skin that accompanies red hair would have been advantageous, increasing the body's ability to absorb vitamin D from sunlight. A gene is basically a set of instructions for making a protein, and the gene at the heart of red hair is MC1R. Not surprisingly, that gene makes the MC1R protein, which, if working properly, converts red pigment to brown pigment. We have two copies of most of our genes, one from mom and one from dad. If both copies of your MC1R gene are faulty, red pigment can build up and you end up with red locks. If one of your MC1R genes is faulty, but the other one works fine, you won't have red hair. But you'll be a "carrier," capable of passing the gene on to your children. This explains how red hair can "skip" a generation. Two redheads will pass red hair onto their kids 100 percent of the time. A redhead and a carrier have a 50 percent chance of producing redheads. And two carriers have a one in four chance of having a redhead. If one non-carrier enters the equation, none of the kids will have red hair, but they can be carriers. --Information was gathered from Stanford geneticist Barry Starr, who answers questions from the public on "Ask a Geneticist," a feature on The Tech Museum of Innovation's Web site at thetech.org. Redheads in history Alexander the Great--An ancient Greek military commander whom historians consider one of the world's greatest tacticians. He was never defeated in battle and later inspired a line of grape candy. Christopher Columbus--The man credited with discovering America in 1492 is said to have sailed the ocean blue with a ruddy complexion and full head of red hair. Queen Elizabeth I--Along with her father, Henry VIII, and grandfather, Henry VII, she made red hair fashionable for a time in England. Galileo--A scientist, mathematician and astronomer in the 16th and 17th centuries, Galileo believed the Earth revolved around the sun. The Inquisition, which believed otherwise, sentenced him to house arrest. In 1992, 350 years after Galileo died, Pope John Paul II apologized. George Washington--America's first president, who grew up on nearby Ferry Farm, was a copper top who later powdered his hair. Thomas Jefferson--The primary author of the Declaration of Independence and the country's third president, Jefferson had "sandy red hair" and freckles as a youth. Winston Churchill--Called "Copperknob" in school, this British prime minister led England through World War II. Mark Twain--"Turn up your nose at red heads! What ignorance! I pity your lack of taste," the author wrote in an 1853 essay in the Hannibal Daily Journal. --Information gathered from redandproud.com, redheads.ie and "The Redhead Handbook" by Cort Cass. HOW RED HAIR HAPPENS

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Date published: 3/28/2008

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