redhead

there has been some discussion about whether I'm a blonde or a redhead

I maintain that I am a redhead based on the following:

- my skin is so pale it is translucent, which makes my blue veins highly visible and also any high levels of bloodflow coming to the surface of my skin
- I am particularly susceptible to fast and severe sunburn
- I have very sensitive skin (sensitive to allergens and irritations, etc)
- I have freckles and moles (really dark freckles)
- I am more sensitive/susceptible to thermal pain (burns)
- I require greater amounts of anaesthesia than the average person (just ask my dentist and the hospital who put me under to yank all 4 of my wisdom teeth)
- I have a greater than average pain tolerance (again, ask my dentist)
- my body hair is so pale blonde that it is nearly invisible
- my eyes range from light blue to turquoise to navy, and are extremely light-sensitive
- my dad, his brother, and their father all have red hair that was BRIGHT red in youth and has darkened to auburn as they aged
- my mother's father had bright blonde hair, and my mother's mother has black hair (blonde + black usually = red)
- my family origins are in Europe (particularly England and Scotland and Germany/Poland)
- as a child, my hair was WHITE-blonde, as a teenager my hair was YELLOW-blonde, now it is darkening and 1 out of every 10 strands is metallic RED
- every time I try to bleach my hair, it ends up ORANGE (blue is the first pigment to lift out of hair, then red, and lastly yellow)
- when dyed improperly, red hair tends to go dark green


which is supported by the following:

biochemistry & genetics of redheads
higher pain tolerance
but more sensitive and require more anaesthetic
redheads more susceptible to skin cancer
there are redheads in my dad's side of the family
redhead genetics
less medically-sound evidence
starts out light, but gets technical
makeup for redheads
skin type I

so there!  :-P

interesting fact:  less than 2% of the planet's population are redheads