Beauty Icon Wednesday: For the Love of Red!

Name: Redheads, Carrot-Tops, Gingers, Blueys; otherwise known as people who have red hair

Known for: Making up less than 2% of the global population, with the highest percentage being in Scotland; often considered to be ill-tempered and volatile.

If you happen to be a regular reader of Beauty Icon Wednesday, the first thing you’ll notice is that this time we've done things a little differently. The reason for that is quite simple, to be quite honest: I couldn’t decide which redhead I wanted to feature. There are so many titian-haired beauties who have influenced me in one way or another over the years, so I decided why not include them all? There are no rules here!

As a redhead by choice, not by birth, I don’t pretend to understand what it means to truly be a redhead. I didn’t have to endure any teasing about being a ‘carrot top’ as a child; however, as a girl who’s had to wear glasses from a very young age, I’ve had my own share of demons to deal with. But, as usual, I digress. From Daphne Blake in the Scooby Doo cartoons to Ginger Spice, from Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls to Christina Hendricks in Mad Men to Emma Stone in – well, in anything she does, really – most of my girl crushes tend to be on redheads.

Sadly, not all of history shares my opinion. 

 In the infamous and ultimately deadly Malleus Maleficarum, or The Witches Hammer, the authors (Inquisitors for the Catholic Church) accused redheads of being either witches, werewolves or vampires. This belief likely stems from that which was widely held in medieval period, that people with red hair were morally and sexually degenerate, and most likely in league with the Devil. Factor in a commonly held myth that redheads have a horrible temper, and what you end up with is  Rita Hayworth in Gilda.

But it hasn’t been all bad. During Queen Elizabeth 1’s reign in sixteenth century England, it was considered fashionable to have red hair. It was a popular hair colour choice for the fair maidens who graced Pre-Raphaelite paintings from the mid-1800's. And finally, I myself have been inspired on more than one occasion to strip my hair from its formerly traditional Gothic black to a fiery red of many hues in homage to any one of these ladies pictured here. This time, thanks to the magic of Nice n Easy Colour Foam, it’s a colour I have claimed as my own. By choice.

Maybe it's true what they say, that blondes have more fun and brunettes will win the man in the end... 

But it's always that certain redhead who will never be forgotten.