Gender bias in hairccolor?

[trillcat]

My Natural hair is a very dark gold blonde, dish water. I hate that term for my color hair, a guy sporting the same color would
just be called called blonde, why is this?

[tinywife]

I've heard guys' hair described as "dirty blond," etc. before, but for the most part I think most guys' hair is too short to really tell what kind of blond it is.

[virgo75]

I'm thinking because women dye their hair so many different colors that there has to be different terms for each color.

On guys there's: blonde, brunette/brown, red, black. lol

[elbow chic]

I think part of it is that guys with that shade are likelier to call it "brown." My ex-husband was a dark blond but he listed his hair color on official documents as brown.

Interestingly, my current husband lists his eye color as "brown" but if he were a woman I feel sure he'd call them hazel or dark hazel or something along those lines. No eyes with that amount of green mixed in can rightly be considered brown.

"Isn't that like a man?"

[squiggyflop]

well, men dont often see color like women do they. we have better color vision and they have better vision for tracking movement.. men have tons of words for types of movements (think of all those terms men made up for sports), and women have lots of terms for different colors..

[jaine]

I have noticed that too ... I don't want to pigeonhole an entire gender but the men that I've talked to about color talk about their colors in a very "discrete" way ... red, green, blue, brown, yellow, orange, purple, black, white. For women it's more of a continuum of colors ... teal, turquoise, robin's egg blue, superman blue, royal blue, sky blue, steel blue, coral, peach, mauve, tan, ivory, magenta, maroon, brick red, fire engine red, etc. etc... I could easily think of dozens of words I use to describe various shades of each individual color.
I'm really not sure if this is a difference in perception or just a choice of words... would be interesting to find out though.

[McFearless]

I have noticed that too ... I don't want to pigeonhole an entire gender but the men that I've talked to about color talk about their colors in a very "discrete" way ... red, green, blue, brown, yellow, orange, purple, black, white. For women it's more of a continuum of colors ... teal, turquoise, robin's egg blue, superman blue, royal blue, sky blue, steel blue, coral, peach, mauve, tan, ivory, magenta, maroon, brick red, fire engine red, etc. etc... I could easily think of dozens of words I use to describe various shades of each individual color.
I'm really not sure if this is a difference in perception or just a choice of words... would be interesting to find out though.

I've noticed it too.
I always just thought men could care less if their hair is medium light blonde with ashy undertones and natural golden highlights during the summer. Lol it just doesn't seem like something a guy would analyze.

[gthlvrmx]

Well uh...guilty! I mean, i used to be creative and try to precisely describe colors when i was little, but no one would understand :rolleyes: And with hair, i am really blind to it unless someone points it out first.

[Mesmerise]

My Natural hair is a very dark gold blonde, dish water. I hate that term for my color hair, a guy sporting the same color would
just be called called blonde, why is this?

Well I'd call my husband a dirty blond ;) he had platinum blond as a small child, but as he's aged it's darkened to a dishwater blond...which is a shocking term yeah... could also call it dark blond...but for some that conjures up more what I'd call "light brown" hair, like my daughter's... if my husband's hair actually grew a bit longer it might get a bit more sun lightened and look less dull ;).

But anyway, he'd call himself a blond...and while I can't disagree, I say it's dark or dirty blond (cause errm... it doesn't have any nice goldenness to it...)

[KittyLost]

well, men dont often see color like women do they. we have better color vision and they have better vision for tracking movement.. men have tons of words for types of movements (think of all those terms men made up for sports), and women have lots of terms for different colors..

I gree with this and probably the fact that men probably couldn't care less about different types of colours. I had an ex who was dirty blonde but insisted he was brunette.

[Springlets]

Oh I know exactly what you're talking about and I was so going to make a thread about this myself, but now I don't have to!

I think it's because men aren't expected to dye their hair, so it doesn't have to fit into one simple category. Also I expect women care less about hair color in men than men do in women, i.e. hair color is a point of beauty in women and so we try hard to enhance it (or we are pressured into it by society...)

But, I feel the injustice of the blonde/dishwater blonde dichotomy for men and women. Look at some of the male actors in Hollywood that are unilaterally called blonde.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS922HYLlwhnmtkB4chq7kPqwMt7A1vu bbK1hJkEffxMaHycX8F http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT7Ah6-vJp7FmPhH2X6lx6rTyKIDQgO3jtV-Hf_GGheLQPPLC_4Uw http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTu5m7uq_s4POS9gHew5CUUVNWcYQ3pV U8GmfuqyX11q0bAnm1JDQ

Now I'm not disputing that these colors aren't blonde- they definitely are- but if this color were on an actress, she would not be called blonde (and she would of course have to dye her hair because such a color is not attractive on a woman). There may be some actresses with this hair color (I honestly can't think of any right now) but if there are, they are most likely not lead actress "sexpot" types, whereas these actors are all leading hollywood men who I think have all won the Sexiest Man Alive title at least once.

Unfair.

[kwaniesiam]

Men are far less likely to sport an unnatural shade of blonde compared to women so there aren't as many terms used to describe the range of colors.

[pepperminttea]

well, men dont often see color like women do they. we have better color vision and they have better vision for tracking movement..

Ditto; colourblindness runs in the male side of my family, and my brother has told me that my hair (in his eyes) is more of a green than a brown. :p

[Mesmerise]

Oh I know exactly what you're talking about and I was so going to make a thread about this myself, but now I don't have to!

I think it's because men aren't expected to dye their hair, so it doesn't have to fit into one simple category. Also I expect women care less about hair color in men than men do in women, i.e. hair color is a point of beauty in women and so we try hard to enhance it (or we are pressured into it by society...)

But, I feel the injustice of the blonde/dishwater blonde dichotomy for men and women. Look at some of the male actors in Hollywood that are unilaterally called blonde.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS922HYLlwhnmtkB4chq7kPqwMt7A1vu bbK1hJkEffxMaHycX8F http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT7Ah6-vJp7FmPhH2X6lx6rTyKIDQgO3jtV-Hf_GGheLQPPLC_4Uw http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTu5m7uq_s4POS9gHew5CUUVNWcYQ3pV U8GmfuqyX11q0bAnm1JDQ

Now I'm not disputing that these colors aren't blonde- they definitely are- but if this color were on an actress, she would not be called blonde (and she would of course have to dye her hair because such a color is not attractive on a woman).

See... I don't call this blonde...I call it "light brown"...to me blonde hair is that light colour (like in your avatar), and when it stops being light, and merges into this sort of colour, I call it light brown.

The funny thing is...this is sort of like my daughter's hair although hers has quite warm tones, rather than "ashy"...and I always said she had light brown hair. If anyone tells her she's blonde she protests LOL.

I sometimes think when people have hair like this and they call it blonde it's sort of a self-delusion based on the idea that "blonde" is somehow superior to other colours.

[IanB]

I suppose it's just accepted that, in general, men don't dye their hair

[Neneka]

A little OT but it's very annoying when men say red when the colour is really orange, sometimes really yellowish orange that is really far from red! Like the orange colour would not exist at all. I have heard only men doing that.

And. An Asian man once called my hair colour yellow. My hair was pretty much virgin at that time and if you visit my photo album you can see that there is nothing yellow. Maybe his English was just really bad (it was and I am not a native speaker either) and he had no other word for lighter coloured hair. But yellow. :confused: He also saw no difference when I bleached my hair.

[Audrey Horne]

My DH has "ocean" colour of eyes but more blue than green. However, his eye colour is listed as green in the pass... It could be easily the same for hair colour. Women like to give every shade a name :D

[Aveyronnaise]

I have noticed that too ... I don't want to pigeonhole an entire gender but the men that I've talked to about color talk about their colors in a very "discrete" way ... red, green, blue, brown, yellow, orange, purple, black, white. For women it's more of a continuum of colors ... teal, turquoise, robin's egg blue, superman blue, royal blue, sky blue, steel blue, coral, peach, mauve, tan, ivory, magenta, maroon, brick red, fire engine red, etc. etc... I could easily think of dozens of words I use to describe various shades of each individual color.
I'm really not sure if this is a difference in perception or just a choice of words... would be interesting to find out though.
I think it is perception. I have a lot of friends who are Male to Female transsexuals and several if not all of them mentioned to me , that after taking hormones that colors became different to them.
One friend said colors and smells became richer and she could 'feel' them more.
Anyhow, that's my 2 cents.

[Neneka]

I think it is perception. I have a lot of friends who are Male to Female transsexuals and several if not all of them mentioned to me , that after taking hormones that colors became different to them.
One friend said colors and smells became richer and she could 'feel' them more.
Anyhow, that's my 2 cents.

That's really interesting. Maybe women in general developed better colour vision and sence of smell because they had to gather food and they had to know what is poisonous and what is not and they had to feed their kids.

[Katze]

Well, the definition of blonde is subjective, anyway. I have blonde eyebrows and eyelashes and body hair, burn don't tan, and was blonde as a kid. Brown haired, according to most people. DH tans (darker overall skin tone) and has dark body hair and a red/blonde/brown mixed color beard, but BRIGHT blue eyes. He is considered blonde, I'm not; we basically have the same color hair though his lightens more in summer (it's more damaged)

Here is an old pic of us in London, overcast natural light:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=218&pictureid=11419

Is he blond? Am I blonde? I don't think we look blonde at all in this pic.

So, yes, I think there are two things going on: one, that what is considered blonde changes depending on culture, lighting, and other subjective factors. two, that light-brown-dark-blond-haired men are often categorized as 'light' hair colored, and thus blonde, end of story. Men do seem to be less concerned with describing the various gradations of color, and I think this is both hormonal and (to a larger degree) a matter of socialization.

I remember a couple of years ago when the latest James Bond came out how they were describing him as 'the blond Bond' and I am going - what? He's as blond as DH is, or as I am, which is not very.

[Audrey Horne]

Well, the definition of blonde is subjective, anyway. I have blonde eyebrows and eyelashes and body hair, burn don't tan, and was blonde as a kid. Brown haired, according to most people. DH tans (darker overall skin tone) and has dark body hair and a red/blonde/brown mixed color beard, but BRIGHT blue eyes. He is considered blonde, I'm not; we basically have the same color hair though his lightens more in summer (it's more damaged)

Here is an old pic of us in London, overcast natural light:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=218&pictureid=11419

Is he blond? Am I blonde? I don't think we look blonde at all in this pic.

So, yes, I think there are two things going on: one, that what is considered blonde changes depending on culture, lighting, and other subjective factors. two, that light-brown-dark-blond-haired men are often categorized as 'light' hair colored, and thus blonde, end of story. Men do seem to be less concerned with describing the various gradations of color, and I think this is both hormonal and (to a larger degree) a matter of socialization.

I remember a couple of years ago when the latest James Bond came out how they were describing him as 'the blond Bond' and I am going - what? He's as blond as DH is, or as I am, which is not very.
I think you're both blonde. Dark blonde. In MY eyes :D Light brown has another shade to me. In Russian language there is an entirely different word for it. I think nobody would call you blonde as long as you're dark and not that light blonde that nordic people often sport. You're right, it's totally subjective.

[slz]

well, men dont often see color like women do they. we have better color vision and they have better vision for tracking movement.
Source, please ?

[Katze]

I think you're both blonde. Dark blonde. In MY eyes :D Light brown has another shade to me. In Russian language there is an entirely different word for it. I think nobody would call you blonde as long as you're dark and not that light blonde that nordic people often sport. You're right, it's totally subjective.

Funny! When I lived in New York City, I was considered blonde. When I had my hair dyed dark to cover the two toned growing out bleach, it was a 'medium ash blonde' shade (see profile pic with horse) that looked BROWN to me. Here in northern Europe, I am considered brown haired; there are more naturally blonde - pale to golden yellow or a similar color to my hair, but several shades lighter - they're blonde.

Some people seem to use blonde just for that nordic shade you describe. The color so many people were as kids, and so many women bleach to try to hang on to.

I always think I am blonde because I have blonde eyebrows. :D

[Audrey Horne]

Funny! When I lived in New York City, I was considered blonde. When I had my hair dyed dark to cover the two toned growing out bleach, it was a 'medium ash blonde' shade (see profile pic with horse) that looked BROWN to me. Here in northern Europe, I am considered brown haired; there are more naturally blonde - pale to golden yellow or a similar color to my hair, but several shades lighter - they're blonde.

Some people seem to use blonde just for that nordic shade you describe. The color so many people were as kids, and so many women bleach to try to hang on to.

I always think I am blonde because I have blonde eyebrows. :D
It actually depends on culture a lot and personal perception! You're probably brown in Germany? There are so many (light) blondes there, so I can see why you'd be "brown" :-) I like to specify when a colour isn't really "clear". For example, "caramel", "honey", "coffee and milk" (for me it's more brown), etc.
Colours can be so confusing in terms of names! I'm mostly called as kastanienbraun. But there were a few times when my hair was called black :D And it isn't even that dark in real life and it is clearly redish.
I knew a lady with mid-blonde natural hair and black eyebrows (and brown eyes), can you imagine?! :D So eyebrows can be deceiving haha

[Mesmerise]

I think you're both blonde. Dark blonde. In MY eyes :D Light brown has another shade to me. In Russian language there is an entirely different word for it. I think nobody would call you blonde as long as you're dark and not that light blonde that nordic people often sport. You're right, it's totally subjective.

Hehe see, I call it light brown! It is the hair I had when I was younger and I never considered it blonde. I always see that light golden colour as blonde... I'm not sure at which point it sort of "switches" from blonde to being light brown though... but I do consider light brown hair to have brownish shades in it which blonde hair (to me) doesn't have.

To me, the people on this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blond are all Blonde. Although those Kurdish kids will probably darken up as they get older.

I wonder if a lot of people who start life as blondes sort of hold onto it as their hair darkens, which is why they call the lighter brown colour blonde? I mean... I guess if I was blonde as a child I'd probably wanna hold onto that too! I don't know...Or it could be that they're just used to being blonde because that's what they were always called.

Partly I think it comes down to a perceived superiority of blonde over brown hair, which is sort of sad. If I say someone has light brown hair instead of blonde hair, I don't feel like I am demeaning their hair colour at all or implying that it's somehow "worse" than being blonde.

ETA oh and Katze, in your profile pic you look like a darkish blonde to me...especially the ends of your hair. In the pic with your hubby you look more a light brown, but you're one of those in betweenish colours to me which is harder to define. To me it depends a lot on the shade of the hair as well.

[Audrey Horne]

Hehe see, I call it light brown! It is the hair I had when I was younger and I never considered it blonde. I always see that light golden colour as blonde... I'm not sure at which point it sort of "switches" from blonde to being light brown though... but I do consider light brown hair to have brownish shades in it which blonde hair (to me) doesn't have.

To me, the people on this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blond are all Blonde. Although those Kurdish kids will probably darken up as they get older.

I wonder if a lot of people who start life as blondes sort of hold onto it as their hair darkens, which is why they call the lighter brown colour blonde? I mean... I guess if I was blonde as a child I'd probably wanna hold onto that too! I don't know...Or it could be that they're just used to being blonde because that's what they were always called.

Partly I think it comes down to a perceived superiority of blonde over brown hair, which is sort of sad. If I say someone has light brown hair instead of blonde hair, I don't feel like I am demeaning their hair colour at all or implying that it's somehow "worse" than being blonde.

ETA oh and Katze, in your profile pic you look like a darkish blonde to me...especially the ends of your hair. In the pic with your hubby you look more a light brown, but you're one of those in betweenish colours to me which is harder to define. To me it depends a lot on the shade of the hair as well.
See, and I'd never call them brown on that photo haha But if you think about it then it's neither brown, nor blonde. Or how they also call it "brond" sometimes. I say dark blonde when I tend to see more yellowish or golden. Heck with it! Haha it is simply intuition for me! :D
Nothing is just black and white :-) And it's good this way.
I know a lot of blondes who had that light true blonde and darkened with age quite a lot. They mostly identify themselves as blonde, yes. But not all of them. My DH often thinks he is light brown. However, to me he's not. I always compare him to my purely brown relatives. It's all relativity... It depends how we compare, don't you think? So interesting...

[Emmental]

<snip>

But, I feel the injustice of the blonde/dishwater blonde dichotomy for men and women. Look at some of the male actors in Hollywood that are unilaterally called blonde.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS922HYLlwhnmtkB4chq7kPqwMt7A1vu bbK1hJkEffxMaHycX8F http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT7Ah6-vJp7FmPhH2X6lx6rTyKIDQgO3jtV-Hf_GGheLQPPLC_4Uw http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTu5m7uq_s4POS9gHew5CUUVNWcYQ3pV U8GmfuqyX11q0bAnm1JDQ

Now I'm not disputing that these colors aren't blonde- they definitely are- but if this color were on an actress, she would not be called blonde (and she would of course have to dye her hair because such a color is not attractive on a woman). There may be some actresses with this hair color (I honestly can't think of any right now) but if there are, they are most likely not lead actress "sexpot" types, whereas these actors are all leading hollywood men who I think have all won the Sexiest Man Alive title at least once.

Unfair.

I call all of them "light brown". Those hair colors are really considered blonde?

As for it being considered unattractive on a female, I disagree. My eyes show the below color pretty much the same as the above colors and she is pretty popular. I also thought her hair was "light brown"; shows what I know! :p

http://deceiver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/jennifer_aniston_madmen.jpg

[mellie]

My DH has referred to his color as "dirty blond".

[Ashenputtel]

I'm also in that in-between stage. Some people call me blonde, some call me light brown (châtain) when my hair is all virgin.

here's my natural color.

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/25159_10150132007120580_554010579_11324554_2193349 _n.jpg

Honestly, I think I have a blonde "type" (skin color and such) but light brown hair.

I agree that blonde is considered superior for some reason, whenever I let my hair grow back people tell me that they miss the blonde highlights, that I look more striking as a blonde. I desagree, and my brow's upkeep is way easier with daker hair!

[Anje]

I agree with the idea that males generally use fewer color names than females, though it also makes sense that since fewer men are going to lighten their darker blond hair to the light blond that many women aim for, the term for the color shifts a bit darker.

This discussion reminded me of the very amusing color survey that was done by the XKCD guy (http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/). (Work Warning, some swear words and a risk of making you laugh loud enough to attract attention from the boss.)

[Alun]

There is an old thread linking to a colour blindness test where you have to rearrange colours in order. I ranked average for a man, and most women here did get better scores than me, although a few were worse. They did rank differently by gender, because they did expect men to get worse scores.

BTW, there is a common assumption that men who dye their hair blond are gay, but not if you dye it a dark colour, IMHO.

[spidermom]

I agree that women go into more detail differentiating between different colors in the same family. I'll see burgandy; my husband sees red (for example).

I wonder where the stupid term "dishwater blond" comes from. It's completely nondescriptive and makes me see suds.

[Anje]

BTW, there is a common assumption that men who dye their hair blond are gay, but not if you dye it a dark colour, IMHO.
Maybe going darker is less obviously dyed, and obviously-dyed is equated with homosexuality?

[Ermine]

My Natural hair is a very dark gold blonde, dish water. I hate that term for my color hair, a guy sporting the same color would
just be called called blonde, why is this?

Whoa, you have my hair! At least that's what it will look like when my highlights and lowlights grow out. Besides what other people mentioned, it doesn't help that there are more women out there that dye their hair much lighter blonde to the point that we "dark blondes" seem like the oddballs.

Sidenote: It's probably not meant that way, but I really resent the term dishwater. I just envision grey water littered with food waste. Not a nice image.

[Audrey Horne]

It's probably not meant that way, but I really resent the term dishwater. I just envision grey water littered with food waste. Not a nice image.

I haven't heard this term before LHC. It makes me think of soap and laundry :S I don't like it too.

[littlenvy]

There is an old thread linking to a colour blindness test where you have to rearrange colours in order. I ranked average for a man, and most women here did get better scores than me, although a few were worse. They did rank differently by gender, because they did expect men to get worse scores.

BTW, there is a common assumption that men who dye their hair blond are gay, but not if you dye it a dark colour, IMHO.
:) I guess nobody told this piece of news to Brad Pitt :eyebrows:

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb137/lawrenceofarabia1968/Brad-Pitt.jpg

[squiggyflop]

Source, please ?
discovery channel, some show about the differences between men and women.. apparently the reason its like that is because we were the gatherers and had to be able to tell the red death berries from the tasty red berries.. and the tracking of movement better is a hunting thing.. thats why more men have some form of color blindness than women, its just that they didnt need the color stuff that much..

anyway i cant remember what program it was but i did find a nicer link.. for your science geeky pleasure, i know i enjoyed reading it (http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2007/07/do_women_perceive_color_differ_3.php)..

anyway, so the program on the discovery health channel said that while their eyes are handicapped in one way, they made up for it in another way.. but really i think men and their movement tracking are at a loss in modern society, where color matters a lot more than being able to nail a running deer with a bow and arrow from 100 yards.. they got the short end of the stick i think

[Springlets]

As for it being considered unattractive on a female, I disagree. My eyes show the below color pretty much the same as the above colors and she is pretty popular. I also thought her hair was "light brown"; shows what I know! :p

http://deceiver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/jennifer_aniston_madmen.jpg

See now I always thought of her as light brown as well, but probably because I know she dyes to that color from her natural medium-dark brown. But if this were natural on someone and I knew in the past they were lighter blonde as a child, I would consider it blonde. Lol, I guess I take past hair color into account the most, and that's why Brad Pitt, Bradley Cooper, and Leonardo DiCaprio are also still considered blonde because in the past they've been blonder.


though it also makes sense that since fewer men are going to lighten their darker blond hair to the light blond that many women aim for, the term for the color shifts a bit darker.

I think this is true. If we women stopped dyeing our hair lighter, we'd have the same categorizations as men.


Also, as far as the idea that people with this kind of hair color who still call themselves blonde because of social pressure or identity, I think it's both. I don't think you can deny that light blonde color is much sought after, which is why we see so many in Hollywood actresses (not saying that this is how it should be). But also I think it's normal to identify yourself with the color you had growing up. I imagine women who have a color in between black and dark brown may have a similar dilemma and I wouldn't fault them for saying they are one over the other. It's all up to their preference and why shouldn't it be?

[littlenvy]

I think we all might have a different idea of this 'dishwater' blonde.
Mine is just that, dirty blonde. With sun it goes lighter tone of ash blonde, with tea rinses (senna) it goes golden blonde.
But its NOT brown. Its called 'dishwater' because of the lack of colour, like muddy or dirty water. There is no red overtones or gold highlights to reflect light. IMHO, THIS is the hair colour that should be called gray or dark gray.
The reason why I coloured mine for years and even now tend to tint it as much as I can, its because its very hard to get any shine into this kind of dirty blonde hair, it often appears matte and not very attractive.

Men with this type of hair colour ususally have it short and dying it would be just silly since you would have to do that very often. I have seen men with this type of hair that spend so much time outdoors that it becomes sun bleached anyway.

When it comes to men and their hair terms though, I have to agree :). I have dyed my hair anything from totally bleached white blonde to ash blonde to almost redish dark blonde and all my DH would say is "You know that blonde you had few months ago? I liked that blonde the best" but couldn't say what it looked like exactly.

[Springlets]

I think this is a pretty good spectrum of blonde colors, although some are dyed or have highlights.

http://www.style-hair-magazine.com/blonde-hair-style.html

[ifthemoonsmiled]

Well, I don't know about generally speaking, but this thread made me think of a friend of mine who insists he's a blond. I would describe his hair as light brown most of the time, with blond highlights in the summertime. He describes his summertime sunbleached hair as "lightning blond". (How's that for men not having words for specific shades...!)

I think it probably is that men do not dye their hair as often, so you don't see as many men with lighter shades. Naturally blond hair is a fuuny thing; I've even seem some very light shades darken up to light brown in certain conditions & then go back to blond in others. I suppose you're less likely to reassess your haircolor if you've never dyed it.

I also think in my friend's case he just has some vanity issues with his hair.

[Mesmerise]

discovery channel, some show about the differences between men and women.. apparently the reason its like that is because we were the gatherers and had to be able to tell the red death berries from the tasty red berries.. and the tracking of movement better is a hunting thing.. thats why more men have some form of color blindness than women, its just that they didnt need the color stuff that much..



Well that all makes sense...but the real reason men have more colour blindness than women is that the genes for colour detection are on the X chromosome. As women have two X chromosomes, if there's something funky about the genes on one, the other compensates and they can see colour fine... with men, if there's a problem with the colour genes, they end up colour blind because they have only one set of those genes.

Basically for a woman to be colour blind, she has to have a colour blind father and a mother carrying the gene for colour blindness, so it's much less common!

[Mesmerise]

I'm also in that in-between stage. Some people call me blonde, some call me light brown (châtain) when my hair is all virgin.

here's my natural color.

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/25159_10150132007120580_554010579_11324554_2193349 _n.jpg

Honestly, I think I have a blonde "type" (skin color and such) but light brown hair.

I agree that blonde is considered superior for some reason, whenever I let my hair grow back people tell me that they miss the blonde highlights, that I look more striking as a blonde. I desagree, and my brow's upkeep is way easier with daker hair!

I see your hair as light brown, but I can also see some lighter bits that I'd describe as blonde.

The more I think about this topic, the harder it is to define where the boundary between blonde and brown lie...and I think to me it's more a colour shade than darkness/lightness...there are dark blondes which I wouldn't call brown because they don't really have a "brownness" to the colour. Yours I see shades of brown in... but there are some which is more nondescript colour (that sounds bad...but it's only cause I can't describe it :p it's the ashyness that doesn't quite have a brownness to it...) My husband has hair like this now it has darkened up. And I'd call it dirty blonde...which doesn't sound nice...cause it's not actually dirty lol it just isn't really brown...while still being quite dark (for blonde hair anyway).

I remember someone calling me Ash blonde as a child...but I always called it light brown. It's not an ashy colour, it's a brownish colour, just not a very dark one (well it wasn't then...it has darkened up a lot now but I'm not sure what it is exactly cause it's a LONG time since I've had virgin hair lol).

[Alun]

Maybe going darker is less obviously dyed, and obviously-dyed is equated with homosexuality?

Or maybe covering grey is more acceptable than just dying it a different colour for it's own sake. Although that doesn't take account of young goth guys with their hair dyed black. Whatever the reason, though, IME most guys with their hair dyed blond actually are gay.

[free_hug]

I knew a guy with the same color. He called it dirrrty blond, and added a ;-)

...well, I found it a cute comic relief, and pretty color. But i guess it's a matter of taste, and situation.