Blond (feminine, blonde) is a hair color found in certain mammals characterised by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin and higher levels of the pale pigment phæomelanin, in common with red hair. From darkest ash blond to pale blond, the various hues of blondness colour about 2% of the world's population.
The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish colour, going from the very pale blond caused by a patchy, scarce distribution of pigment, to reddish "strawberry" blond colours or golden brownish blond colours, the latter with more eumelanin. True blonds have the thinnest hair, while red hair is the thickest. Blond hair can be found in humans and certain breeds of dogs and cats, among other mammalian species.
Etymology, spelling, and grammar
The adjective is a relatively recent borrowing into English from French (the traditional English terms for blond being "fair-haired", "flaxen", or "tow-haired"), and careful writers still distinguish between the masculine blond and the feminine blonde.[1] However, most English speakers do not use the French system of grammatical gender along with the word. They often confuse the two, although the feminie form is more common. This is likely because it is also used as a noun meaning "a blonde person" (see blonde jokes). The French word, in turn, derives from the medieval.
The word—with one spelling or the other—is also occasionally used to refer to objects that have a colour reminiscent of fair hair. Examples include dolls' hair, pale wood, and lager beer.
Origins
Blond hair can occur naturally in all humans, but at such a low rates that it is hardly noticeable in most populations. In European populations blond hair occurs so frequently it is often associated as a unique European trait, but it is unique only in being so common.
Based on recent genetic information, it probable that humans with blond hair became distinctly numerous in Europe about 11,000 to 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age. Before then Europeans had dark brown hair and eyes, which is predominate in the rest of the world.[2]
A long standing question has been why did Northern Europeans evolve to have blond hair (and wide varieties of eye color) so relatively recently and quickly in the human evolution timescale? If the changes had occurred by the usual processes of evolution, they would have taken about 850,000 years. But modern humans, emigrating from Africa, reached Europe only 35,000-40,000 years ago.[2]
Canadian anthropologist Peter Frost, under the aegis of University of St Andrews, published a study in March 2006 in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior[3] that says blond hair evolved very quickly at the end of the last Ice Age by means of sexual selection. According to the study, north European women evolved blonde hair and blue eyes at the end of the Ice Age to make them stand out from their rivals at a time of fierce competition for scarce males. The study argues that blond hair originated in the European region because of food shortages 10,000-11,000 years ago. Almost the only sustenance in northern Europe came from roaming herds of mammoths, reindeer, bison and horses and finding them required long, arduous hunting trips in which numerous males died, leading to a high ratio of surviving women to men. Women with blond hair were more attractive to their mates and thus there was evolutionary pressure that increased the number of blonds.
Distribution among humans
Fair hair is characteristic of the peoples of Northern Europe, particularly Scandinavia and Finland; very pale hair is often referred to as Nordic blond. The true amounts and degree to which hair in this region is blonde has however been obfuscated by the percentage of people bleaching their hair. Sweden, the largest and most populous of the Nordic countries, for example, has the highest percentage of both males and female who make use of hydrogen peroxide and related chemicals to change their natural hair colour to that of 'Nordic Blond/e'. Blond hair however is found all over Europe (though in smaller proportions) and is even present in the Middle East and South Asia, though it is very rare there, except amongst the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Generally, Blond hair is genetically associated with paler eye-colour (blue, green and light brown) and pale (sometimes freckled) skin tone.
The demarcation between blond and brown hair is to some extent subjective. Carleton Coon's definition of 'blondism' included "hair that ranges from light brown to ashen or golden". His literature review of anthropometric studies found blond hair in native European populations in the following proportions (unless stated, all of these figures include 'light brown' as a shade of blond - pure blonds are always a minority):[1]
- Norway: c.33-50% - Iceland: c.50% - Sweden: c.50-60% - Denmark: c.17% (not including light brown) - Finnic peoples of Russia: c.20-40% - Lithuania: c.20% (not including light brown) - Estonia: c.50% - Finland: c.36-60% - Latvia: c.50% - Ireland*: c.15% (only 0.5% pure ash blond) - England: from c.25% on eastern coast to c.10% in west - Wales*: c.8% - Scotland*: c.11% - France: c.12% (highest proportions in northern and eastern regions) - Belgium: c.13-18% - Netherlands: c.60% (including 'medium brown') - Germany: c.46% in north, <c.25% in in central and southern regions - Switzerland and Austria: c.<30% - Italy: c.6%, mainly in northern regions - Czech Republic and Slovakia: c.<25% - Hungary: data not given, "black and dark brown hair shades reach approximately...50%" - Poland, Belarus and Ukraine: data not given: "the commonest hair colours are medium to dark brown" - Russia: c.20%, highest proportions closer to Baltic region - Former Yugoslavia: data not complete; Serbia and Montenegro <c.10% light brown or blond - Albania: c.15% - Bulgaria: c.10%, including 'medium brown' - Romania: c.19% (Note: Wales, Ireland and Scotland also have relatively high proportions of red hair) Maps of the frequency distribution of light eyes and hair can be viewed here[2]
It is also normal for hair to darken through childhood. Caucasian babies are generally born with the slightest wisp of fair hair, and then go on to grow hair of the colour that they are genetically predetermined to grow. Darkening can even occur relatively late in life. Strong sunlight also lightens hair of any pigmentation, to varying degrees.
Instinctive and cultural reactions
Dark-haired people have historically found pale hair to be interesting, and often wished to emulate it. The dark-haired women of Rome, used to buy wigs made from hair from the yellow- and red- and black-haired Germanic tribespeople and Greek poli with whom their civilisation came into contact. In modern Western culture, the bleaching of hair is common, especially among women.
However, it must be noted that those with pale hair sometimes desire darker hair. Different cultures around the world often find one type of hair the most desirable.
Some research suggests that fair hair, being characteristic of young children, evokes parent-like feelings of affection and protection in others. This association with children may also be the cause of the common Western stereotype of blond women as being unintelligent (such as fictional character Chrissy Snow, a stereotypical dumb blonde). Two notable sex icons of twentieth century America who helped popularize this image were Marilyn Monroe and Jean Harlow, known as "the Blond Bombshell" and "the Original Blond Bombshell", respectively. Both frequently portrayed "classic" dumb blondes in their films, yet were known privately as intelligent women. Jean Harlow is often credited as being the person who made it acceptable in Western culture for ordinary women to artificially bleach their hair blonde without being perceived as prostitutes.
In the early twentieth century, blond hair was sometimes associated with an Aryan master race, promoted by Nordicists such as Madison Grant and Alfred Rosenberg, although brown or dark hair was more common among Aryans.
Myth of the Disappearing Blonds
In 2002 BBC news (and others) reported[4] that unnamed German scientists had concluded that the natural distribution of fair hair would cease within the span of 200 years due to the lack of a recessive genes; only a select number of people from Finland will have naturally blond hair. The article stated that there is a reportedly low number of people carrying the recessive blond genes, especially in nations of mixed heritage (examples: USA , Canada, New Zealand, Australia). The dominant genes (brown hair, black hair, brown eyes) 'overthrow' the recessive genes or metaphorically, endanger them. Subsequent the study was attributed to the World Health Organization. Then in October 2002 the New York Times reported that the World Health Organization had no knowledge of this study.[5]. The WHO has since officially confirmed that the story is a fake. [6]
The hoax inexplicably reappeared in news articles on February 26, 2006 [2] and once again traveled quickly across the World Wide Web [7]. The hoax even appeared on the "Threat-Down" segment of The Colbert Report, where Stephen Colbert suggested a selective breeding program to save blondes.
In any event, the hypothesis is based on a misunderstanding of "recessive genes". Unless the gene is associated with a disadvantage to survival or reproduction, it will continue to be passed on to future generations. Although racial intermixing may lead to a reduced proportion of individuals in whom the blond trait is expressed (i.e. who inherit the gene from both parents), it does not in itself reduce the prevalence of the gene.
See also
- Recessive genes
- Brown hair
- Red hair
- Blonde jokes
- Dumb blonde
- Blonde is also the title of the popular novel published in 2000 by Joyce Carol Oates. Blonde is an extremely fictionalized account of Norma Jean Baker's life.
Notes
- ^ "Blond/Brunet" from The American Heritage Book of English Usage (1996)
- ^ a b c "Cavegirls were first blondes to have fun", from The Times. Note, the end of the Times article mentions a WHO study that blonds will disappear in 200 years, this is urban legend, see article on "Myths" above.
- ^ Abstract: "European hair and eye color: A case of frequency-dependent sexual selection?" from Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 27, Issue 2, Pages 85-103 (March 2006)
- ^ "Blondes 'to die out in 200 years'", from the BBC, September 27, 2002.
- ^ "Hair-raising story about blonds cut short", from The Age, October 3, 2002
- ^ WHO clarification
- ^ "Natural Blondes are likely to be extinct" from digg.com