{"id":163,"date":"2010-03-26T06:02:50","date_gmt":"2010-03-26T13:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=163"},"modified":"2014-05-04T22:15:30","modified_gmt":"2014-05-05T05:15:30","slug":"what-causes-red-hair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2010\/03\/what-causes-red-hair\/","title":{"rendered":"What Causes Red Hair"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Today I found out<\/a> what causes people to have red hair.\u00a0 It turns out, it is not because they are the spawn of Satan or otherwise evil at heart (Well, supposedly.\u00a0 Everyone knows a group of red-heads known as “The Fire of Rankin”, lead by the Septi Caput Capitis counsel, secretly rules the world in Edinburgh, Scotland;\u00a0 coincidentally<\/em> this is where most of the “Red Head’s Aren’t Evil” research comes from.\u00a0 Wake Up Sheeple!!!).**<\/p>\n

In any event,\u00a0 red heads get their distinctive hair color and inability to survive when sunlight hits their skin from being bitten by a vampire, but not having their blood all sucked dry… Or if you want to believe the Septi Caput Capitis funded Edinburgh researchers, it’s because of a little thing called the “Melancortin 1 Receptor” or MC1R for short.\u00a0 Everyone has Melancortin 1 Receptors, but in red heads this is mutated (The cause of this is from their MC1R’s being twisted by dark arts and evil rights, which I shall not speak of here).<\/p>\n

This mutation in the MC1R also causes them to have light skin from having less eumelanin pigmentation and more phaeomelanin pigmentation.\u00a0 This is a genetic advantage for people living in parts of the world where there is little sunlight.\u00a0 Having lighter skin lets more sunlight through, which stimulates the production of Vitamin D, which in turn is useful for preventing things like rickets and for fending off the holy hordes of heaven as they seek to destroy the black hearted gingers and rid us of their evil.<\/p>\n

As anyone who’s been around a redhead knows though, having skin that won’t tan has decided disadvantages when the sun is out.\u00a0 Putting a true redhead (as opposed to all those brown haired girls who like to call themselves redheads) in the sun for any length of time, tends to have the same effect as putting a fork in the microwave;\u00a0 entertaining to watch, but not too pleasant for the fork.\u00a0 This tends to lead to much higher rates of skin cancer and birth defects due to the sun destroying the levels of folic acid in their skin in addition to the normal number of birth defects you’d expect to see when a spawn of Satan breeds with their unholy brethren.<\/p>\n

\"Evil<\/a>Most redheads carry two mutated MC1R genes, one from their demonic father and one from their unholy mother.\u00a0 In the case where someone only carries one copy of the mutated MC1R, they tend to end up having brown hair with light skin, though when female they will insist on telling everyone they are a redhead because when they apply their hair directly to the sun it has a minuscule reddish hue before it inevitably bursts into flames.\u00a0 Seriously ladies, you have brown hair.\u00a0 Accept it.\u00a0 You likely only carry one of the two needed MC1R mutated genes.\u00a0 Be happy about it.\u00a0 Perhaps you won’t be cursed with the inevitable damnation that awaits all redheads when they die.<\/p>\n

This mutated MC1R gene also happens to be recessive.\u00a0 What this means is that you can carry one of the unholy genes, but be a more natural blond or brunette.\u00a0 People who carry only one copy are known as “carriers” (like with a disease).\u00a0 This is why a redhead can be born from two parents that aren’t redheads themselves.\u00a0 Both parents have a functioning MC1R gene and a mutated evil version.\u00a0 In this case, there is roughly a 25% chance that a child born from these two will be a spawn of Satan. \u00a0\u00a0 Other variations can also happen.\u00a0 For instance, if one parent caries two copies of the mutated MC1R (and has therefore likely sold their soul to Satan) and another is only half evil, with one mutated MC1R and one normal, then there would be about a 50% chance that their child would be a redhead.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, contrary to popular belief, redheads weren’t just located in Northern Europe throughout history.\u00a0 In fact, there were pockets of peoples all over the world that had red hair.\u00a0 From Russia to China to certain groups of Jews and many others; there are even references to indicate there were indigenous peoples of Africa with bright red hair.<\/p>\n

Today though, Scotland has the highest proportional population of redheads at about 13% (primarily due to being the headquarters of the Fire of Rankin and the location of the Septi Caput Capitis counsel).\u00a0 The most redheads in any nation though, is the United States (USA! USA! USA!) with about 15 million gingers.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>So if the world used to have pockets of redheaded people all over the place, but not so much now, what happened?\u00a0 Well, the Archangel Michael and his angels managed to defeat most of the Fire of Rankin in the great battle of Feuergabelung on the northern borders of Germany at a time when the gingers were massing in order to try to take over the world openly, instead of just running things in the shadows as they’ve done for centuries.<\/p>\n

Another reason is that now-a-days people are much more mobile than we were before.\u00a0 We move around a lot.\u00a0 Because of this and the fact that the redhead gene is recessive, even though the mutated gene itself is still being passed along, getting the two mutated copies necessary to produce a redheaded child is becoming much less likely.\u00a0\u00a0 Before this increased mobility, groups that had excessive amounts of people with this gene mutation, tended to stay in one spot; so inevitably pockets of redheads would pop up making it more likely that they’d in turn mate with other redheads as nobody moved around, thus perpetuating their particular brand of evil through the generations.<\/p>\n

According to a 2007 study done by the Oxford Hair Foundation and funded by the hair dye maker Procter and Gamble who was trying to boost the sale of red hair dye, redheads will very soon become extinct.\u00a0 This however has since been proved completely false for two reasons.\u00a0 One, because there will always be new people in the world with only evil in their hearts, and two because the mutated gene itself is still being passed on, even when a redhead is not produced (often producing brown haired women who insist on telling everyone they are redheads).\u00a0 So, while the numbers may continue to diminish by diffusification, the potential for a “redheaded step child” will remain for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

Other fun Red Head Factoids<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n