There are a lot of things in life that I just don’t get. Golf, harem pants and how to actually purchase a sandwich from Subway are a few examples. But while I’m sure that all of the above are perfectly explainable, there is something that will never cease to stump me: the widespread belief that having ginger hair is a bad thing.
I’m a natural brunette, but I’ve wanted to be a redhead for years, a wish I can probably date back to the first time I saw Moulin Rouge. I loved the film almost as much as I loved Satine’s hair. It took a long time to persuade my hairdresser to dye my hair the colour that most avoid at all costs, but I finally succeeded, and we both ended up loving the results. I walked the halls with a new-found Nicole Kidman confidence, my orange head of hair held high, and even the guy who asked me if it had been an accident could not dampen my mood. It wasn’t just a hair colour to me – it helped me come out of my shell. It acted like an ice-breaker, stopped me turning into a complete wallflower, and helped me learn to laugh at myself; I had no business being a fake ginger if I couldn’t take a joke or six!
Going ginger is a bit of a leap of faith, but there’s a shade to suit everyone. From strawberry blonde, through to bright copper, and all the way to dark auburn, it’s an excellent way to break out of a hair dye rut. It’s also a great choice if, like me, you need an extra push to help you stand out. One of my favourite inspirational gingers, Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica Hamby from True Blood) is actually a natural blonde. She’s dyed her hair since she was 14, saying: “as a fair skinned blonde, I disappeared into the background. I’ve always been a loner, so I suppose dying my hair red was a way to say, “I’m here, I exist, I’m a human being and you can’t just push me aside.” She even dyes it herself at home, using L’Oreal Paris Excellence Crème in Reddish Blond (8RB). However, if you’re a brunette, your hair will probably need bleaching before it’s light enough to go red – a task which you should definitely entrust to your hairdresser!
Other pale-skinned girls like Deborah who pull off ginger effortlessly include Karen Gillan, whose extremely voluminous hair I spend a lot of time coveting when watching Doctor Who. There’s the teeny tiny Jayma Mays, who always looks perfectly put together and is especially adorable as Emma Pillsbury on Glee. Evan Rachel Wood is another natural blonde with a complexion that makes her look like she could be a natural redhead. Finally, no list of gingers would be complete without Nicola Roberts, who has struggled with her hair colour in the past, but after finally embracing her pale skin and red hair she looks better than ever.
You don’t have to be porcelain to be a gorgeous ginger though, as proved by Blake Lively earlier this year. It was quite a leap from her normal colour when she dyed her hair auburn for a role but it was a fun change from her usual honey-blonde. Australian beauty Isla Fisher is another example of a redhead with a great tan!
On the other end of the ginger spectrum, there’s dark auburn. It’s a more subtle way to add a bit of copper to your hair, and if your plan is to eventually go full-out red, it’s an easy, low-risk place to test the waters. My favourite females with this hair colour include Emma Stone and Kristen Stewart. Emma has recently gone blonde for her role in The Amazing Spider-Man, a look which she certainly pulls off with aplomb, but her original colour really made her green eyes pop. And say what you like about Twilight, but you can’t deny the fact that Kristen Stewart has gorgeous hair! I loved her auburn highlights when she was dying it back up after going jet-black for The Runaways.
And finally, to the living embodiment of a sexy redhead: Christina Hendricks. She’s widely accepted to be one of the hottest women in the world, and her bright copper hair and hourglass figure have always set her apart from other Hollywood actresses. Lest we forget, Jessica Rabbit was a ginger too. Rosie Huntington Whiteley recently posed as the character for a magazine cover, providing the final nail in the coffin for anyone who believes that redheads aren’t sexy. I rest my case.