Blond (also spelled blonde, see below) is a hair color found in certain people characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. Hair color is the pigmentation of hair follicles due to the two types of melanin Eumelanin and Phaeomelanin. For the drug referred to as "pigment" see Black tar heroin. Melanin is a class of compounds found in the Plant, Animal and Protista kingdoms, where it serves predominantly as a Pigment. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color, going from the very pale blond caused by a patchy, scarce distribution of pigment, to reddish "strawberry" blond colors or golden brownish blond colors, the latter with more eumelanin. Yellow is the Color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M (long and medium wavelength Cone cells of the Retina about equally Paleness of Color is the property of being a light or Pastel version of another color of the same Hue.

Etymology, spelling, and grammar

The word blonde was first attested in English in 1481 and derives from Old French blont and meant "a colour midway between golden and light chestnut". English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Old French was the Romance Dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium It largely replaced the native term fair, from Old English fæger. The French (and thus also the English) word blond has two possible origins. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Some linguists say it comes from Middle Latin blundus, meaning yellow, from Old Frankish *blund which would relate it to Old English blonden-feax meaning grey-haired, from blondan/blandan meaning to mix. Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the Liturgical language of the medieval Yellow is the Color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M (long and medium wavelength Cone cells of the Retina about equally Old Frankish was the language of the Franks and it is classified as a West Germanic language. Also, Old English beblonden meant dyed as ancient Germanic warriors were noted for dyeing their hair. The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic However, other linguists who desire a Latin origin for the word say that Middle Latin blundus was a vulgar pronunciation of Latin flavus, also meaning yellow. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Most authorities, especially French, attest the Frankish origin. The word was reintroduced into English in the 17th century from French, and was for some time considered French, hence blonde for females/noun and blond for males/adjective. ^[1]

Writers of English often will still distinguish between the masculine blond and the feminine blonde^[2] and, as such, it is one of the few adjectives in English with separate masculine and feminine forms. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong However, many writers use only one of the spellings without regard to gender, and without a clear majority usage one way or another. The word is also often used as a noun to refer to a woman with blond hair, but some speakers see this usage as sexist^[2] and reject it. Sexism is the belief or attitude that one Gender or Sex is inferior to or less valuable than the other and can also refer to a Hatred or distrust towards (Another hair color word of French origin, brunet(te), also functions in the same way in orthodox English. Brown hair is the second most common Hair color, with black being the most common )

The word is also occasionally used, with either spelling, to refer to objects that have a color reminiscent of fair hair. Examples include pale wood and lager beer. Lager (storage camp bearing etc is the more popular of two main types of Beer; the other being Ale. Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed Alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea

Sub-categories

Danish rock singer Sharin Foo with platinum blonde hair. The Raveonettes are a Danish Rock and roll duo consisting of Sune Rose Wagner (on Guitar, instruments, Vocals) and Sharin Foo (on

Many sub-categories of blond hair have also been invented to describe someone with blond hair more accurately. Examples include the following:

• Platinum blond - Pale blond, nearly white; found naturally almost exclusively in children, but occurring rarely among some adults
• Ash blond - usually quite fair, with some ashen (grey) tones
• Sunny blond - Very bright, ranging from almost yellow to light yellow.
• Sandy blond - similar to sand in color
• Golden blond - lighter, with a gold cast
• Strawberry blond - reddish blond
• Bleached blond - artificially dyed blond hair
• Zebra blond - streaked blond and brunette
• Dirty blond - dark blond
• Brownish blond - darkest shade of blond which sometimes looks light brown and other times dark blond.
• Pool blond - Blond tinted with green due to exposure to copper in swimming pools. There are many terms for this form of blond.

Origins

Lighter hair colors occur naturally in Europeans, and as rare mutation in other ethnicities^[3]. In certain European populations, however, the occurrence of blond hair is very frequent, and often remains throughout adulthood. The hair color gene MC1R has at least seven variants in Europe and the continent has an unusually wide range of hair and eye shades. Based on recent genetic information carried out at three Japanese universities, the date of the genetic mutation that resulted in blond hair in Europe has been isolated to about 11,000 years ago during the last Ice Age. Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets Before then, Europeans mostly had darker hair and eyes, which is predominant in the rest of the world. ^[3]

A long standing question has been why certain populations in Europe evolved to have such high incidences of blond hair (and wide varieties of eye color) so relatively recently and quickly in the human evolution timescale. Eye color is a Polygenic trait and is determined by the amount and type of Pigments in the Eye 's iris. If the changes had occurred by the usual processes of evolution (natural selection), they would have taken about 850,000 years. Natural selection is the process by which favorable Heritable traits become more common in successive Generations of a Population of ^[3] But modern humans, emigrating from Africa, reached Europe only 35,000-40,000 years ago. ^[3] A number of theories have been proposed, as follows.

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 that says blond hair evolved very quickly at the end of the last Ice Age by means of sexual selection. The University of St Andrews is the oldest University in Scotland and third oldest in the English-speaking world, having been founded between Evolution and Human Behavior is an Interdisciplinary journal, presenting research reports and Theory in which Evolutionary perspectives Sexual selection is the Theory proposed by Charles Darwin that states that certain evolutionary traits can be explained by Intraspecific competition ^[4] According to the study, the appearance of blond hair and blue eyes in some northern European women made them stand out from their rivals at a time of fierce competition for scarce males. The study argues that blond hair was produced higher in the Cro-Magnon descended population of the European region because of food shortages 10,000-11,000 years ago following the last glacial period when the most of it was covered by steppe-tundra. Cro-Magnon ( French) is one of the main types of Homo sapiens of the European Upper Paleolithic, living approximately 40000 to 10000 years "Last glacial" redirects here For the period of maximum glacier extent during this time see Last Glacial Maximum The last glacial period Steppe-tundra is a sparse dry-climate vegetation type which was widespread during Pleistocene times at mid-latitudes of North America and Eurasia, but no 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. This hypothesis argues that women with blond hair posed an alternative that helped them mate and thus increased the number of blonds.

According to the authors of The History and Geography of Human Genes (1994), blond hair became predominant in Europe in about 3000 BC, in the area now known as Lithuania, among the recently arrived Proto-Indo-European settlers though the trait spread quickly through sexual selection into Scandinavia when that area was settled because men found women with blond hair attractive. Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, who likely lived around 4000 BC, during the Copper Age and the Sexual selection is the Theory proposed by Charles Darwin that states that certain evolutionary traits can be explained by Intraspecific competition Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well ^[5]

In 2002 there was a worldwide hoax that scientists predicted blonds were eventually going to become extinct. Disappearing blonde gene is a Hoax that has periodically surfaced in the media since 1865, with the most recent version starting in 2002 The hoax cited WHO as the source of the scientific study. See recessive alleles for more information on the genetic basis of blond hair. Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is As in red hair, blondes will never go "extinct" seeing as how some blonde genes are more dominant than brown, and even if recessive, the gene will still be in the human body.

Geographic distribution

Light hair map in the indigenous population of Europe and surroundings. Yellow: >80%, light orange: 50-79%, light brown: 20-49%, dark brown: 1-19% and black represents <1% presence of light hair.

Blonde hair is at the highest frequency among the indigenous peoples of Northern Europe. Northern Europe is a term for the northern part of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as (Finland Blonde and light hair are in the majority in countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, Holland, Poland, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland,England and even Spain. Generally, blond hair in Europeans is associated with paler eye color (gray, blue, green and light brown) and pale (sometimes freckled) skin tone. Eye color is a Polygenic trait and is determined by the amount and type of Pigments in the Eye 's iris. Blue is a Colour, the Perception of which is evoked by Green is a Color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a Wavelength of roughly 520–570- nm. Black, when used as a general term is a color that is a Very dark Black, black, or Black, of low Luminance relative to Freckles are clusters of concentrated Melanin which are most often visible on people with a fair Complexion. The skin is the outer covering of living tissue of an animal (or plant Strong sunlight also lightens hair of any pigmentation, to varying degrees, and causes many blond people to freckle, especially during childhood. The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System. Scientists have thought that origional Spanish people all had blonde hair, carrying a very recessive gene. After soon mixing with other races, the blonde gene soon rarely appeared.

Blond Pacific Islanders are uncommon but not unknown^[6]

In Caucasus there are a high frequency of blonds, mostly to be found in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East Georgia ( საქართველო, Sakartvelo) is a Transcontinental country in the Caucasus region situated at the dividing line between Azerbaijan ( English; Azərbaycan officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan Respublikası is the largest and most populous country in the South Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani In Central and South Asia it is still found in higher frequency among some populations, particularly among the Kalash of Pakistan and the Nuristani people of Afghanistan (up to one third of the Nuristani). Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south The Kalash ( Nuristani: Kasivo) or Kalasha, are an ethnic group of the Hindu Kush mountain range residing in the Chitral district Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and The Nuristani people are an Ethnic group found mostly in Laghman Province and Nurestan Province of Afghanistan. Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, ^[7]

The Iranians and their related groups have a higher frequency of blonds than other ethnic groups of the Middle East, mostly in the Northern parts of Iran. The Iranian people are a collection of Ethnic groups defined along linguistic lines as speaking Iranian languages. In western Asia blonds are mostly found in Israel, Western Syria, Lebanon and the Hatay province of Turkey. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية Hatay is a province of southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast with Syria to the south and east

In North Africa, blonds are found in Morocco, Tunisia and northern Algeria. Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa Tunisia (تونس Tūnis officially the Tunisian Republic ( is a country located in North Africa. Algeria ( ar [[Arabic]] الجزائر, Al Jaza'ir ælʤæˈzæːʔir Amazigh: ⴷⵥⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer) officially the People's

Aboriginal Australians, especially in the west-central parts of the continent, also have a fairly high instance of natural blond-to-brown hair,^[8][9] with as many as 90-100% of children having blond hair in some areas. Indigenous Australians are descendants of the first known human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands. ^[10] The trait among Indigenous Australians is primarily associated with children and women and the hair turns more often to a darker brown color, rather than black, as they age. ^[10] Blondness is also found in some other parts of the South Pacific such as the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The Solomon Islands is a country in Melanesia, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands Vanuatu, officially the Republic of Vanuatu ( French: République de Vanuatu, Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu) is an Island Again there are higher incidences in children but here many adults too carry this indigenous blond mutation.

Some Guanches populations, particularly the now extinct aboriginal population of Tenerife, one of the Canary islands of the African Atlantic coast, were said by 14th century Spanish explorers to exhibit blond hair and blue eyes. See also Canary Islands in pre-colonial times Guanches (also Guanchis or Guanchos) now extinct as a distinct people were the first known Tenerife (previously known and spelled as "Teneriffe" in English before mass tourism adopted the Spanish spelling a Spanish Island, is the largest The Canary Islands ( English pronunciation kəˈnæriː ˈaɪləndz Spanish: Islas Canarias, ˈizlas kaˈnarjas are a Spanish ^[11][12] Blondness was also reported among South American Indians.

Relation to age and distribution on body

Blond hair is common in Caucasian infants and children, so much so that the term "baby blond" is often used for very light-colored hair. CHILD syndrome (or congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform erythroderma and limb defects) is a genetic disorder Babies may be born with blond hair even among groups where adults rarely have blond hair,^[13] although such natal hair usually falls out quickly. Blond hair tends to turn darker with age, and many children born blond turn light, medium, or dark brunette before or during their teenage years.

True blonds often have platinum blond hair as children, pale skin with little pigment, pale eye-lashes and grey eyes. If their hair darkens with age it tends to turn a darker ash-blond, not the rich brown of a brunette. Eyelashes and eyebrows remain fair. (Eyelash color is probably the best marker for prediction of adult hair color. )

Those who turn brunette as teens usually have more pigment to begin with; a slightly golden skin tone that tans a little more easily than the paler skin of true blonds, often (but not always) a richer, more golden-blond hair color, dark eye-lashes and bright blue, green, hazel or brown eyes.

The body hair of blonds is also blond, although terminal hair elsewhere on the body may be darker than hair on the head, and even brown. Androgenic hair, colloquially Body hair, is the Terminal hair on the Human body developed during and after Puberty. Terminal hair is developed Hair, which is generally longer coarser thicker and darker than the shorter and finer Vellus hair. Facial hair is often reddish. Vellus, on the other hand, may be very light or even transparent. Vellus hair is short fine "peach fuzz" Body hair. It is a very soft and short hair that grows in most places on the human body in both sexes such as the face and Hair that grows from a mole or from a birthmark may be dark. A mole, technically known as a melanocytic Nevus, is a small dark spot on human Skin. A birthmark is a Blemish on the Skin formed before Birth. A little over 1 in 10 babies have a Vascular birthmark

Culturally related ideas

An 1893 depiction of the Norse goddess Sif. Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland Sif ("In-law-relationship" is a goddess in Norse mythology. In surviving sources, Sif is particularly noted for her golden hair

In Norse mythology, both the goddess Sif^[14] (wife of Thor) and the major goddess Freyja^[15] are described as blonde. Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland Sif ("In-law-relationship" is a goddess in Norse mythology. Thor ( Old Norse: Þórr) is the red-haired and bearded God of Thunder in Germanic paganism and its subset Norse paganism Freyja (sometimes anglicized as Freya) is a major goddess in Norse Paganism, a subset of Germanic Paganism. In the eddic poem Rígsthula, the blond man Jarl was considered to be the ancestor to the dominant warrior class.

In Northern Europe fairy lore, fairies value blond hair in humans. A fairy (also fay, fey, fae, faerie; collectively wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair Blond babies are more likely to be stolen and replaced with changelings, and young blonde women are more likely to be lured away to the land of the fairies. A Changeling is a being in West European Folklore and Folk religion, typically described as the offspring of a Fairy, Troll ^[16]

In European fairy tales, blond hair was commonly ascribed to the heroes and heroines. A fairy tale or fairy story is a fictional Story that may feature folkloric characters (such as fairies, enchantments]] often involving This may occur in the text, as in Madame d'Aulnoy's La Belle aux cheveux d'or or The Beauty with Golden Hair, or in illustrations depicting the scenes. Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville Baronne d'Aulnoy (1650/1651&ndash 4 January 1705) was a French Writer known for her Fairy tales The Story of Pretty Goldilocks or The Beauty with Golden Hair is a French literary Fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy. ^[17] One notable exception is Snow White who, because of her mother's wish for a child "as red as blood, as white as snow, as black as ebony," has dark hair. Snow White (in Low German Sneewittchen; in High German Schneeweißchen) is the title character of a Fairy tale known from many countries in ^[18] This tendency appears also in more formal literature; in Milton's "Paradise Lost" the noble and innocent Adam and Eve have "golden tresses"^[19], while near the end of J. R. R. Tolkien's monumental Lord of the Rings, the especially favourable year following the War of the Ring was signified in the Shire by an exceptional number of blond-haired children. Paradise Lost is an Epic poem in Blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. The Lord of the Rings is an epic

Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a 1953 film adaptation of the 1949 stage musical, released by 20th Century Fox, directed by Howard Hawks

In contemporary popular culture, it is often stereotyped that men find blonde women more attractive than women with other hair colors. Alfred Hitchcock preferred to cast blonde women for major roles in his films as he believed that the audience would suspect them the least, hence the term "Hitchcock blonde". Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 Blonde jokes are a class of derogatory jokes based on a "dumb blonde" stereotype of blonde women being unintelligent, sexually promiscuous, or both. Blonde jokes are a class of Jokes based on a stereotype of Dumb blonde women See also Mathematics of humor A joke is a short story or ironic depiction of a situation communicated with the intent of being humorous. The dumb blonde is a popular-culture Stereotype applied to Blonde Haired women In other parts of modern culture, blonde women are often portrayed as "promiscuous", leading to the stereotype that blondes "have more fun. A stereotype (from Greek: stereo + týpos = "solid impression" is a generalized perception of first impressions behaviors presumed by a group " Jean Harlow (a natural ash blonde) and Marilyn Monroe (pale blond as a child though her hair darkened to brown) were notable bleached blonde sex icons of twentieth-century America, frequently portraying stereotypical dumb blondes in their films. Jean Harlow ( March 3, &ndash June 7,) was an American Film Actress and Sex symbol of the 1930s Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson, June 1 1926 &ndash August 5 1962 baptized Norma The dumb blonde is a popular-culture Stereotype applied to Blonde Haired women

In the early-mid twentieth century, Nordicists such as Madison Grant and Alfred Rosenberg associated blond hair with a Nordic race, which they distinguished from a larger Aryan race that included what they called the non-blond Alpine race. Madison Grant ( November 19, 1865 &ndash May 30, 1937) was an American Lawyer, known primarily for his work as a (12 January 1893 16 October 1946 was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. The Nordic race was one of the racial categories into which the Europeans were divided by anthropologists in the first half of the twentieth century The " Aryan race " is a concept in European culture that was influential in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries many Western anthropologists classified humans into a variety of races and subraces During World War II, blond hair was one of the traits used by Nazis to select Slavic children for Germanization. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Germanisation (also spelled Germanization) is either the spread of the German language, people and culture either by force or Assimilation

References

See also

• Disappearing blonde gene
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

External links

• Why Does the Pool Turn Blonde Hair Green?