Emma Burns, Staff Writer
If you look at me you will see just another stereotypical girl from Newtown, Connecticut. I have light skin, wear clothes from Pac Sun or Charlotte Russe , and I get my weekly Frappuccino from Starbucks, but like every girl here I have my own very specific trait that defines me. Mine would be my red hair.
Now this is not saying I’m the only student in all of Newtown High School with red hair, because I’m obviously not, but I help contribute to the minimal number of redheads in the NHS population. Being a red head has led me to be teased, taunted, aimlessly matched with any other red head walking by. My friends tell me, “You would be perfect for each other!” I mean, I really don’t mind the constant scrutiny; in fact I often enjoy it because it reminds me that I have something that makes me a little different from everyone else.
However, being a redhead comes with many burdens. For example, you will never ever become tan. No matter how many hours you spend in the sun you will, at most, turn from one shade of white to another, or in extreme cases just into a red lobster.
Even though it may seem awful to not get tan now, you will be thankful when you get older. As all of your Italian heritage friends have leathery skin and ultimately skin cancer, yours will still be healthy and smooth, so be thankful for your mom forcing you to reapply 100spf sunblock every 20 minutes.
You will also have a lot of assumptions made about you because of your hair. People often blame you for being in a bad mood based on the fact that, “you have red hair you must have a bad temper,” and people often call you a devil child, or just plain make fun of you. Redheads often get made fun of for the pigment of their hair. In fact the show “South Park” inspired a national “Kick a Ginger Day” that resulted in many redheads encountering bullies and coming home with cuts and bruises, which is purely disgusting.
Although being a redhead does come with teasing, it’s not all bad; in fact it has more good than bad. Being a redhead is such a small part of the population thus, making you more unique than your brunette and blonde friends could ever be. So unless you move to Scotland you will always be identifiable for your hair.
Also, when you grow older your hair will never turn grey due to a special genetic strand in your hair. Eventually your hair will turn to a sandy blonde and then to a white, but never to a gray. So while all your friends complain as they have to go to the salon and dye their graying hair yours will stay a vibrant red.
So even though being a redhead may seem like a burden at times, overall it makes me more unique, and more special than most. So I mean really, who wouldn’t want to be a red head?
Photo credit to www.sciencenordic.com.
