News Item

From Special Irish Fest Coiffure Correspondent Erin Kiekbusch:

Scientists Question Whether Rare Reds Are Headed For Extinction
by Robin L. Flanigan
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle

"If predictions by the Oxford Hair Foundation come to pass, the number of natural redheads everywhere will continue to dwindle until there are none left by the year 2100.

The reason, according to scientists at the independent institute in England, which studies all sorts of hair problems, is that just 4 percent of the world's population carries the red-hair gene. The gene is recessive and therefore diluted when carriers produce children with people who have the dominant brown-hair gene.

Dr. John Gray's often publicized explanation of his foundation's findings: "The way things are going, red hair will either be extremely rare or extinct by the end of the century."

The gene responsible for red hair - known as the melanocortin 1 receptor, or MC1R - was only discovered in the late 1990s. People have a good chance of being born with red hair if they have a mutation of that gene.

Red hair is found in all ethnic backgrounds but is most commonly associated with people of Celtic descent.

"I usually get, 'Oh, she's Irish,'" says Caitlin Tydings, an 18-year-old from Irondequoit, N.Y. She doesn't mind the assumption; she feels a special connection to the Emerald Isle natives who share her red hair, fair skin and freckles.

"I'm so into my heritage, it's nice to express it physically.""

I am not worried. Redheads will never become extinct. They're way too stubborn.