I can tell you that the Ancient Greeks seem to have been very into blond hair. Gods are generally blonde-haired, and attractive women as well. I don’t know that there’s a direct connection between that and current attitudes, though.
Say what? I’ve never heard this. And my family is about as English as they get* without actually living in England. In my family, having light blonde hair just means you’re related to Uncle Eric from Sweden.
[sub]*Except for the Swedish parts.[/sub]
A brunette friend worked in Finland for a summer and got lots of “Wow, you have such unique beauty” comments. 
Also, I definitely know a Finnish blond guy who always goes for the Asian and Indian girls.
Because blond hair is an indicator that they may be part of the Aryan ubermench, and lesser peoples subconconcouisly are drawn to that as the standard of human perfection?
ducks&runs…
Seriously, I don’t see what the deal with blond hair is either. Girls with long, straight black hair are more attractive.
That seems to support my experience, that is that men actually DON’T prefer blondes, but brunettes.
I’m a natural blonde and for some strange reason, men I date tend to like brunettes. I even dyed my hair dark in an attempt to intrigue my boyfriend.
As to why gentlemen, by popular culture, supposedly prefer blondes? I’ve heard and read various places that it’s supposed to denote youth and innocence. Many children are blonde, even ones that end up being brunettes later on.
Another brunette lover here. I find blondes to be anemic and washed-out looking. As to why blondes are supposedly preferred, I’m not sure if they are, especially now. I’ve noticed the trend seems to be swaying toward more “exotic” looks, ie black hair, dark eyes, darker skin.
And QueerGeekGirl, she thinks it’s about time.
Hmmmm…
>>recent British extraction (such as Aussies, Kiwis, and Brits themselves)
I guess Brits would of necessity be of recent British extraction
>> I find blondes to be anemic and washed-out looking.
>>I think that blondeness is way overrated
>>Actually it can look spooky…
>>finding blond hair (and pale skin) to be weird, strange and sickly
Thanks guys, these are all real big ego-builders…
>>My Asian mother (who looks way younger than her age) is under the [strange] assumption that blond guys are smarter.
This, of course, is the correct answer. Please make a note of it.
Gee, I guess you can all guess my hair colour now… (well, yes, there is one small annoying patch of grey that’s been around for years, but on the whole…)
I’ve long suspected that blonds are preferred not because of the hair on their heads, but because of their hair elsewhere.
Blond hairs don’t show up as noticeably (on light skin, anyway), so, especially before people started shaving (or where they don’t), blondes seem less “dirty” under their arms, and their pubic hairs aren’t as noticeable. Also, excess dark hair elsewhere (female “moustaches”) are less noticeable.
Interesting piece of evidence – last night, I was looking through a book on Celtic art, and I saw a note saying that in the Book of Kells (dated from 800 AD), the angels and saints are drawn and colored with blonde hair, and all the peasants and sinners are colored with dark hair. In fact, here is an example.
I have dark hair, not black but very dark brown with a lot of red to it and I have never wanted to be blonde. Not even once. I like my dark hair and have always found dark haired men the most physically attractive.
Of course now I’m engaged to a man with red hair – go figure.
I forgot to say earlier that I have dark brown hair and would never, ever dye it blonde. For some reason, it irritates me when brunettes go blonde…like they’ve defected to the other side, or something. At any rate, I find dark hair (black is the best, then brown, then auburn) very attractive.
I would guess it’s tied up with the stereotype of blondes also being stupid and easy, unfortunately. Also, true blondes are becoming more and more rare and it could be part of a fantasy (like many have about redheads, even more rare.)
Also interesting is the disdain some people have toward blondes. Is it a backlash against the “blondes are beautiful” stereotype? It seems like many people have strong opinions about the attractiveness of blondes, one way or the other. It doesn’t seem that way (to me) about any other hair color.
I don’t care for artificial blondes. Know why? BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS HAVE DARK EYEBROWS!!! IMO nothing looks more ridiculous that a woman with platinum blonde hair & eyebrows that look like they were drawn in with a black sharpie.
I’ve noticed the same thing, Velma. As a natural blonde (well, my hair is blonde-russet), I can attest that there is nothing – and I do mean nothing – worse than a bad blonde dye job. What’s also bad is that the bottle-blondes are the ones who tend to live up to the stereotypes. Maybe the chemicals fry their brain cells or something, I don’t know.
I think the blonde backlash is just that – a reaction to the ancient preference for blondes. The beauty standard for so long has been (a) thin, (b) pale, and © blonde, and many people have tried in vain to live up to all of these. More power to them for reclaiming their natural bodaciousness as thick, dark-skinned, brunettes. Of course, the blonde backlash isn’t so good for the blondes.
There are stereotypes about other hair colors – besides blondes being vapid and slutty, redheads have fierce tempers, and brunettes are earthy Plain-Jane types. But these don’t seem to be as prevalent as the blonde fixation.
.:Nichol:.
I dunno why that is… I don’t think blondes are especially any more attractive than women of other hair colors. I prefer red/auburn or solid black, myself.
Acually, a little poll taken on another message board I frequent revealed that the vast majority of the men there think redheaded women are generally more attractive than ones of other hair colors…
Of course as a red haired man I was sorely crushed to find that the exact opposite opinion was held by the women there, with precicely ONE vote. Where’s the love, people? 
Maybe that’s part of it. It could be that it is self-perpetuating - women who want to be seen as that stereotype are more likely to dye their hair blonde? Then people notice the blonde acting that way, and the stereotype continues.
(this is not an attack on anyone who dyes their hair blonde, I have done it myself in the past. I don’t do it anymore because I do think it can look trashy, and I do think people viewed me differently. My current and natural hair color you could call either dirty blonde or light brown depending on the time of year.)
And yet somehow James Marsters as Spike and Orlando Bloom as Legolas can still come across as hot and sexy with their blond hair and dark eyebrows.
:D:D 
We like redheads around here.
http://www.punkrocknight.com/Gallery/20030118/other/lg/20030118-other27.jpg
Maybe you’re onto something here.
White (light/blond) = good
Black (dark/every other shade) = evil
Actually, Legolas’ lack of color-coordination was a minor distraction but I was swooning too much to care. Haldir, on the other hand…
I was watching the History of Sex on the History Channel (I tihnk that’s it…I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries lately so it could have been something else…) that the prostitutes in Rome were required to dye their hair blonde so that people would know they were prostitutes.
Of course, just typing that makes me feel like I’m spreading some sort of Urban Legend, so I really don’t know if you want to believe me.