# Origin of the "dumb blonde" stereotype **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-dumb-blonde-stereotype/380745 "2006-11-16T22:44:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-dumb-blonde-stereotype/380745/21 "2006-11-18T13:54:08Z")
[QUOTE=DesertDog] As I have remarked to **DesertRoomie** who is blonde and not dumb, "It has been my experience that it’s not blonde that makes you dumb . . . It’s bleach. [/QUOTE] My brother’s wife is a natural blonde & not a ditz. For years she had a bumper sticker that said “Dumb blondes have dark roots”. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-dumb-blonde-stereotype/380745/22 "2006-11-18T14:46:06Z")
Come to think of it, when was peroxide first used as a hair bleach? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-dumb-blonde-stereotype/380745/23 "2006-11-18T18:21:37Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Come to think of it, when was peroxide first used as a hair bleach? [/QUOTE] I dunno about peroxide, but Roman women were using ashes & urine to “bleach” their hair blonde around the time of the Republic’s collapse. Is the “dumb blonde” a stereotype in Europe, too? Could it have developed from the anti-German/anti-Scandinavian prejudices of the late 18th/19th Century US? ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-dumb-blonde-stereotype/380745/24 "2006-11-18T18:32:04Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Obligatory blonde joke: Q: How do you drown a blonde? A: Glue a mirror to the bottom of a swimming pool! (Try making **that** work as a Polish joke!) [/QUOTE] 😕 Wouldn’t the water make the glue not stick? How do you glue a mirror to the bottom of a pool? I don’t get it. 😉 Back to the OP, I have a theory based on beach culture. People who spend a lot of time in outdoor recreational settings, like a beach, tend to experience sun-bleached hair. I also observe that most people you find in these settings tend to be young and (presumably) inexperienced (per **Valteron** ’s theory.) Next time you see a bunch of surfers laughing at their dude who scraped the hell out of his back from doing something incredibly stupid like boogie-boarding over shallow-water coral heads, check out the color of their hair. Of course this theory usually only works with caucasian surfers. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-dumb-blonde-stereotype/380745/25 "2006-11-18T18:53:27Z")
There are waterproof glues… ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-dumb-blonde-stereotype/380745/26 "2006-11-18T19:54:32Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] Cite? Brown _is_ probably the most common color for white adults, but a cite for the part about “most” of them being fair haired as children? [/QUOTE] I read it that \*\*Valteron \*\* was saying that kids who are very fair often darken up a little as they age. IME this is often though not always true. I don’t think that he (?) was saying that everyone who is brunette was once fair. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-dumb-blonde-stereotype/380745/27 "2006-11-18T21:24:24Z")
[QUOTE=LSLGuy] My brother’s wife is a natural blonde & not a ditz. For years she had a bumper sticker that said “Dumb blondes have dark roots”. [/QUOTE] And what do you call a blonde who dies her hair brown? Artificial intelligence! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-dumb-blonde-stereotype/380745.md?page=1)