# Red heads and predispositions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306 "2003-11-09T23:27:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/1 "2003-11-09T23:27:50Z")
I recently heard something about red heads being more predisposed to be born prematurely - is this a load of rot as at first I thought, or does it have some truth, as at second I thought? Anything else you may have heard about red heads? Um, perhaps I’ll rephrase that, anything you’ve heard about red heads being more predisposed to? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/2 "2003-11-10T03:36:06Z")
By reputation they are more short-fused and impetuous. If that is at all true, I’d expect it to be a self-fulfilling prophecy though. ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/3 "2003-11-11T14:44:44Z")
A jeweler I knew who was red haired told me that, as a generality, gold jewelry becomes tarnished and worn more readily when worn next to the skin by a person with red or very light blonde hair. He said it was because such people tend to have more acidic skin. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/4 "2003-11-11T17:40:34Z")
Well, we’re obviously more predisposed to skin cancer with the lack of pigmentation 🙂 There’s a [study](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2329313.stm) published recently that says redheads are more susceptible to pain and require more anaesthesia. (OMG, I just googled for redheads and pain. I keep forgetting what sick bastards there are out there…) In my own experience, when my wisdom teeth were removed and I was put under general anaesthesia, it took a lot longer for me to be totally out than other patients. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/5 "2003-11-11T18:12:56Z")
Redhead here. Born almost an entire month, to the day, late. And yes, my mom knew when she got pregnant 🙂 The anaesthesia thing is true for me. In labor I needed more “juice” than they were giving me so my epidural didn’t take very well. I also had a weird reaction to general anesthesia when I was 13 and had a tooth pulled. ---
**Author:** ![StinkPop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@StinkPop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StinkPop)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/6 "2003-11-11T20:59:20Z")
My wife is a redhead and her epidural never fully took after two tries. Fortunately, she was able to take the pain and deliver the baby anyway. Not that she had a choice. My wife was not premature. She does have a temper. And she’s good in bed. In my experience, both are true of all redheads I have known in the Biblical sense. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/7 "2003-11-11T21:03:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slipster \* > \*\*A jeweler I knew who was red haired told me that, as a generality, gold jewelry becomes tarnished and worn more readily when worn next to the skin by a person with red or very light blonde hair. He said it was because such people tend to have more acidic skin. \*\* I’d be VERY surprised to find this true, as gold doesn’t tarnish. _Silver_ tarnishes, and so does copper, but not gold. That’s one of the reasons it’s valued so highly as a jewelry metal. ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/8 "2003-11-11T21:22:06Z")
Redheads are predisposed to be damn attractive. Or maybe just to me… it’s hard to tell… ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/9 "2003-11-11T21:29:39Z")
We’re full of fury, but it’s a _good_ fury. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/10 "2003-11-11T21:53:06Z")
Much like **akrako1** , I find that I’m predisposed to be attracted to redheads. The last one I met, I was so overwhelmed that I forgot my new phone number, and the related bad pick-up line. In my observations, the redheads that I’ve seen tend to have paler skin than the non-redheads. Regrettably I do not have a sufficient amount of data to work with. With adequate funding, I would be glad to make a proper study of the subject. All in the name of science, of course. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-heads-and-predispositions/212306/11 "2003-11-11T22:21:25Z")
An analysis of data from the Delivery Interview Program conducted at the Boston Hospital for Women (now the Brigham and Women’s Hospital) from August 1977 through March 1980 of 12,825 women found that: black women have shorter gestational lengths by 2.5 days (95% confidence interval -1.6 to -3.5 days). _AM J OBSTET GYNECOL 1993;168:480-4._ The authors considered a whole range of other predictors of gestational length. There was no mention of red-heads.