# Why do so many british people do have dark hair and eyes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-british-people-do-have-dark-hair-and-eyes/729368 "2015-08-30T02:41:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![northernanglishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/13edae/32.png) [@northernanglishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/northernanglishman)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-british-people-do-have-dark-hair-and-eyes/729368/101 "2016-04-01T19:23:39Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > In Sweden kids seem to be very blonde but they lose it as they get older. Yes, that’s true Swedish kids can be indeed quite blonde (Nordic blondness). As with any Northern European population, children start out blonde or just light-haired and progressively usually darken in adulthood. The very same happens with British people. ---
**Author:** ![northernanglishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/13edae/32.png) [@northernanglishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/northernanglishman)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-british-people-do-have-dark-hair-and-eyes/729368/102 "2016-04-01T19:28:46Z")
Dark hair and dark eyes are found in every single European population under the sun, the British should not be exempt from that. One of the main differences, is that the British have more of the dark hair than Scandinavians, Estonians and Latvians. However in eye color, they are comparable especially the Scottish. In terms of skin tone, the British are paler than other Northern Europeans and they tan less as well. ---
**Author:** ![northernanglishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/13edae/32.png) [@northernanglishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/northernanglishman)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-british-people-do-have-dark-hair-and-eyes/729368/103 "2016-04-01T19:36:40Z")
> [@RebrandingHumor](#): > > I’ve visited the UK quite recently and it struck me how many people do have really dark hair (Id say 70-80% of males I came across had either darkbrown/black or plain brown hair) in the Isles , and brown eyes were far commoner than I though… In the area of southern england and wales I stayed about half of the people had brown or hazel eyes…, I thought Britain was a northern european nation (racially-wise) but guess I was sort of wrong. BTW, I’m not talking about recent foriegners from south asia or caribbean nations or other parts of the world but 100% brits. almost every blonde girl I saw walking down the streets had a clear underline of dark hair, which means they were bottle blondes. > We have many examples of famous brits fitting the dark stereotype, russell brands, orlando bloom, rowan atkinson (mr bean),the 4 beatles, catherine zeta jones, tom jones, bryan May (queen), gallagher brothers (oasis), simon cowell, sean connery, jeff beck, ritchie blackmoore, cheryl cole, victoria beckham, kerry louise (porn star), robbie williams, footballers michael carrick, joe cole, john terry, frank lampard, gary cahill, etc… what about gordon brown or nick griffin? none very nordic looking or blonde… John Terry was a freckled blond boy in his school years and his children have blonde hair. ---
**Author:** ![northernanglishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/13edae/32.png) [@northernanglishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/northernanglishman)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-british-people-do-have-dark-hair-and-eyes/729368/104 "2016-04-02T04:48:18Z")
Scotland is the ginger capital of the world! [http://www.google.com/url?url=http://www.scotlandnow.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/scotland-proud-ginger-capital-world-7623848&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwixgLeIku\_LAhVKXB4KHQgaCyUQFggXMAE&usg=AFQjCNF8mbPCPWBUNIxWG8DpEIkHf6IgAg](http://www.google.com/url?url=http://www.scotlandnow.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/scotland-proud-ginger-capital-world-7623848&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwixgLeIku_LAhVKXB4KHQgaCyUQFggXMAE&usg=AFQjCNF8mbPCPWBUNIxWG8DpEIkHf6IgAg) ---
**Author:** ![northernanglishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/13edae/32.png) [@northernanglishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/northernanglishman)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-british-people-do-have-dark-hair-and-eyes/729368/105 "2016-04-10T11:52:02Z")
Palest ("whitest) Europeans. In order of rank, this is measured not only by skin tone but also skin tanning ability. The weaker the skin tanning ability, the paler or fairer it is. 1.) British Islanders (especially Irish and Scottish) 2.) Scandinavians and then other Northern Europeans (e.g. Estonians) 3.) Central Europeans 4.) Southern Europeans ---
**Author:** ![northernanglishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/13edae/32.png) [@northernanglishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/northernanglishman)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-british-people-do-have-dark-hair-and-eyes/729368/106 "2016-04-10T12:03:55Z")
For blondeheadedness. 1.) Scandinavia, Iceland 2.) Baltic States, Byelorussia 3.) British Isles, the Netherlands, north Germany & Poland, northwest Russia 4.) Belgium, Central Europe 5.) France, the Balkans 6.) Iberia, Italy, Albania 7.) Greece, Turkey ---
**Author:** ![northernanglishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/13edae/32.png) [@northernanglishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/northernanglishman)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-british-people-do-have-dark-hair-and-eyes/729368/107 "2016-04-10T12:18:21Z")
In terms of light eyes, Brits are comparable to other Northern Europeans. Norway - 55% blue, 23% green, 22% brown Denmark - 50.9% blue, 33.3% green, 15.8% brown Britain - 48% blue, 30% green, 22% brown [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-british-people-do-have-dark-hair-and-eyes/729368.md?page=5)