Tag Archives: Red hair

The Mythology of The Red Head

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Throughout the years there have been numerous studies performed, conclusions drawn rumours spread and things written regarding ‘red heads’. Some are true, and some are just plain crazy!

I’m sure you have heard some of them before. I mean, did you know that red heads will be extinct within 2 years?

Extinction - seriously?!

I don’t know who started that one, but I know that I am certainly relieved to hear that it is not true.

What about these:

  • Red heads are more susceptible to pain.  I’ll personally refute this one as I believe that I have a high tolerance to pain – that is, until I possibly have kids one day…then ask me again.
  • On the flip side, it has also been said that red heads have a higher tolerance for pain. As above.
  • Red heads are witches…well, my Mum always said we were ‘witchy women’.
  • Red head patients ‘bleed’ more during operations.  Well, I know I’m a bleeder (when I manage to nick my legs shaving, I freak out at the amount of blood). Fingers crossed I’ve never needed an operation.
  • There are such things as “gingerphobia” (hatred towards red heads) and “gingerism” (prejudice against red heads).  In 2008 the ’Kick a Ginger’ group was formed on Facebook, aiming to establish a “National Kick a Ginger Day” in November that year. I was really disturbed at that, and after a deeper search on Facebook, was even more disgusted at the pathetic natures of some small-minded people in the world today.
  • Red heads bruise easier. I know I most certainly do!
  • Red heads take longer to heal. I do, but methinks that is not because of my hair colour.
  • Red heads are highly sexed. Okay…?!
  • In Polynesian culture red hair has traditionally been seen as a sign of descent from high-ranking ancestors and a mark of rulership.
  • People with red hair are more sensitive to ultraviolet rays, burn easier and have a higher frequency of skin cancer. Gosh, that makes me sound like a vampire! Unfortunately I can’t refute this one (that is – the skin sensitivity, not the vampire part).
  • Red Heads are less tolerant to the heat and the cold.  As I get older, I tolerate the cold less, but methinks this is just an age and circulation thing. Give me heat any day.
  • Red Heads also have more sensitive skin. Yep!
  • Red heads are more anxious / temperamental (methinks this stems from the good ole’ red heads are fiery myth!).
  • Red heads are fiery (don’t ever cross a red head!).

    Beware the red head

  • Red hair is a genetic mutation. So, I’m a mutant just like in X-Men but with no super powers right? Doh.

But seriously, red hair is just a hair colour!  I’d love to hear if you have anything to the list!

And what about you and your hair colour?  I’m so focussed on the red hair, it would be interesting to hear what everyone else had heard about theirs in their life times!


Yes, I’m a Red-Head…Get Over It

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You may not think that a little thing such as being born with red hair could have so much of an impact on someones life…but it has.

My old best friend and I

As a little girl I’m sure people thought I was cute – with my shock of red hair flaming around my face. That all changed.

I grew older, retreated into my shell, gained freckles and developed pimples. These were combined with splotchy, easily blush-able and burnable skin. I didn’t eat a lot of junk food. I mean, we couldn’t afford it.  Plus we lived in the hills, no where near a fast food restaurant. I was still teased and told that I shouldn’t eat so much chocolate, or chips, or pizza (cause my face looked like one – hahahaha – not).

My body – I became an awkward, supposedly ‘pudgy’ teenager. I hated my shape, and the other kids teased me for it. Looking back on photos of myself I was actually slim…just not slim enough. Being made – by the TEACHER – to weigh myself in front of the entire class in year 5 hadn’t helped. I was the 2nd heaviest girl in the class – I have heavy bones! But because the 1st placed girl had a note so as NOT to put her weight on the board, I claimed 1st place…and the teasing that went with it. THAT lasted into high school. The starving myself…well that lasted – on and off – for a long time, followed by excessive exercising, binge eating, and so on.

And then there was my last name – Ripper. As soon as kids could latch onto that they did. Oh – and my first initial, of course, was J…Janine the Stripper, Janine the Ripper, are you related to Jack? And then there were the original ones – ooo what’s that smell…you let off a ripper.  Of course, I did what any red-headed girl would do blush…badly. 

But that was no way near the flack I copped for my hair. My hair became unruly, and it was still red. How dare I have red hair? I mean – ‘how ugly’. Of course, I couldn’t be seen wearing any colour as every colour ‘clashed’ with red hair. So I wore black, and I was told I looked ‘deathly’ pale. I was told that no boy would ever want to go out with me, and mostly they didn’t (apart from the red-headed boy). I was whispered about on the school bus, just loud enough to be heard…‘the ugly red-headed girl’ – the girls giggled, as did the boys. When the bus braked, and I fell onto the pile of school bags – well, there was more ammo. Yes, I’m a clutz too. So I retreated further into books…

Met at 18

As I got older, I was certain no boy would ever like me, and as I got older still – after being slapped on the ass whilst on the dance floor of a club and laughed at, and followed down the street by men heckling – I threw myself into work, study, getting drunk, and making out with any blind drunk random who would kiss me at the end of the night.

Depression took hold of me – although I didn’t accept that that was what it was at the time. Living in a state with beautiful beaches just seemed cruel. I just couldn’t compare to the blonde, bronzed godesses that surrounded me everywhere I turned. I couldn’t even compare to the ‘alternative’ girls at uni. I was no one, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to get out of this godforsaken country where everywhere I turned I was reminded of my inadequacies.

Singapore was my first trip overseas with my dearest friend Charissa. This was where I found a whole new world. I was told I could be a model there? Men tripped over their feet staring at me. Was I pretty?

Italy was my second trip overseas. 6 weeks backpacking, whilst being sweet talked by Italian stallions, followed into the toilets by a seedy old man in Naples, driven into fits of laughter by a jock from the US, and charmed by a brooding American writer who was the first man I had ever experienced ‘electricity’ with. The trip ended in Paris, where I was made to feel ‘beautiful’.

Searching for myself

As the 6 weeks came to an end I had to return home, where I still did not feel at home. I felt like a foreigner. I didn’t belong, no matter how hard I tried. This was in the midst of an increasing drug culture, and the fact that I didn’t do drugs…well, it was like being at high school again. I was ‘strange’, ‘weird’, I ‘wasn’t interested in anything’. In a nutshell – I was boring. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I chucked in everything and went overseas indefinitely, where I was looked at, loved, charmed, broken and restored. In return I had flirted, smiled, loved, broke-down, and built myself up again. You could say that I found my self.

9 1/2 months later I returned home…sooner than expected, but it was my choice. I was a new person…I was confident! Some people didn’t like it, many that I had worked with before I had left. They didn’t like the new ‘confident‘ me. They definitely didn’t like me sticking up for myself, or the fact that I started achieving things in my career fast. Of course, others loved the new me…and so did I.

What am I trying to say by sharing this with you?

It’s not that looks count for everything. As looks fade.

It’s not that loving someone will solve everything…because it doesn’t. 

It could be that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Or that in order to love others, you must first love yourself.

It is that childhood bullying scars, and that these scars can last a lifetime.

In the end, through sharing this story, and the others in ‘The Beauty of Difference’ series, I hope to help people see.

EVERYTHING HAS ITS BEAUTY BUT NOT EVERYONE SEES IT - CONFUCIUS

 

Janine plus Vitamin D and a glass of wine

You Inspire Me

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Whilst I was at University in 1997 I dated a Chinese boy. To me, he was just a guy who had the same interest in creative writing as me, and was studying Radio Broadcasting with a good friend of mine. We hit it off. He made me laugh. He also wanted to read my writing. No one had ever wanted to read my writing before. It was terrifying. And then he asked me out. That was even more terrifying, as I’d never had a boyfriend before. I decided to take the plunge and said yes.

For our first date he took me to dinner at a quaint little restaurant. I think it was Italian, as back then Italian was my favourite food, and it was all about me : ) I don’t remember much else, apart from one thing – the looks we were getting, from most people. A pale red-head girl and a tall, lanky Chinese boy sitting at the same table in a romantic restaurant – how so?

Those looks continued throughout our brief relationship, and I couldn’t quite understand it back then, as to me we are all people. Even when I met his mother and she called me an ‘evil Western girl’ who would ‘corrupt’ her son – well, I couldn’t understand that either.

We didn’t last, but it wasn’t because of those ‘against’ us. It was because I wasn’t ready for a relationship, and had issues to deal with (plus I preferred him as a friend, minus the complications of intimacy and all that guff).

So it was a surprise when, whilst out at lunch with Denis on Monday (in the year 2011) – enjoying my first official day of unemployment at a cafe on the coast – we got looks. Denis had gone up to the counter to order, and I was sitting in the sun, soaking it and my new-found freedom up. I looked over to Denis, glowing with this strange feeling (happiness?), and there was a woman looking from me, to Denis, back to me, to Denis, back to me, to Denis. She had a look of confusion combined with slight distaste on her face. I caught her eye and gave her a look that hinted at the following: ‘Yes – a pale, red-head woman AND an Anglo-Indian man TOGETHER at lunch…’ Now I’m not usually a smart-ass, and that wasn’t the ‘look’ I was going for, but in this day and age, in the world we live in – especially in Australia which is as multi-cultural as they come – you would think we wouldn’t get these looks still.

I could think about it this way though, which is what Denis tells me to think on occassion – we are just one good-looking couple… 

 

Denis & Janine

Yes, that’s it! 

On a serious note though, it is moments like these that have spawned me onto starting ‘The Beauty of Difference’ series. And so, to all of those onlookers, I say thank you. You are my inspiration.

Have you experienced anything like this? Why? How did you feel?

If you would like to be a part of ‘The Beauty of Difference’ series, please contact me at janine.ripper@gmail.com.

I would love to share your story. 

 

Gratuitous Plug Time – How to be a Redhead

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Annie (film)

Image via Wikipedia

Did I tell you that I’m writing weekly for How to be a Redhead? I’m ultra-qualified of course, being a red head and all!

Yes – it’s gratuitous plug time. I thought I’d blow my own trumpet and let you all know, whilst sharing the link to my latest post which is dedicated to one of my favourite all-time movies about…a redhead! How did you guess : )

Enjoy.

It’s the Hard-Knock Life

Celebrating the Red-Headedness

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Being a red-head can be a curse or a blessing.

For most of my life, I thought it was a curse. Pale skin, freckles, red-hair and blood that is extremely tasty to mosquitos. Oh and the constant, incessant teasing from people. I do recall being followed down the street by groups of boys commenting on how ‘ugly’ red headed girls were, and how they would never go out with one. This also happened on the bus, in the cinema, in night clubs…pretty much everywhere. I even got it from the female species. How I loved being heckled by so-called ‘bronzed, blonde Aussie goddesses’.

Well, a few years ago I decided that enough was enough. I decided that I liked my hair colour – and so did everyone else, as why else would everyone be dying their hair red (even the blondes). I also decided that I was pretty. As one friend recently put it ‘the guys were always eyeing off Janine and she never noticed or thought it true. But it was true!’ Thanks Karina : ) Seriously, I never did notice! 

So, today I celebrate my red-headedness. 

What would you like to celebrate about yourself today?

Get your groove on and celebrate

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Be a Red Head: Love Your Skin!

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TOTALLY gratuitous plug for something I wrote that has been accepted and published on a website called How to Be A Red Head, cause I am more than qualified, being a red head and all : )

Hehe okay it’s not easy for me to tug my own chain but I’m excited…so here it is – Love Your Skin.  An for all those red heads out there, or people that know red heads, send me ideas on what to write about re: Red heads and their health!

My mass-producing freckles

My sun kisses

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Let’s Get Serious – YOU and Your Skin

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Title: Pathology: Patient: Melanoma Descriptio...

Image via Wikipedia

I finally bit the bullet and got my skin checked yesterday for skin cancer. I’d been putting it off for a while, and have secretly been worried about a large freckle on my nose (of all places!).

I’m a pale red-head, with lots of freckles, who has probably been burnt too many times in her life. It doesn’t help that I live in Western Australia, where the ozone layer is incredibly damaged, and the sun can be incredibly harsh. You can actually burn after just 10 minutes in the sun here. That is not good at all. I used to try and stay inside all of the time – but I became a bit of a hermit, so I now live my life more, but admit that I need to be more ‘sun smart’.

Lucky for me, the new place I work had arranged for a specialist to visit to check us all out – if we wanted to – free of charge. Fabulous idea, and it possibly pushed a few of us to confront our fears.

With great relief I can announce that I have no worrisome freckles or moles. If only I had gotten my freckles checked sooner, I wouldn’t have spent all this time worrying. And realistically, I should have got checked earlier, as if any of them had been cancerous – that would have been even worse.

In reading one of the pamphlets I got with the ‘goody bag’ I was given after my skin check (don’t you just love goody bags!), it’s terrifying to read the statistics:

‘Australia has THE highest rate of skin cancer in the world. Every yeah over 440,000 Australians are diagnosed with skin cancer and over 1,700 people will die from the disease. Western Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in Australia.’

I encourage you all to go and get your freckles and moles checked, even if you think you are okay, for you never know what is lying there under the surface.

For more information visit www.cancerwa.asn.au

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Versatile Bloggers are Us!

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I have been awarded the “Versatile Blogger Award” from Thom Brown (his blog is ‘To Gyre and Gambol’). I was very surprised and flattered. Thank you Thom!

There are rules though. I have to now regift this award to seven others AND I need to say seven things about myself.  This doesn’t seem to hard, so here goes!

About me:

1. I miss my Nan, who passed last year. I try not to think about her, which is stupid, as she was incredibly important to me and I should. I think I’ve made myself so ridiculously busy that I don’t allow myself the time. I think they call this an epiphany?
2. I have an obsession with vampires – and I need to stress it is NOT ‘Twilight‘ related. My obsession started when Anne Rice wrote ‘Interview with the Vampire‘, and only continues. I admit I did read the ‘Twilight’ saga – and it wasn’t until the 4th and final book that I sat up and thought ‘Hello!’
3. My favourite TV show at the moment is ‘The Vampire Diaries‘ after my sister bought me Season 1 for Christmas. My partner and I really paced ourselves, spreading watching the episodes over 2 months…but now we are hanging for season 2 after the season 1 cliff-hanger, and it’s not out in Australia yet..damn it!
4. My favourite colour is red, although when I was younger I hated it, as red reminded me of how much I hated my red hair. Growing up as a red-head, I was always teased (as is the norm for red heads). I was also always told that due to having red hair, I could not wear ‘colour’ – i.e. red. I now adore red and realise that when people tell us red heads that we can’t wear colour, they are only displaying their envy of our awesome hair colour!
5. I wanted to be an archaeologist when I was young. I remembered this today, and got all excited by my childhood fantasy of exotic, dusty locations, tents, brushes, khaki, artefacts and mystery;
6. I just refinanced my mortgage. I swear there was more paperwork involved in this than in getting the actual mortgage the first time round. That’s it – done. I don’t want to see anymore paperwork, and I’ve had enough of banks.
7. My favourite male singer of all time is Jeff Buckley, and my favourite song of his is ‘Grace’. Indeed, his loss was way too soon. My Mum used to tease me and tell me his music was ‘music to slit your wrists too.’ I personally found he’s deep, haunting music therapeutic!

And now time for the winners!

I want to recognise the following bloggers – sharing the love as I’d like to put it – because they are all genuine, write from the heart, and have struck a personal chord with me at one time or another.

1. Adriene aka Sweepy Jean – Sweepy Jean Explores the (Webby) World 3.0

2. Hajra Khatoon – Hajra Kvetches - The Blog

3. Jenny Stamos – Growing up Jenny

4. Michael – OutMaturity

5. Dennis Salvatier – The Tanoshiboy Chronicles

6. Maureen Hunter – Esdeer, Stepping Through Grief

7. MuMuGb – 40blogspot, The blog of a French Yummy Mummy in London.

For those I’ve recognised, as you know – there are rules. Only two:

One, say seven things about yourself. Two, share the award with seven other people.

No pressure though. I just thought it would be fun to learn more about you all!