What is the rarest natural hair color? Read and find out

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Isn’t it funny that many of us don’t recall our natural hair color? Not in general, of course, but the exact hue. It’s liberating and fun to be able to wear whatever color of the rainbow you desire. But some of us were lucky to get the rarest hair color in the world. What is it? Does it somehow correlate with the most popular color?

In our article, we’ll answer the questions about extremely rare natural hair color (or colors), and why it is so rare among the world’s population.

Which color is the most widespread around the globe? The natural hair color of the vast majority. We’ll enlighten you.

But we’ll start with the genes.

It’s all in the genes

From our science course at school, we remember that natural hair colors as well as eye colors are genetically determined. Some genes are dominant, and some are recessive. Dominant ones usually prevail. It’s not that simple, of course, but it’s the basics.

So the gene responsible for your blonde locks is recessive, thus not likely to win, whereas the genes giving you cute black (or brown) curls are the dominant ones.

That means that with time, there will be fewer and fewer people with natural blonde hair. Dark hues will prevail.

That’s exactly what is happening.

But something is missing here… Right, the gingers! How about the red hair gene? It doesn’t fit into this scheme.

That’s right because the gene responsible for naturally red hair is incompletely dominant. And that leads us to the rarest hair color in the world: natural red hair.

Outside of genetics, hair color is dependent on the pigment in the inner layer of the hair called melanin. Its content and quantity will determine the exact hue of the natural hair color defined by your genetic code.

And that, in turn, depends on various factors like ethnicity, geography, climate, etc.

Two rarest natural hair colors in the world

So, natural red hair is the rarest because of its rare genetic component.

The second rarest hair color is blond. Its recessive gene has sealed its fate and made blond hair exquisite.

Natural red hair. Blessing or curse?

On the one hand, it’s a shame that a gorgeous ginger or auburn hue is such a rarity, but maybe beauty should be exquisite and small in numbers.

When we say auburn hair or ginger, we think about Ireland, of course.

Probably due to its island nature and relative insulation, people of Ireland managed to preserve their beautiful ginger locks and cute freckles.

You can obviously find red-haired people in other places and on other continents. However, in total, no more than 2% of the world population can boast of having natural red hair.

Besides, you shouldn’t forget that during the Middle Ages, in the dark times of the inquisition and witch hunts, red-haired women were often executed as witches.

Having red hair could be a death sentence for a woman. Unique beauty wasn’t a perk at that time.

Can you guess which color is the most popular artificial hair color in the world? – That’s right, it’s red. It’s in human nature, to be unique and to show individuality.

How about celebrities with natural red hair? Nicole Kidman is a dazzling ginger, although nowadays we mostly see her with blonde hair.

Julia Roberts is another icon with her statement auburn hair and beautiful locks.

Blonde hair. Fighting the stereotypes

A recessive gene responsible for natural blonde hair has led to its rare occurrence.

Mostly, natural blondes are inhabiting Scandinavian countries and some other places in Northern Europe.

Folks with blonde hair (and often blue eyes) come from areas with colder climates, which is understandable because due to a very small amount of melanin, they have sensitive skin, which doesn’t react well to active sun exposure.

In total, around 3% of people have naturally blond hair.

This color comes in different shades and hues. From platinum blond to strawberry blonde hair, from caramel to ash blonde.

Artificial blonde hair is the second most popular hue. People love dying their hair blonde.

It’s not easy sometimes to detect a person who is naturally blonde, because the quality of the hair dyes has increased so dramatically, but we can give you a couple of names.

Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Jenifer Lawrence, and more…

Strawberry blonde

Strawberry blonde is a remarkable phenomenon. It’s somewhere in the middle between red and blonde hair color. White highlights and bronze.

This beautiful hair color appears due to a specific genetic combination when both parents have to possess the same type of recessive gene.

And this magical combination leads to the remarkable outcome — strawberry blonde hair.

Prevalent colors

Most folks were not blessed with complex variations of dominant and recessive genes resulting in ginger or platinum hair. More than three-thirds of all people proudly wear that hair color.

Natural black hair. Usual but brilliant

Natural hair color, which we are used to calling natural black, we actually should call very dark brown instead. Even the raven black hair is in reality an extremely dark hue of brown.

And around 80% of the world’s population are lucky owners of black hair.

Black hair is extensively prevalent in Africa as well as in various parts of Asia.

But you can find this lovely hair color in Europe too, mostly in Eastern and Southern Europe.

The rare combination of raven black hair and blue eyes has been considered iconic for centuries.

Healthy black hair is a thing of beauty. It’s rich and shiny and brings out the sophisticated paleness of the complexion. Even with the most widespread hair color, you can still be unique and glorious.

Black is the third most prevalent artificial hair color in the world. And subsequently, the black hair dye as well.

How about celebrities with black natural hair? Demi Lovato, Naomi Campbell, and Salma Hayek, just to name a few.

Brown hair. Diversity of hues

The second place is rightfully taken by the one and only brown hair color. And although it’s Europe’s most usual color, brown hair is widespread on other continents, too. The term ‘brown hair’ is not descriptive at all because there are so many tones and shades.

Dark brown hair is typical for Southern Europe, where most people have dark brown hues. But it’s still not homogenous.

Brown hair of milk chocolate brown and darker hair of the bitter chocolate color.

Gentle walnut brown and deep dark brown hair color have almost nothing in common at first sight, but they are all part of the brown hair family.

The diversity of this color range is incredible, this natural hair color exists in caramel hues and deep burgundy.

Light brown or dark hair with all the imaginable tones on the spectrum, among all the possible hair colors this hair color is the most assorted.

It can be cold and warm highlighting the skin tone of its owner and enhancing the facial features.

The ethnical diversity of the folks with natural shades of brown hair is incredible. At least 15% of people on the planet can boast of having some shades of brown hair as natural hair color.

When brown hair is healthy and well-cared for, it’s rich, shiny, and beautiful.

Gray hair. The color of maturity

Gray hair is different. It’s not among the hair colors we are given at birth. Being a natural hair color, it has a different nature. It’s gained by the majority of folks with age, sooner by some and later by others.

Melanin production slows down and stops, resulting in gray hair, which starts covering the hair more and more. According to several studies, reaching our 50-s, half of us have already become 50% gray.

That’s absolutely normal, although exceptions happen.

Some folks in their 70-s can boast raven black hair, whereas some have gray hair in their 30-s.

Is gray a common artificial hair color? Surprisingly, yes. Gray hair can look lovely and stylish, but many of us still prefer to use hair dye. People with warmer skin undertones choose to wear other colors because the cool gray color does not look advantageous with their complexion.

Final thoughts

That was our short tour where we showed you hair colors in all their diversity. Now you know which hair colors are the rarest hair colors. Not surprisingly, they are red and blonde. And the most prevalent color, too. It’s black.Hopefully, we satisfied your curiosity and entertained you, too.

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