It really doesn’t matter if your hair is auburn, copper, strawberry blonde, titian, rust or tawny. If you’re a red head then to most people you’re generically “ginger”. Not just that, you’re all those delightful clichés that people have come to associate with the colour too.

My particular shade of orange comes from a bottle, but I was sired by a redhead, and seem to have collected a lot of friends of the flame haired persuasion. Between us we’ve heard all the “truisms” old and new.

Here are 29 things that fellow red headed women will know to be true.

1. It’s taken as red (yeah, I went there) that you are crazy.

2. Passionate too.

3. And all kinds of ruthless.

4. You have a reputation for being feisty, regardless of whether you ever actually are.

5. People expect you to be violent.

6. If you appear to be none of these things then people are disappointed and it is assumed you are a quiet kind of crazy instead.

7. On the rare occasion that you do lose your temper people take that as proof that they were actually right about all of the above. And even though it kinda proves their point it does sometimes provoke a response like this:

8. Freckles become a talking point. Even if you don’t have them. People don’t believe you don’t have them. Why don’t you have them?! Not even on your arms!?

9. Everyone is fascinated by the colour of your pubes. They couch the question with “is your hair colour natural”, but their eyes give away what they are really asking.

10. Men are generally the most forthright with this question. Because as a red head you’re either a sex kitten.

11. And 'totally up for it'.

12. Or you’re the complete opposite: an inexperienced prude.

13. Even though there are thousands of gorgeous red heads flying the flag in the media, there’s still a social stigma, so when someone shows a sexual interest in you they often expect you to be just a little bit grateful.

14. That being said, there are a lot of ginger fanciers out there. A high proportion of them are geeks though, even the hot ones.

15. Blokes (and sometimes teenage girls) love to bring society’s attention to the colour of your hair by screaming 'GINGERRRRRR!' at you across the street. You respond with a look of haughty derision.

16. If you are really lucky they’ll scream “carrot top” at the top of their voice. Or 'gingernut' even. That one hurts.

17. You’re just relieved that people seem to have stopped watching Eastenders because randoms screeching 'Rickyyyyyyy!' at you on public transport is the WORST.

18. Interestingly the “you have no soul” witch jokes never seem to have fall out of favour.

19. In fact there are so many 'jokes' that seem to have enduring appeal. Like, what do you call a red head with an attitude? Normal. Hahahahahaha. 

20. On the brightside, you have been reminded on several occasions (without inviting any kind of response or feedback on the subject) that it must be SO much worse to be ginger male. Yeah, Damien does seem to be having a hard time of it.

21. Weirdly there is a reluctance to accept that you might not have Scottish or Irish heritage.

22. Though if you do have a Celtic background then whoever asked the question acts like they just uncovered the cure to cancer.

23. People want to know if your parents are ginger too. The subtext being 'did you just get unlucky in the genetic lottery?'. If you did then you get what I like to call the 'oh, babes, I’ll still like you face'.

24. Speaking of parents (and older relatives generally), they become incredibly fond of your hair. Much more so than even you, and if you ever want to change it up a little, they get VERY upset.

25. The hunt for the perfect eyebrow products becomes an ongoing obsession. Because regardless of whether you are a natural or bottle bought red head, your brows never seem to match!

26. People have strong opinions on what you should wear. You frequently hear you shouldn’t dress in red. Or pink. Or orange. Or lavender. Or yellow. You are allowed to wear green and blue though. The realisation that there’s a little fashion dictator in almost everyone is a hard one to swallow though.

27. Whatever. We can wear any colour. In other good style news, red heads look great in hats. TAKE THAT FASHION FASCISTS!

28. And from time to time we take great pleasure from matching our lipstick to our hair shade. 

29. But the best thing about being a red head, is meeting another red head. There’s an instant unspoken bond.  You make eye contact, you’ve both been through it, you both just *know*.