Blond
Blond (feminine, blonde) is a hair color found in certain mammals characterised by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin and higher levels of the pale pigment phæomelanin, in common with red hair. From darkest ash blond to pale blond, the various hues of blondness colour about 2% of the world's population.
The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish colour, going from the very pale blond caused by a patchy, scarce distribution of pigment, to reddish "strawberry" blond colours or golden brownish blond colours, the latter with more eumelanin. True blonds have thinnest hair, while red hair is the thickest. The hair of people of Asian descent is in diameter the thickest. Blond hair can be found among a certain race of humans and breeds of dogs and cats, among other mammalian species.
Etymology, spelling, and grammar
The adjective is a relatively recent borrowing into English from French (the traditional English terms for blond being "fair-haired", "flaxen", or "tow-haired"), and careful writers still distinguish between the masculine blond and the feminine blonde. However, most English speakers do not use the French system of grammatical gender along with the word. They often confuse the two, the tendency being for North Americans to use the masculine in either case, and other English-speakers to use the feminine in either case. The feminine is also used as a noun meaning "a blonde woman or girl". The French word, in turn, derives from the medieval Latin blondus or blundus, meaning yellow.
The word—with one spelling or the other—is also occasionally used to refer to objects that have a colour reminiscent of fair hair. Examples include dolls' hair, pale wood, and lager beer.
Distribution among humans
Fair hair is characteristic of the peoples of Northern Europe, particularly Scandinavia and Finland; very pale hair is often referred to as Nordic blond. The true amounts and degree to which hair in this region is blonde has however been obfuscated by the percentage of people dyeing their hair. Sweden, the largest and most populous of the Nordic countries, for example, has the highest percentage of both males and female who make use of hydrogen peroxide and related chemicals to change their natural hair colour to that of 'Nordic Blond/e'. The largest percentage of natural blondes can be found in Finland. There are many indigenous blonds in Australia as well, and people of native Australian descent can have fair hair. Blond hair is genetically associated with paler eye-colour (blue, green and light brown) and pale (sometimes freckled) skin tone. Red, brown and even some degrees of black hair are however also found in these regions.
It is also normal for hair to darken through childhood. Caucasian babies are generally born with the slightest wisp of fair hair, and then go on to grow hair of the colour that they are genetically programmed to grow. Darkening can even occur relatively late in life (greying of hair is a separate issue, though). Strong sunlight also lightens hair of any pigmentation, to varying degrees.
Instinctive and cultural reactions
Dark-haired people have historically found pale hair to be striking, and often wished to emulate it. The dark-haired women of Rome, for instance, used to buy wigs made from hair from the yellow- and red-haired Germanic tribespeople with whom their civilisation came into contact. In modern Western culture, the bleaching of hair is common, especially among women.
Some research suggests that fair hair, being characteristic of young children, evokes parent-like feelings of affection and protection in others. This would explain the oft-noted association of blonde hair with beauty and femininity, though fashions obviously also play a role. This association with children may also be the cause of the common Western stereotype of blonde women as being unintelligent (such as fictional character Chrissy Snow, a stereotypical dumb blonde). Some human males are particularly attracted to human females with blonde hair. In the early twentieth century, blond hair was sometimes associated with an Aryan master race, promoted by Nordicists such as Madison Grant and Alfred Rosenberg, although brown or dark hair was more common among "Aryans".
However, it must be noted that those with pale hair sometimes desire darker hair. Different cultures around the world often find one type of hair the most desirable.
Theory of the Disappearing Blonds
In 2002 BBC news (and others) reported that German scientists had come to the conclusion that the natural distribution of fair hair would cease within the span of 200 years due to the lack of a recessive genes; only a select amount of people from Finland will have naturally blond hair. There is a reportedly low amount of people carrying recessive (or in this case, blonde genes) genes already, especially in nations of mixed heritage (examples: USA , Canada, New Zealand, Australia). The dominant genes (brown hair, black hair, brown eyes) 'overthrow' the recessive genes or metaphorically, endanger them. However, The Age, an Australian newspaper, under the headline Hair-raising story about blonds cut short reported that the World Health Organization had no knowledge of this (WHO clarification).
See also
- Recessive genes
- Brown hair
- Red hair
- Blonde jokes
- Dumb blonde
- Blonde is also the title of the popular novel published in 2000 by Joyce Carol Oates. Blonde is an extremely fictionalized account of Norma Jean Baker's life.
External link
- American Heritage Book of English Usage, blond/blonde
 |