Red hair is rare. While about 80 percent of people carry the possibility of having a ginger for a child, thanks to the recessiveness of the genes, only a fraction of people actually have a natural carrot top. According to the Fischer-Saller scale with eight different colors of hair, red is the rarest with only between one and two percent of the world population having it (dyed reds excluded).
The exceptional color initiated numerous superstitions and myths related to redheads. It is believed they are bleeding more than others, they need more pain killers for the same effect, they can’t stand dentists, are much more sensitive to the heat and can stand cold much better than a majority of world population.
From the genetical point of view, there is some logic behind these believes, some of them being many centuries old. Let’s examine them one by one.
Redheads and pain tolerance – scientific facts and myths
Redheads are involved in many myths, some actually being backed with scientific evidence. Do they really feel pain differently than others, bleed more, need more anesthesia?
Myths and facts
Image credit: http://color-red.yolasite.com/red-hair-paintings.php
Heat and Cold
Liem, Joiner, Tsueda, and Sessler (study 2005)
Article published in Anesthesiology (2005 Mar; 102(3): 509–514) revealed tests done on 30 volunteers with red and 30 volunteers with dark hair. All of them were healthy women between 18 and 40 years. All experiments were done in the first ten days of menstrual cycles of participants at the same time of the day (8 a.m.). Tests were done with TSA-II Neurosensory Analyzer for heat stimuli.
Lidocaine was used as a local anesthetic.
The study showed the pain sensitivity of redheads and brunettes is similar. The measurable difference is at the cold and heat pain.
Reds are more sensitive, what is understandable for heat (they produce less pigment as a skin protector against UV rays), but not for cold.
Until recently it was believed that lighter skin offers a certain advantage in colder climates (largest percent of red-haired people lives in Scotland and Ireland) because it emits less radiation and thus saves some body heat.
Although this still might be true, redheads don't stand more pain caused by coldness. They are actually more sensitive to all changes of temperature.
Pain tolerance is not easy to measure
It was also proved they need substantial higher quantities of lidocaine to suppress the pain than women with dark hair. In other words, they have higher resistance to local analgetic as lidocaine. There are several theories why is so, but none of them is adequately tested. The main concern related to this proven fact is the risk of overdose. If one patient needs four shots of a pain-killer, he definitely risks more than one who needs only half of dose.
A similar study was done at Louisville University in Kentucky in 2005, what leads us to the next chapter.
Pinching And Cutting
Andresen, Lunden, Drewes, and Arendt-Nielsen study (study 2011)
An article from Scandinavian Journal of Pain made on a similar group (20 redheads and 20 dark heads) confirmed the results presented above. They also made another experiment. It was done by injections of capsaicin (active substance in hot paprika). The study showed redheads are less sensitive to burning sensation caused by capsaicin what confirms anecdotical evidence about gingers who can eat spicier food than most others.
Red-headed people are also less sensitive to pain caused by a prick and many tattooists reported that redheads have fewer problems with needles.
They have also higher pain threshold for scratches, pressure, and other skin trauma.
Is possible they have some kind of compensation for sensitiveness in other areas related to pain?
Poll for redheads only
Do you need more or less pain killers at the dentist as non-redheads?
175 votes
Toothache
Redheads have significantly more fears and even phobias related to the dentist. Several studies in recent years examined this problem from different angles and it seems that the main reason is not in the pain itself.
The problem lies in the resistance to most used anesthetics. At least twice as more shots are required for a typical redhead than for a regular customer and the effect of so well-known dumb-lips is much shorter. For this reason much higher percentage of gingers avoids regular visits and the result is worse dental health.
Can we conclude reds are more or less susceptible to pain?
Well, the main conclusion is not exactly flattering for scientists and medicine in particular. We obviously have only a rough idea how anesthesia works. We can say with a relatively high level of certainty that MC1R protein has some role in the pain reception, but this role is not a simple one. What we can say for sure is that red-haired people feel pain differently than dark-haired ones.
To be more specific we need more tests, more experiments with different analgetics and especially better methods to design new studies and interpret results.
One very likely expected side-effect of further investigation should be a better understanding of the work of pain-killers and probably some new approaches, adjusted to different people,
Pharmacogenetics, a new medicine field studying the different effect of the same medicine on different people, is promising exactly that.
Like it or not, being a redhead or not, the color red has a very special meaning for humankind. Here is an article dealing with the meanings of red color:
http://hubpages.com/education/red-color-meaning
I bet you can learn at least something new from it. Red is influential and it makes an instant impression. Redheads are special too. They are no better or worse than any other group. They are just different and we all love difference, don't we?
Can you add anything related to redheads and pain?
mihgasperDec 10, 2023
katiem2Dec 9, 2023
mihgasperDec 5, 2023
Jo_MurphyDec 5, 2023
mihgasperOct 6, 2023
DerdriuMarrinerOct 4, 2023
Might redhead intolerances or tolerances vary according to the alcoholic type?
DerdriuMarrinerOct 4, 2023
What is the configuration that research and tradition show for redheads and their intolerance or their tolerance of alcoholic drinks?
DerdriuMarrinerSep 29, 2023
It makes me think of nature versus nurture influences. Might it be saying that those who become dyed redheads assume redhead characteristics such that they too share (in Bob Dylan's words) "a personal acquaintance with pain"?
DerdriuMarrinerSep 27, 2023
That means that perhaps an otherwise hair-colored person with dental pain, dental problems and heat sensitivity may have the red-haired recessive gene, correct?
DerdriuMarrinerSep 23, 2023
Blood, bones, muscles and skin change with age. So too perhaps hair!?!
Have there been any studies about aged- and aging-hair properties? Might it not be possible that pain tolerances manifest less or more?
DerdriuMarrinerSep 14, 2023
The three facts mean that redheads may bleed more, that they may not notice as quickly nicks and that they may prefer brushing and flossing at home over more than the minimalest of dental visits.
The above scenario might mean more cavities!
Brushing and flossing teeth after every meal generally net less cavity-filling and tooth extractions when coordinated with 6-month to yearly dental visits. Brushing and flossing teeth with the minimalest of dental visits, perhaps every 1, 1.5, 2 years, perhaps offer more dental problems, correct?
DerdriuMarrinerSep 9, 2023
Another one of your wizzleys described a hilariously sobering, soberingly hilarious incident in that story. Your answer to my question about that book indicated reading the version that has an unnamed blonde as a character early on.
The 1986 edition of the 1951-copyrighted original is the version in the public library system here. A branch library lent me that copy.
Readers meet, in that copy's first chapter -- which I just finished reading this morning -- a redhead without a name. The Old Man character, self-monikered Charles Cavanaugh, monikers this unnamed redhead Mary Cavanaugh for their secret mission.
Might that be the version that you read?
DerdriuMarrinerJun 28, 2023
In nature, yellow, then white, then purple can be associated with earliest spring weather in terms of floral blooms. Red is associated with offputting taste and texture in terms of bird and insect bodies.
Wouldn't it be interesting if research shows that red-furred, red-haired animals are more pain-sensitive than their other-colored counterparts?
mihgasperJun 25, 2023
frankbeswickDec 22, 2022
mihgasperDec 22, 2022
DerdriuMarrinerDec 21, 2022
Would that lower pigmentation account for some skin freckling and other skin not and would that mean that redheads feel greater pain from sunburns?
mihgasperJan 19, 2017
Thanks for your comment, frankbeswick.
frankbeswickJan 19, 2017