The Redhead Days Festival is the oldest and largest festival of its kind. The Redhead Days Festival Facebook
Last week redheads from around the world came together to celebrate their unique hair color at this annual festival in The Netherlands.
The Redhead Days Festival, which took place from August 25-27 in the city of Tilburg in The Netherlands, is a gathering of thousands of redheads from over 80 countries and is the oldest and largest festival of its kind.
The aim of the festival is to create a feeling of belonging and pride for those with the redhead gene - no matter the shade of ginger! Some attendees commented that they would have been bullied as a child because of the color of their hair, but the festival gives them the opportunity to embrace their uniqueness.
For Irish people having red hair is considered no big deal with one in ten people in Ireland having ginger hair. However, according to the World Population Review, only about 2% of people worldwide have red hair!
Scotland and Ireland. have the highest prevalence of redheads, while the US has the largest number of actual redheads with potentially as many as 18 million Americans crowned with red hair.
But what are the chances of being born as a redhead? For this to happen, both parents of a child must carry the "ginger gene", otherwise known as a recessive gene, for it to be passed on to their offspring.
A redhead whose partner does not have the ginger gene themselves will not have a redheaded child - it’s biologically impossible. However, a redhead whose partner is not ginger but nevertheless carries the ginger gene has a 50% chance that their child will be ginger.
Two non-ginger parents who both carry the recessive gene have a one in four chance of having a red-haired child.
Does the "ginger gene" run in your family or are you a proud redhead? Let us know in the comments below!