The owners of blond hair have always been surrounded by a halo of myths and legends. Thanks to sex symbols, from Greta Garbo to Marilyn Monroe, Sharon Stone and Charlize Theron, the very word “blonde” has become something more than a definition of a blond woman. Blondes are more likely to appear on glossy covers and in X films. Is it true that they are subconsciously perceived by men as an object of desire, and what does science say about this?
Charles Darwin was also interested in the popularity of gold-haired women. While working on the book “The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection”, he tried to find out how such a factor as blond hair affects the sexual attractiveness of a woman. However, the British biologist was unable to collect enough information for the final version of the study.
However, since then, many scientific theories have appeared that explain this phenomenon. Studies have shown that mutations in certain genes are responsible for the synthesis of melanin, a natural pigment that determines the intensity of the color of the skin, hair, and iris. People with low melanin levels are more likely to be blond. Although there is no single gene for blond hair and blue eyes, most often these adaptations coexist with each other and are located on the same chromosome.
Blonde hair and blue eyes are a relatively recent genetic adaptation. These features of appearance appeared among the representatives of the tribes that lived in the north of Europe, about 11 thousand years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age.
To get her piece of mammoth, the woman had to attract the attention of the hunter, and for this it was necessary to somehow stand out
Depigmentation of hair and skin color in African settlers occurred thousands of years after migration and helped them survive with a lack of sunlight. The low content of melanin contributes to a deeper penetration into the skin of ultraviolet rays of type B, namely, thanks to them, the synthesis of essential provitamin D takes place.3. However, scientists believe that the matter is not only in natural selection: sexual selection contributed to the spread of genes.
In the Late Paleolithic era, women in southern Europe could feed themselves and their children through gathering, and men only occasionally spoiled them with meat. In ice-covered Central and Northern Europe, the survival of the tribes depended entirely on successful hunting. Crowds of men chased a prehistoric bison or mammoth and often returned home empty-handed. Hunting was a dangerous undertaking, and many miners perished.
Canadian psychologist Peter Frost suggested that it was at this time that the lack of men in the general population of northern tribes led to intense competition between women. To get her piece of mammoth, the woman had to attract the attention of the hunter, and for this it was necessary to somehow stand out from the general background. Peter Frost is convinced that this is what contributed to the emergence of such a wide variety of shades of hair and eyes among peoples who lived in cold lands.
When it comes to long-term relationships, men find dark-haired women to be more reliable companions.
University of Vienna anthropology professor Karl Grammer says natural blondes tend to have higher estrogen levels and lower testosterone levels than brunettes. Thanks to this hormonal cocktail, their facial features are often smaller, their shoulders are narrow, and their skin is smooth. Their behavior is more infantile and playful. This whole set of qualities speaks of the high fertility of blondes, which means that on a subconscious level it awakens in men the desire to choose such a woman as the mother of their children.
Blondes, on average, earn more, and men are more likely to help an unfamiliar woman with a light shade of hair in a difficult situation. According to recent studies, waitresses in blond wigs even get more tips from men (hair color does not affect women).
Brunettes can take some comfort in the fact that studies of male marriage preferences are no longer so straightforward. When it comes to the prospect of a long-term relationship, men consider dark-haired women to be more serious and reliable companions.