Six Scientific Differences (and Facts) Between Blondes and Brunettes

I saw this post from Tim Barbeau, VP of Business Development at Therapeutic Placement Partners, on LinkedIn and thought I HAD to share. Enjoy! 🙂

Here are six little-known differences between blondes and brunettes, from the latest scientific literature:

1. On average, blondes take longer to get ready.

A study conducted in 2009 (with over 3000 participants) found that blondes take 6 minutes longer than their darker-haired counterparts to get ready. Blondes will spend an average of 72 minutes a day on their beauty routine compared to 66 minutes for brunettes.

2. Natural blondes have more hair than natural brunettes.

Natural blondes have approximately 120,000-147,000 hairs, while brunettes have 100,000-120,000. This makes perfect sense, as evolutionary biology tells us that hair evolved partially to protect the scalp from potentially damaging UV rays. As darker hair contains more of the pigment melanin, it naturally provides more of a protective barrier, and hence brunettes needed less hair to serve the same purpose.

3. A man’s preference in a woman’s hair color stems from his own hair color – and life experience.

Although some reports state that Caucasian men generally prefer fair-haired women, an interesting review noted research that brunette men preferred brunette women; blonde men equally preferred blondes and brunettes; and blonde, brunette, and red-headed women all preferred dark-haired men.

Furthermore, research has shown that both men and women are attracted to certain partners based on their intrapersonal interactions with others; that is, if you always had brown-haired friends growing up, but a blonde-haired bully picked on you constantly, you are more likely to stick to brown-haired partners later in life. This gets into a whole lot of psychological and sociological research that is outside of my realm.

4. Blonde waitresses (restaurant servers) earn better tips.

Despite their perceived level of overall attractiveness, blonde waitresses receive higher tips than darker-haired waitresses. In a 2009 survey of 482 waitresses conducted by Cornell University, blondes earned significant higher tips than their brunette counterparts, despite their reported levels of “sexiness”. What ever happened to 15% for standard service and 20% for good service for all?  Hmmm. Moving on.

5. Brunettes are perceived upon first meeting to be more intelligent.

Research has shown that raters perceive women with dark hair to be more intelligent at a first meeting.  The reason for the bias is unknown, but I speculate that it is due to the simple fact that women dye their hair blonde more than any other color. Not only does this mean that there are more blondes than brunettes after a certain age, but this also means that women who spend extra time focused on beauty and their appearance are more likely to be blonde. With that said, there are many incredibly smart blondes out there. (I agree!)

6. When women dye their hair lighter, they feel more fun.

True – when women dye their hair lighter, they have been proven to go out more (3 nights/week for blondes versus 2 for brunettes) and to feel more confident and youthful. Why this phenomenon exists is unknown. Part may be due to societal influences, as the majority of the Hollywood celebrities are blonde. Another theory is that many Caucasian women are born with hair that darkens with age, and so dyeing their hair reverts them to their youth. One additional possibility is that blonde hair is somewhat more forgiving of skin imperfections, which is why most women choose to lighten their hair as they get older.

Although all of the aforementioned information is provided by scientific literature, the bottom line is that this article is just for fun. There are many beautiful and intelligent women who are both blonde and brunette. While each hair color may impart some of its own minor advantages upon a first meeting, the truth of the matter is that, over time, most of these perceived advantages will give way to the time-tested traits of its wearer, like excellent character, honesty, integrity and benevolence.

3 thoughts on “Six Scientific Differences (and Facts) Between Blondes and Brunettes”

  1. Pingback: Do men get attracted to blondes or brunettes more? | Attract Pheromones
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  3. Pingback: Correlation Between Hair Color and Tips « Sincerely Laura B

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