The Blonde Quiz

Answer: The increased ingestion of banana sap

Women who left Africa and settled in Europe began to develop blonde hair "about 11,000 years ago". Researchers believe that a lack of food and the accelerated death rate of men left women in a quandary to find male support. As a survival mechanism, women's bodies began to develop higher oestrogen levels, which in turn may have been one enabler of the blonde gene. Blonde-haired women stood out like flags among the darker-haired denizens, and thus allowed some women to have an advantage in sexual selection and survival. (Dobson, "Cavegirls Were First Blondes to Have Fun," The Sunday Times, February 2006).

Answer: To consume for medicinal purposes

The ancient Romans and Greeks adored blonde hair, and aristocratic ladies tried many tricks to bleach or lighten their hair color. Additionally, blonde hair would often be cut from North European female captives and then be used to create robes, wigs, and hair pieces. (Smith, "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities," 2007).

Answer: Morado

Blonde hair tends to come in a variety of hues, from platinum blonde (bright, almost silvery blonde) to ash blonde (which is a brownish blonde). Flaxen, golden, dirty, silver, and strawberry are among the many adjectives to be attached to "blonde". Morado, incidentally, is the Spanish word for purple.

Answer: Finland

Due to the practice of hair-dyeing, accurate statistics regarding natural blondness are difficult to acquire. However, people from many parts of Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, etc.) are indeed natural blondes. In fact, northern Europe tends to have higher rates of multi-hued heads of hair than in other parts of the world. (BBC News, March 2001)

Answer: True

Hair expert Jane Bullock Fraser states, "The average scalp has 100,000 hairs. Redheads have the least at 80,000; brown and black haired persons have about 100,000; and blondes have the most at 120,000". (Fraser, "Weird and Wonderful Hair Facts," 2008)

Answer: Approximately 30% of the world's population has natural blond hair

Blonde hair is usually finer and thinner than other hair types. The golden/yellow color is the result of low-levels of melanin pigmentation. Blonde hair is attributed to a recessive gene, thus partially explaining its relative rarity (when compared to brown or black hair).

It has been estimated that approximately less than 2% of people in the world have naturally blonde hair. (www.lovetoknow.com)

Answer: Increase in confidence

Researcher Dr. Mark Sargeant, working at the Nottingham Trent University, found that blonde-haired women exhibited increased sexual desire, mood, and confidence compared to darker-haired women. However, he also found that blondes tended to be less successful in the workplace, and there was no increase in job satisfaction. (www.themedguru.com)

Answer: People tend to conform to stereotypes

A study conducted at the University of Paris X-Nanterre found "that men performed worse" on general knowledge tests after they were exposed to blondes. The likely reason is "because they believed they were dealing with someone less intelligent" (Clout, "Blonde Women Make Men Less Clever," Telegraph UK, November 2007). Men were affected by the 'dumb blonde' stereotype and modified their behavior to suit the stereotype.

Answer: False

A blonde-extinction hoax circulated on chat boards, blogs, and even mainstream media in 2002. The unverified report claimed that the World Health Organization (WHO) "concluded that natural blondes are likely to be extinct within 200 years". The false report went on to add that the "last blond will probably be born in Finland around the year 2202".

The WHO denied any such claim or report, and asserted that the story spread with an alarming rate of negligence (http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/blondes.asp). Most scientists concur that there is no tangible threat that the blonde gene will soon disappear.

Answer: None of these

Alas, though blondes are supposed to have "more fun," researchers at Nottingham Trent University deduced that brunette women were the most likely to marry a millionaire. In fact, approximately 66% of the millionaires in 2008 were married to brunettes. Additionally, though blondes tended to have higher sexual desires than others, the study concluded that red-haired women had the most active sex lives. Finally, blondes were generally found to earn less money than their darker-haired counterparts. (Macrae, "To Dye For," www.dailymail.co.uk, September 24, 2008)

Note- Regardless of the hair color you were born with, just remember: in the end, we all go gray!