'Gingers Converting to Islam'

There was a recent video from Ed Dutton, aka The Jolly Heretic, on the topic of how common it is for white Muslim converts to be ginger.

The Science of Why Gingers Convert to Islam

It's an interesting topic, and obviously worthy of note to us, what with this being a blog about red hair and all that.

At present I don't have too much to say about why it seems so many converts have red hair. Apart from the obvious fact that if you stand out and don't quite fit it, it's natural that you'll be more willing to go somewhere else where you may feel more welcome.

In the video Dutton does give an overview of one theory about the evolution of red hair though, and that's something that I can't help but comment upon; as (though it's interesting) I don't quite buy it.

This idea that red hair came about because of a random mutation at some point, and then was positively selected for. As I've mentioned before on here, though I'm sure red hair can (and no doubt has at times) arisen due to genetic mutation, I think the general red hair we see in the world is more a product of the interplay between eumelanin and pheomelanin in mixed populations.

(The most recent elucidation of this was here: Out of the Witches' Cauldron - you can start reading from the Melting Pot heading to get a quick overview.)

The argument made in the video is that red hair was a novel adaptation on the part of females to attract short-in-supply males - a peacock's tail type thing. In fact, Dutton repeats the common idea that redheads are very pale. Paler than blondes. (I've argued that this is an optical illusion caused by the relatively high pheomelanin (red pigment), which amplifies the appearance of the low eumelanin.)

He then goes on to state that red hair is associated with negative, unhealthy traits - such as higher likelihood of skin cancer. Likewise due to the fact that redheads are a product of mutation. (Again, I would suspect these things are more a consequence of the pheomelanin/eumelanin imbalance. Kind of similar to the hybrid vigour produced by race mixing. Where you get positive and negative traits. Such as how multiracial people may be more prone to depression, etc.)

So he makes the case that redheads are 'sickly,' but also more desirable and selected for, which is obviously a little bit of a contradiction. He then mentions studies showing that in nightclubs red-haired women are more likely to get hit on. Stating that it's their unusualness that makes them attractive. I would say it's the relatively high pheomelanin (red pigment) that's the reason for this though. This is why women wear red lipstick when they go to nightclubs. Pheomelanin is what's responsible for the red in the lips, nipples and genitals (along with the hair) - so it's associated with sex - meaning redheads, with this relatively higher red pigment, have a natural red lipstick effect.

In fairness, he also mentions that the red-haired women are attractive because the pale skin signals high oestrogen - equalling high fertility. However, again, I would argue that redheads are only superficially paler because of the contrast with the high red pigment, and that high oestrogen is just associated with whiteness/paleness/blondeness in general. This is why we have the natural dichotomy in human society of the desirable blonde female and the tall, dark handsome man.

Anyway, either way, it's all quite interesting, and it may be worth coming back to the topic of the red-haired Muslim converts at some point in the future. After all, as we've mentioned before on here, there are some traditions that state that Muhammad was red-haired or red-bearded.