The say men prefer blondes, but anthropologists believe that the
fixation with blonde hair has existed for a really long time.
Historically, blonde became fashionable in northern and eastern Europe
10,000 to 15,000 years ago.
But new findings show that it might have been a thing during the cavemen days.
Peter Frost, an anthropologist at Laval University in Quebec City, explained to Discovery News the evolution of blondes locks in the human population helped women compete for mates among a limited pool of suitably virile cavemen.
The theory has to do with the Ice Age, when men traveled longer distances to hunt and forage for food. That meant a higher risk of dying, leaving the women folk with a much smaller pool to choose from. And in order to attract the most male attention, blonde hair was evolution's eye-catching solution. And the appeal was rooted in the simple fact that it's rarer than dark hair:
But new findings show that it might have been a thing during the cavemen days.
Peter Frost, an anthropologist at Laval University in Quebec City, explained to Discovery News the evolution of blondes locks in the human population helped women compete for mates among a limited pool of suitably virile cavemen.
The theory has to do with the Ice Age, when men traveled longer distances to hunt and forage for food. That meant a higher risk of dying, leaving the women folk with a much smaller pool to choose from. And in order to attract the most male attention, blonde hair was evolution's eye-catching solution. And the appeal was rooted in the simple fact that it's rarer than dark hair:
The
more common a hair color becomes, the less often it is preferred. It's a
kind of novelty effect. The moment you become ordinary, you no longer
have the same appeal. There's selection for being a bit different and
eye-catching.
And there's no doubt that blonde hair is still somewhat of a thing today. Blonde hair dye is really popular with women in Latin America, because natural blonde hair in that part of the world is a rarity. But in Nordic countries, where there are more natural blondes, women prefer to darken their hair in order to stand out. So blonde hair is eye-catching in places where blonde hair is rare and dark hair is eye-catching in places where dark hair is rare. So be sure to thank evolution for your natural blonde locks.
