Brown hair
Encyclopedia
Brown hair is the second most common human hair color.
Brown hair varies from light brown to almost black hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment
eumelanin and lower levels of the pale pigment pheomelanin. Its strands are thicker than those of fair hair but not as much as those of red hair
. People with brown hair are often referred to as brunette, the feminine form of the diminutive form brunet from brun (brown/brown-haired), the masculine form. Brown hair is common among Indo-Europeans
and West Eurasians, especially those from Central and Southern Europe, West Asia where it transitions smoothly into blackish-brown and black hair
. Because of migration from Europe
from the 16th to the 20th centuries, brown-haired people are also found in North America
, South America
, Australia
, South Africa
, New Zealand
, Siberia
, and other parts of Asia
and Oceania
.
root *bhrūn- "brown, grey". The form "brun" is still commonly used in Scotland, particularly in rural areas.
Lighter or darker shades of brown hair may be referred to as "light brunette" or "dark brunette", though in such cases one is generally referring only to the hair color, not using the term as a metaphor for the person; one would be unlikely to say, "She is a light brunette." Rather, one would say, "She has light brown hair."
Brown-haired individuals are present in all of Europe. In northern and part of central Europe medium to light brown shades are the most common, while darker shades prevail in the rest of the continent, such as the Iberian Peninsula or the British Isles, where it transitions into black hair. Brown hair, mostly medium to light brown shades, is also dominant in Australia, Canada and the United States among descendants of the Northern European (British, German, Scandinavian, Polish, and Russian) immigrants. Brown hair is also predominant in Latin America mostly dark brown hair among mestizos, mulattos, and descendants of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and other Southern European immigrants, medium and light brown hair are common in southern Brazil, Argentina and Chile among descendants of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Northern European (German, Scandinavian, British, Polish, and Russian) immigrants. In Argentina and Chile, today, medium and light brown hair are quite common but it was very rare at the time of Independence from Spain. Different shades of brown hair are also very common in Ireland.
bonds. The two types are black eumelanin and brown eumelanin. Black eumelanin is the darkest; brown eumelanin is lighter than black. Black eumelanin is mostly present in non-Europeans and aged Europeans, while brown eumelanin is mostly present in young Europeans, and people of other ethnicities. A small amount of black eumelanin in the absence of other pigments causes grey hair. A small amount of brown eumelanin in the absence of other pigments causes yellow (blond) color hair. Often, natural blond or red hair will darken to a brown color over time. Brown-haired people have medium-thick strands of hair.
Brown-haired people are thought to produce more skin-protecting eumelanin and are associated with having a more even skin tone. The range of skin colors associated with brown hair is vast, ranging from the palest of skin tones to an olive complexion
. Brunettes can have dark or light eyes.
, the author of the novel and play Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
, wrote a sequel entitled But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
. A film of this was made, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
, starring Jane Russell
and Jeanne Crain
.
Wonder Woman
, the Amazon warrior of DC comics, who made her first appearance in 1941 is a blue-eyed brunette. Lara Croft
, the fictional explorer of the Tomb Raider franchise has brown eyes and hair, though in most earlier games they were auburn
.
from Lord Tennyson's poem is depicted as a brunette in most paintings. Leonardo da Vinci
's most famous painting the Mona Lisa
is also brunette. In the French folk song Au Clair de la Lune, the likable Lubin visits his brunette neighbor at Pierrot's suggestion.
In the Irish song "The Star of the County Down" the narrator falls in love with a woman with "nut-brown" hair, called Rose McCann.
Brown hair varies from light brown to almost black hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment
Pigment
A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...
eumelanin and lower levels of the pale pigment pheomelanin. Its strands are thicker than those of fair hair but not as much as those of red hair
Red hair
Red hair occurs on approximately 1–2% of the human population. It occurs more frequently in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations...
. People with brown hair are often referred to as brunette, the feminine form of the diminutive form brunet from brun (brown/brown-haired), the masculine form. Brown hair is common among Indo-Europeans
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
and West Eurasians, especially those from Central and Southern Europe, West Asia where it transitions smoothly into blackish-brown and black hair
Black hair
Black hair is the darkest and most common of all human hair colors globally. It is a dominant genetic trait, and it is found in people of all backgrounds and ethnicities. It has large amounts of eumelanin and is less dense than other hair colors. Black hair is known to be the shiniest of all hair...
. Because of migration from Europe
Emigration from Europe
Emigration from Europe began on a large scale during the European colonial empires of the 17th to 19th centuries. This concerns especially the Spanish Empire in the 16th to 17th centuries , the British Empire in the 18th to 19th centuries , the Portuguese Empire and the Russian Empire in the 19th...
from the 16th to the 20th centuries, brown-haired people are also found in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, and other parts of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
.
Etymology and grammar
Brunette literally means "little brown-haired girl" or "young brown-haired woman", but in modern English usage it has lost the diminutive meaning and refers simply to any brown-haired girl or woman, or the associated hair color. Although brunet is the masculine version of the popular diminutive form, used to describe a little boy or young man with brown hair, the use of brunet is uncommon in English. One is more likely to say, of a man or boy, "He has brown hair" or "He is brown-haired", than to say, "He is a brunette", (or brunet). The term brunette is the feminine form of the French word brunet which is a diminutive form of brun meaning "brown/brown-haired", the feminine of which is brune. All of these terms ultimately derive from the Germanic *brūnaz "brown", from the Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
root *bhrūn- "brown, grey". The form "brun" is still commonly used in Scotland, particularly in rural areas.
Lighter or darker shades of brown hair may be referred to as "light brunette" or "dark brunette", though in such cases one is generally referring only to the hair color, not using the term as a metaphor for the person; one would be unlikely to say, "She is a light brunette." Rather, one would say, "She has light brown hair."
Brown-haired individuals are present in all of Europe. In northern and part of central Europe medium to light brown shades are the most common, while darker shades prevail in the rest of the continent, such as the Iberian Peninsula or the British Isles, where it transitions into black hair. Brown hair, mostly medium to light brown shades, is also dominant in Australia, Canada and the United States among descendants of the Northern European (British, German, Scandinavian, Polish, and Russian) immigrants. Brown hair is also predominant in Latin America mostly dark brown hair among mestizos, mulattos, and descendants of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and other Southern European immigrants, medium and light brown hair are common in southern Brazil, Argentina and Chile among descendants of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Northern European (German, Scandinavian, British, Polish, and Russian) immigrants. In Argentina and Chile, today, medium and light brown hair are quite common but it was very rare at the time of Independence from Spain. Different shades of brown hair are also very common in Ireland.
Biochemistry
The pigment Eumelanin gives brown hair its distinctive color. Brown hair has more eumelanin than blond hair but also has much less than black. There are two different types of eumelanin, which are distinguished from each other by their pattern of polymerPolymer
A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...
bonds. The two types are black eumelanin and brown eumelanin. Black eumelanin is the darkest; brown eumelanin is lighter than black. Black eumelanin is mostly present in non-Europeans and aged Europeans, while brown eumelanin is mostly present in young Europeans, and people of other ethnicities. A small amount of black eumelanin in the absence of other pigments causes grey hair. A small amount of brown eumelanin in the absence of other pigments causes yellow (blond) color hair. Often, natural blond or red hair will darken to a brown color over time. Brown-haired people have medium-thick strands of hair.
Brown-haired people are thought to produce more skin-protecting eumelanin and are associated with having a more even skin tone. The range of skin colors associated with brown hair is vast, ranging from the palest of skin tones to an olive complexion
Olive skin
Olive skin describes a skin color range of some indigenous individuals who are from the Mediterranean and some other parts of Europe, Middle East and regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. It may often be skin type 3 and 4 on the Fitzpatrick scale. However, this scale measures...
. Brunettes can have dark or light eyes.
Varieties of brown hair
Brown hair comes in a wide variety of shades from the very darkest of brown (almost black) to light brown showing small signs of blondism. Shades of brown hair include:- deepest brunette - the darkest brown, which can be a very dark chestnut; sometimes appears to be off black at a distance.
- dark brown
- milk chocolate brown
- chestnut brownChestnut hairChestnut hair is a hair color which is a reddish shade of brown hair. In contrast to auburn hair, the reddish shade of chestnut is darker. The chemical pigments that cause the coloration of chestnut hair are frequently brown eumelanin with stronger levels of pheomelanin....
- medium brunette to dark brown with dark auburn tones. - light chestnut brown
- auburn brown - reddish shade of brown hair.
- medium brown - standard brunette, comparable to russetRussetRusset is a coarse woolen cloth of grey or brown.It may also refer to*Russet Burbank potato*Russet apple*Russet *Russeting treatment for metal...
brown - walnut brown - a warmer variant of medium brown, comparable to a light chestnut
- medium golden brown - brown with yellowish tone.
- light golden brown
- light golden reddish brown - a warm light brown with red tones.
- medium ash brown
- light ash brown
- lightest brown
Cultural connotations
In Western popular culture, a common stereotype is that brunettes are stable, serious and sophisticated. A British study into hair color and the intensity of attraction found that 62 percent of the men participating in the study associated brown-haired women with stability and competence. Brunettes were described as independent and self-sufficient by 67 percent of the men, and as intelligent by 81 percent. According to Allure magazine, 76 percent of American women believe that the first female president of the United States will have brown hair.Modern fiction
Anita LoosAnita Loos
Anita Loos was an American screenwriter, playwright and author.-Early life:Born Corinne Anita Loos in Sisson, California , where her father, R. Beers Loos, had opened a tabloid newspaper for which her mother, Minerva "Minnie" Smith did most of the work of a newspaper publisher...
, the author of the novel and play Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (novel)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady is a comic novel written by Anita Loos first published in 1925. Loos was inspired to write the book after watching a sexy blonde turn intellectual H. L. Mencken into a lovestruck schoolboy. Mencken, a close friend, actually...
, wrote a sequel entitled But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes is a 1927 novel written by Anita Loos. It is the sequel to her 1925 novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes follows the further adventures of Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw and is illustrated by Ralph Barton.As a sequel to the 1953 film Gentlemen...
. A film of this was made, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
Gentlemen Marry Brunettes is a 1955 musical film produced by Russ-Field productions, starring Jane Russell and Jeanne Crain, and released by United Artists...
, starring Jane Russell
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
and Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Elizabeth Crain was an American actress.-Early life:Crain was born in Barstow, California, to George A. Crain, a school teacher, and Loretta Carr; she was of Irish heritage on her mother's side, and of English and distant French descent on her father's...
.
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....
, the Amazon warrior of DC comics, who made her first appearance in 1941 is a blue-eyed brunette. Lara Croft
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world...
, the fictional explorer of the Tomb Raider franchise has brown eyes and hair, though in most earlier games they were auburn
Auburn
-Geographical locations:Australia* Auburn, South Australia* Auburn, New South Wales** Auburn Council, the local governing body** Electoral district of AuburnBritish Isles...
.
Art and fiction
The Lady of ShalottThe Lady of Shalott
"The Lady of Shalott" is a Victorian ballad by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson . Like his other early poems – "Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere" and "Galahad" – the poem recasts Arthurian subject matter loosely based on medieval sources.-Overview:Tennyson wrote two versions of the poem, one...
from Lord Tennyson's poem is depicted as a brunette in most paintings. Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
's most famous painting the Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa is a portrait by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is a painting in oil on a poplar panel, completed circa 1503–1519...
is also brunette. In the French folk song Au Clair de la Lune, the likable Lubin visits his brunette neighbor at Pierrot's suggestion.
In the Irish song "The Star of the County Down" the narrator falls in love with a woman with "nut-brown" hair, called Rose McCann.
See also
- Hair colorHair colorHair color is the pigmentation of hair follicles due to two types of melanin: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Generally, if more melanin is present, the color of the hair is darker; if less melanin is present, the hair is lighter...
- Chestnut hairChestnut hairChestnut hair is a hair color which is a reddish shade of brown hair. In contrast to auburn hair, the reddish shade of chestnut is darker. The chemical pigments that cause the coloration of chestnut hair are frequently brown eumelanin with stronger levels of pheomelanin....
- Black hairBlack hairBlack hair is the darkest and most common of all human hair colors globally. It is a dominant genetic trait, and it is found in people of all backgrounds and ethnicities. It has large amounts of eumelanin and is less dense than other hair colors. Black hair is known to be the shiniest of all hair...
- Auburn hair
- Human skin colorHuman skin colorHuman skin color is primarily due to the presence of melanin in the skin. Skin color ranges from almost black to white with a pinkish tinge due to blood vessels underneath. Variation in natural skin color is mainly due to genetics, although the evolutionary causes are not completely certain...
- MelaninMelaninMelanin is a pigment that is ubiquitous in nature, being found in most organisms . In animals melanin pigments are derivatives of the amino acid tyrosine. The most common form of biological melanin is eumelanin, a brown-black polymer of dihydroxyindole carboxylic acids, and their reduced forms...
- OrangeOrange (colour)The colour orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 585–620 nm, and has a hue of 30° in HSV colour space. It is numerically halfway between red and yellow in a gamma-compressed RGB colour space, the expression of which is the RGB colour wheel. The...