I was ginger as a small child (as a result of being half Scottish)
But it faded to a kind of dirty copper colour over several years.

Consequentially, I don't have any good stories about myself being ginger. I do, however, also have the "Burn like a motherfucker in the sun" gene, so here's a disgusting little story for you.


Last year, I was on a skiing trip to the French Alps with most of the snowports clubs from most of the unis in the country for a week of drinking, sexing and skiing. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to pack my sunscreen. There wasn't a cloud in the sky all week, but I decided to MTFU and do without. I lasted until day four.

Have you ever been so badly sunburned that your entire face has been covered either with beard or second degree burns? I have. I looked like I had facial dandruff, it was that bad. I couldn't open my mouth to eat or talk because when I did, the skin around it would crack open and blood would start running down my face. Of course, I couldn't put suncream on either because the bits of skin I applied it to would just flake off, exposing new sking underneath for more burning. Uncool in the extreme.

It took weeks to heal - weeks of shocked looks in the street and people wincing when they saw me. I took to wearing dark glasses everywhere until the rings around my eyes had faded from the ridiculous to the merely silly, and swore never to go skiing without suncream again.

If you're not ginger, be grateful.


P.S. My twentieth birthday is in ten days. My hair has been going slowly but steadily grey since I was seventeen. Bugger.
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 26 Feb 2010, 0:12, 1 reply)

I feel your pain
I started off a "strawberry blonde" from my dads old copper hair, same reason, but eventually darkened to a nice brown (but with ginger beard, according to the missus)

Still have to wear S.P.F Vampire though. Its that or not have any skin left after day one of any holiday to anywhere sunnier than a spelunking holiday.
(Fleximus Rex briefly gave up lurking on, Mon 1 Mar 2010, 15:38, closed)