RED HAIR

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 166, 10 April 1926, Page 16

RED HAIR

Skin pale as elder blossom, green eyes, and red hair; there you have the up-to-date vamp. All sorts of legends and traditions explain why red hair has usually been looked upon with distrust. The Danes who conquered England were reputed to have red hair, and the fair-haired Saxons hated the colour. Even among the old Greek myths we find that Aledusa, the terrible Gorgon, had crisp red locks, which afterwards were changed to hissing serpents. But when we leap onwards and reach the pages of Homer we find that the immortal Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world, had red hair, and surejv here we discover th< secret of the red-haired minx; for although Helen's name has passed down to us right through the centuries as tile most radiant being the world has ever seen, she was siren and temptress , too. The 10 years’ war, distress, and desolation . . . yet most vividly of all we remember that scene on the walls of Troy when Helen met the old men, and their hearts grew weak as water as thev gazed at her and. hei bcautv. Curses died away. Red-haired beauty won. Cleopatra, "serpent of old Nile,” had red hair. She was not beautiful; indeed, authorities declare her to be quite plain, even snub-nosed, but she had red hair, and won Mark Antony, prince of lovers, whose sole thought was to please the Egyptian siren.- Queen Elizabeth must have thought "red hair becoming, for it is said she wore a red wig when she wished to look at her best; the ill-fated but lovely Alary Queen of Scots is reputed to have had red hair; and we. know that Laura, whom Petrarch has immortalised by his verses, first attracted him bv her red tresses. “Red hair, hot temper,” runs an old Alidland saying; indeed, it seems to be generally acknowledged that red-haired folk have fiery tempers.—Airs. Stanley Wrench,