Mid Brain muses: 
Blondes allegedly have more fun but brunettes are healthier because their darker coloration protects them from getting skin cancer, right?
Sun tan and skin cancer
Wrong. According to a report at Science Daily new genetic research indicates that hair color is NOT a good predictor of skin cancer. Historically scientists thought that certain characteristics associated with having dark hair (dark eye color, not prone to freckles, tanning after repeated sun exposure or tanning without burning meant that you were less likely to develop melanoma. But now they’ve found that regardless of hair color, people with certain MC1R gene variants have a more than two-fold risk of melanoma. Science Daily says: “Traditionally, a clinician might look at a person with dark hair who did not sunburn easily and classify them as lower risk for melanoma, but that may not be true for all people in the population.”
Unfortunately, as of now, there is no simple screening test for the MC1R gene. But if one is developed it could be a powerful tool in the battle against melanoma.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
I was suprised to read this study because I thought increased risk of skin cancer could have explained the report from the World Health Organization that predicts that blondes will become extinct within 200 years.
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Science can only go so far. You have to take people’s behaviour in account too. Pale redheads burn easily, but they are likely to avoid the sun.
I believe the reason for Blondes to be extinct in 200 years is due to Blonde being a recessive gene.
Eh, I doubt anyone’s going extinct. I don’t see a thing different today that wasn’t present in human history for the past zillion years, and there’s always been blondes.
Recessive genes mean nothing — all that means is that EVERYONE can carry the genes for something without even evincing the characteristic. I’ve got brown-green eyes and nearly-black hair, and I have blue-eyed genes in me. I could reproduce with someone as dark as myself and have a blue-eyed kid.
*shrug* People don’t think this stuff through enough …
@Janis and Guiness: Did you guys not click the link that explained that the “extinct blondes” story was just an urban myth? Mid Brain was making a JOKE!
Hey Middy: LOL! Not so easy to get rid of a recessive trait, though, is it? Just ask any animal breeder
You think you got it licked and generations later, there it pops up in all its sneaky glory 
Even if it _does_ give you cancer or other nasties.
(I looked up the Snopes article, by the way. I can’t believe that anyone actually bought the blonde extinction story… People will believe anything.)