Redhead #9 - Cousin Itt's Cousin - Another Redhead Shunned

Allow me to introduce myself. I am the ugly redheaded step cousin of the infamous Cousin Itt. But ugly no more!! I am finally being appreciated for my long luscious locks…a gorgeous mane of redness once thought to be associated with the devil himself. I admit, I am no angel, but to be overlooked for so many years while my cousin reaped success…for what? That mousy brown mane? People, come on. What were they thinking????

I’ll never forget that fateful day in front of the casting director. I brushed and brushed and brushed, hoping my red locks would outshine my cousin’s dreary mane. The director touched my hair. I knew he felt the silkiness and texture that can only be describe as al dente. Then he slowly moved over to my cousin and performed the same test. Then came the whispers. “It will overpower the scenes. We’ll have to be careful with the lighting.” I don’t remember exactly what happened next but I began to run, not even bothering to pick up my hair…something I’ve done naturally since birth. I ran and tripped and ran and tripped and ran and tripped until… I woke up in a very comfortable white jacket, hugging myself as I laid in a narrow bed surrounded by padded walls. I had no recollection of what happened to me after my last tumble. A TV was hanging from a wall above me. I looked up and saw my cousin on TV. I closed my eyes and told myself my day would come.

Years later, as fate would have it, there was a wonderful lady name Anne who also lived in one of the rooms down the hall. She had a knack with the camera and let’s just say, the rest is history.

Photography  (c) 2010 Anne Lindsay Photography  All Rights Reserved
Story  (c) 2009 Noelle Bortfeld All Rights Reserved
Cousin Itt's Cousin : Kaitlin

Redhead #8 The Doctor said "We've not seen this in a long time."

Mathew is a catches catch can kind of a kid. When I was on the delivery table, I was just happy to be having him. But what I didn’t expect was what the doctor told us. “Wow, we’ve not seen this in a long time. If I didn’t pull him out of you, I wouldn’t think he was yours." It was awesome because he had a full mane of red hair. He looked like a doll. He did. He was a beautiful baby.


We love the attention we get when we take Mathew out in public. People are always coming up to us asking where he got his red hair. I am from Panama, Latin America and I was born and raised there. My dad and mom were both born and raised there, too. There is a mix between black, Native American and then there is Irish and Spanish. My grandmother looked almost Philippine and my dad looks Indian from India. Yet, my aunt is a redhead with brown and red mixed together. So, we really have a mixed family. There are blondes, dark hair and black eyes and dark skin. From my mom’s side of the family, they are all Spanish. My grandfather was very tall and blonde with blue eyes. My grandmother was very short and dark Spaniard.

So obviously, you don’t need two redheads to come up with a redhead.

(c) 2008 Anne Lindsay Photography.  All rights reserved.

Red Friend Story #4: One of those "throw-back" redheads

I'm one of those "throw-back" redheads. Before my generation there are no redheads on either side of my family for 3 generations back. But when a redhead does show up in my family tree it is certainly noteworthy.

My very Irish-identified grandfather had many fond memories of his redheaded grandmother.

When his first grandchild by blood was expected he announced very clearly that he expected a redheaded granddaughter. Now this was a much easier task for my aunt and uncle to meet being as my uncle was a fiery redhead himself. The chances were pretty good that my grandfather would get his wish. But one should be careful just how strongly a wish is stated.

My cousin Judy was indeed born with a classic carrot-top shade of red hair and the entire attitude to go along with it. About the time she was 4 years old, my parents were getting married. This made Judy the perfect candidate for flower-girl at their wedding. She was completely adorable right up to the point when my parents were about to say their vows. Just then, she threw herself to the floor in front of the altar and proceeded to demonstrate the characteristic temperamental wrath of a redhead. The family has long since forgotten the tantrum, but everyone knows what my father whispered to my mother at the beginning of their vows.

"If we have a redheaded child, I'm drowning it at birth."

A few years later, out I popped with golden red locks. Thankfully Judy's hair was a much darker red than mine so I was spared the drowning on the grounds that I was not in fact a redhead, but a strawberry blond. But everyone (especially my grandfather) knew that I was every bit a redhead.

16 years later, there was one more grandchild born in my generation while my grandfather was alive. She was yet another redhead born to parents about as likely to have one as mine were. My grandfather was a preacher for most of his adult life and to this day my family still ponders what strings he pulled with God to get 3 redheaded granddaughters.

Note from Anne: Thank you, Amy,  for being a Red Friend.  Amy is a 32 year old redhead from Seattle. 
(c) 2010 Anne Lindsay All rights reserved.  Photograph by (c) Bob Edmiston.

Red Friend Instructions:

It’s easy to become a Red Friend. Just send Anne a story about something related to being a redhead, humor is good. If you’re a redhead or ever have been a redhead, think of something from your past that happened to you solely because you were a redhead. Tell us where you live. Keep your stories to no more than three paragraphs, between 250-400 words in length.

If you’re not a redhead, think about what it would be like to be a redhead, or what life is like living with a redhead or being friends of a redhead.

If you are not the redhead being talked about in your story and the photo, then add an “About the Author” paragraph that tells us a little bit about yourself and where you live; feel free to include a link to your web page or blog. 

Tell me who created the photo to be posted. If it was you, let me know. If it was a professional photographer, please tell me their name and website.

Send your completed narrative and photo to Anne Lindsay at anne@annelindsayphotography, and then watch to see your story on Anne’s website and blog.

(Use other Red Friend stories and photos as a guideline for your story and photo)

Redhead # 7 - What happens if we have a curly, redheaded son?

I am a 31 year old Northwest redhead through and through. I was born in Auburn, Washington which is just south of Seattle. I’ve always thought that was rather funny living in Auburn especially since I have red hair. I went to Green River Community College and the graduated from the University of Washington as a Civil Engineer.

I am now a mother of my cute little Olivia. She has red hair just like me, my mother, father and sister. In fact, my whole family is sprinkled with redheads. So when Olivia came along she was not a surprise. Fortunately, being a redhead in my family was very reassuring.

However, being a part of a redheaded family was not necessarily up my husband’s alley. We met through a friend who showed him my photograph and he said “No, I’m not into redheads”. I guess he changed his mind once we met. We’ve been married for 5 years and when I was pregnant with Olivia, he announced to me “I don’t want to have a redheaded, curly haired son”. I was a little surprised with this announcement. He has curly hair and has never really liked it. So he packaged the two together assuming that having a son with all these attributes would be awful.

Right before we were due with Olivia, we went to a party and low and behold, a little curly, redheaded boy latched onto my husband. He was enamored by the little boy. He then realized that having a healthy child was the most important thing. Our first child is Olivia and she has straight, red hair just like me. I’m kind of hoping we’ll have a curly, redheaded boy next time. But don’t tell my husband.