On January 12th, everyone is encouraged to find your favorite redhead and give them a peck on Kiss a Ginger Day.

I can still remember being different growing up as a redhead. Even celebrities we’re portrayed as blondes and brunettes in many roles in popular movies and TV. As children, you would be compared to Lucille Ball or Carol Burnett. While it would now be considered a compliment, growing up other children did not apply it that way.

When The Little Mermaid came out I was ecstatic to see a redhead featured as the main character in a children’s movie. While being considered both beautiful and getting to marry the prince.

Today movies and tv embrace being a redhead as there are so many celebrities and fictional characters who are redheads. So freckles and all embrace your identity. After all we are so rare that something like only 1%, with blue eyes, of the worlds population are this special. Besides who would miss the chance to kiss a Jamie Fraser, from Outlander?

Created to support a more positive spin than its counterpart, Kiss a Ginger Day brings sweet kisses to redheads who may have once been teased for the color of their hair.

Redhair gene is recessive and requires two copies for it to present itself. Even then there is no guarantee it will. If both parents have the gene, there is a 1 in 4 chance they will have a redheaded child.  Most natural-born redheads (yes, some of us like the bottle) have brown eyes, followed by green or hazel.  Coming in at 1% of the world’s population, the blue-eyed ginger is the rarest kind.  So if you give one of these ginger’s a kiss, consider yourself lucky.

Many redheads feel like outcasts for having red hair. This celebration empowers redheads to feel confident, look amazing, and rock their beauty. Red hair is more than a color; it’s a lifestyle. Besides, redheads are rare. Less than 2 percent of the population are crowned with red hair. And those that are may very well be left-handed, too.

HOW TO OBSERVE #KissAGingerDay

It’s easy. Kiss a Ginger! And it goes without saying, if you don’t have permission to kiss your favorite ginger, don’t. Use #KissAGingerDay to share on social media.

KISS A GINGER DAY HISTORY

Derek Forgie founded Kiss a Ginger Day in 2009 as an alternative positive celebration of redheads uniqueness as opposed to another day that could often accelerate into bullying. Follow him on Twitter @Kiss_A_Ginger or on Facebook at KissAGingerDay.