Red Fox by Charlie O'Shields
By Charlie

National Love Your Red Hair Day

Written by Charlie O'Shields

Today is the first annual National Love Your Red Hair Day, established by sisters Stephanie and Adrienne Vendetti, co-founders of “How to be a Redhead.” The purpose of the day is rather self-explanatory, as it’s a day to celebrate your own rare red hair, or that of someone else in your life. I don’t have red hair, nor did I want to doodlewash a person, so I’m celebrating scarlet beauties everywhere with this little red fox.

Only about 1-2% of the world population has red hair, so how cool is that? Unless you’re in Ireland and Scotland, in which case, it’s 10%, apparently due to the cloudy skies there. This little Doodlewash The Day project has been so informative for me as not only am I discovering obscure celebrations, but I’m also learning quite a lot of obscure facts!

I do actually have a red tint to my own brown hair, which I discovering in the 80’s when I decided Sun In might be a cool thing to try one summer. This little product is supposed to lighten your hair and I thought it would be fun to see what I would look like. It wasn’t pretty. My hair turned a single shade of bright fluorescent orange that, when combined with the matching orange-inducing spray-on tan, made me look like a 6-foot Creamsicle with fur on top.

So I appreciate the idea of embracing what you have naturally and rocking it! Over the years, I’ve had many failed attempts to build up body muscle only to discover my body has no interest in being muscular. Best to stick with what you have and learn to love it! Our culture is constantly setting and resetting standards of beauty, so for the people who dare to try, it’s nearly impossible to keep up.

I knew a woman once, whose eye brows had been lifted so high she looked like she was constantly shocked by everything you were saying. This is disconcerting and confusing when you’ve just said, “It’s such a beautiful day out today!” and are met with a wide-eyed look of sheer terror and confusion. As if that wasn’t disturbing enough, she was pumped so full of Botox that she looked like she’d recently been stung by a bee. And I had no idea if she was happy with this outcome, because her face was no longer capable of showing me.

Getting older is not necessarily something I get excited about, but I plan to embrace it as it comes. I remember when I was younger, I would look in the mirror in the morning to see if my cheeks looked rosy, eyes not too puffy, or if I had a hair or two out of place. These days, I’m just happy if nothing has fallen off in the night.

I like the idea of this day, because it’s also about owning up to your own uncommon traits that make you an individual. Maybe you’re not lucky enough to have red hair. Maybe for you, it’s silver eyes, a perfectly shaped bum, or a third nipple. Whatever you have that makes you naturally you, celebrate it! There are plenty of people in the world trying to be like everyone else. Let them. This is your day to be fabulously, uniquely  you !

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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58 thoughts on “National Love Your Red Hair Day”

  1. Love yourself and celebrate your uniqueness is always an empowering message to hear. It’s night where I am so can I make tomorrow my day? LOL. Why not, right? Fox looks super foxy. LOL about nothing falling off in the night. Sleep tight!

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  2. I find that you always paint particularly brilliant eyes, and here is no different; they stand out so emphatically on this mighty redhead (marvellous coat too). Gorgeous doodlewash.

    Great message too. I had no idea of the day itself and I guess it’s not a thing over here anyway, but nevertheless, I’m out and proud with my ginger beard so I’ve partook anyway!

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    1. Thanks so much Jacob! I’m really into eyes…hehe… I figure if I can get those right the rest will fall into place. Either that or the eyes will distract people so they don’t see my screw ups! Lol And yay!! Rock that ginger, friend…it’s YOUR day! Hehe ❤️

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          1. Oh I don’t believe that for a moment, Charlie – I’m sure it’s looking T-riffic! 😉 Though an early night can never hurt. I should really take this advice myself (lots of 3AMs lately.)

  3. What a redhead! Lol. Beautiful doodlewash! My mother is one who tries any product that will supposedly turn back time. Unfortunate, as Cher lamented, if only. My hair is black and in my mid 40’s started to color to hide the grey. But now at 50, the color doesn’t last very long.. Sigh. I’ve managed to embrace my age so far, no enhancements, no suction, no extra lifts. Lol

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  4. Oh what a cute red fox, beautifully painted. His eyes are amazing.
    I laughed heartily while reading your narrative, especially in reference to the creamsicle and the lady with the arch eyebrows. I needed the laugh. It’s amazing there are so many national days. Can’t wait to see what’s next.

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  5. Sweet fox! Love your pep talk about accepting yourself, too! After turning 50, I’ve mostly stopped caring about how I look as long as all my parts mostly work. 😛 LOL!

    I had always wanted to be a redhead in my youth though. I wanted so badly to have red hair and green eyes. Then I met redheads who hated having red hair. I never could understand it. I dated 2 redheads, and while hubby is not a redhead, his brother is because their mother’s side is heavily Irish. 🙂

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          1. Hah! Yeah, I almost said “Between you and me and several thousand of your readers…” ;D And, double hah! I help hubby prep for dinner and usually, when it comes to chopping up stuff, he’ll say, “here, let me have the knife.” If I can’t be trusted with a knife, I can’t be trusted with a sword! LOL!

  6. Oh you foxy Charlie O! Your fox is almost as amazing as you! It’s kind of fun to get older and not have to worry about some of these things eh? At least we keep trying to convince ourselves. cherishing the moments. and cherishing your amazing fox painting and fun story. xo

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    1. Thanks Jodi!! ❤️😃 And you can call me foxy everyday! Hehe…love it! Yeah… I think I have myself convinced but some days I do worry about that old man looking back at me! 😳lol So I just look in the mirror before I put on my glasses and everything looks like it’s in a Barbara Walters soft focus. Works like a charm! 😎

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      1. Ok Foxy! I love the Barbara Walters soft focus comment – lol – she always had a way of making herself look good on camera with all that soft lighting. She thought she was tricking us – haha!

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  7. Very good advice! I too experienced “Sun In” in my youth. I paired it with “Hawaiian Tropic” tanning oil so I ended up with crisp orange hair and crisp burned skin! Foolishness of the young? Anyway, your fox is very cute.

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  8. what a sweet fox! I totally agree with accepting where you are and what you have. The older I get, the more it’s freeing. When I got a new work ID recently, my teen daughter said, how do you look? andwanted to see the photo. I said, “old and tired”. She looked at it, and agreed with me, and we had a good laugh!

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  14. Lovely fox. Your painting has a liveliness about it, and the eyes are wonderful…they look like they know something that I do not….but should? Lol. Enjoyed your feature on Love your Red Hair Day and embracing self. I will have to pass this on to my mother who has red hair and green/hazel eyes (Scottish family), I do believe this will make her laugh.

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    1. Ahhh that makes me happy Haunani! ❤️😃 Thanks for passing it on, let me know what she thinks! Hehe And glad you like my fox… he worried me at first because he wasn’t quite coming out right. Thought I might have to scrap him. 😊 But managed something in the end!

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  15. Beautifully painted fox! I had no idea I had an extra day to celebrate. I always loved my hair color although, style-wise, I’m never sure what to do with it. Anyway, thanks for a great post. 🙂

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    1. Thanks Joan!! And here’s to your beautiful red hair! Yay! Yeah…I had no idea any of these days existed before I started researching them for this project. I’d never heard of that site I liked to either, but apparently it’s all about tips for people with red hair, so could have style answers. 😉 But I really didn’t look too closely. 😊hehe

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  16. Foxes are beautiful animals, and part of it is the fur, which you’ve captured well.
    My grandmother had red hair, but only my uncle was gifted…the girls all had brown. So far it’s hiding in the genes in all her further descendants.
    Blue seems to be the most popular hair color amongst the young around here…(K)

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  19. Your foxy painting is super and I’m still giggling at your word painting of a ‘6-foot Creamsicle with fur on top’. My unexpected hair color experience was a metalliic fire engine red. Surprisingly, I got more compliments then I’ve ever had before. Of course, I was in my 20’s and in London, England during the 70’s. I think I was accidentally cutting edge.

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