Blonde privilege is real – strangers carry my bags, give up train seats & buy me drinks, brown hair is ageing & boring
SITTING in a restaurant waiting for a friend to join her, a waitress brings a glass of expensive champagne to Becca Goddard’s table.
But because Becca, 31, is yet to place her order, she explains politely how it must be a mistake.
When the waitress replies: “Oh no, it’s definitely for you! The man at the bar has sent it over with his compliments,” Becca is taken aback.
Across the room she spots the handsome stranger and Becca, from Ramsgate, Kent, mouths “thank you”, before pointing out the wedding ring on her finger.
Such special treatment is a common occurrence for Becca but she isn’t an influencer or a well-known actress – she’s a regular mum who is witnessing the benefits of a new phenomenon dubbed ‘blonde privilege’.
The idea is – and the concept was recently debated on Mumsnet – that women are treated differently purely because they have blonde hair.
I get offered seats on public transport. I get drinks opened for me and taxi drivers will jump out and open doors and load the car for me.
Becca
In Becca’s case, she says its her ash tones which makes a stark difference to the way she’s perceived by others, including strangers.
And the difference is huge: “As a blonde I get freebies including free drinks, discount vouchers and perfume or makeup samples even though I don’t ask for them,” she says.
“People offer to help me, including carrying shopping bags to the car. They treat me as though I am more approachable and deserve their attention.
“Men flirt with me even though I make it clear I am married.
“Blondes definitely are more privileged.”
Becca went from her natural brunette colour to a salon blonde to mark turning 30.
Before that, she says she was treated as one of the crowd. “As a brunette I didn’t stand out,” she says.
The 4 stages of the hair growth cycle
Hair experts at Philip Kingsley shared the four stages of the hair growtn cycle are: Anagen, Catagen, Telogen and Exogen
Anagen Phase: Also known as the ‘Growth Phase’ or ‘Active Phase’, is when the cells in the root of your hair are most rapidly dividing so more new hair is formed.
During the Anagen Phase, hair grows around half an inch a month [about six inches a year], and faster in the summer than in winter.
This phase of the hair growth cycle lasts an average of three to five years.
Catagen Phase: Following the Anagen Phase, your hair cycle enters a short transitional phase known as the Catagen Phase, which signals the end of active hair growth and cuts individual hairs off from the blood supply and from the cells that produce new hair.
Approximately three percent of all hairs are in this stage at any time and it lasts for around 10 days.
Telogen Phase: The third stage of your natural hair growth cycle is the Telogen Phase, a resting period when strands remain in their follicles but are not actively growing.
An estimate of 10-15 percent of your hairs are in the Telogen Phase at any given moment.
The Telogen Phase lasts around three months or 100 days.
Exogen Phase: The final stage of the Hair Growth Cycle, when individual hair strands are released from their follicles and fall out.
Now the whole process begins again.
“Now it’s another story. Men open doors for me, I get offered seats on public transport and taxi drivers will jump out and open doors and load the car for me.
“When I was brunette, that didn’t happen.
“Blondes do have more fun. If you’re blonde, people are nicer to you. Their body language is more welcoming. There’s the impression you’re more fun-loving and warm.
“I call it the ‘blonde bonus’.”
It could be suggested that ‘blonde privilege’ is an off shoot of ‘pretty privilege’, a term used to describe how women who are ‘pretty’ enjoy greater life satisfaction.
It’s scientifically-proven to exist.
An academic paper, ‘The Body and the Beautiful: Health, Attractiveness and Body Composition in Men’s and Women’s Bodies’ revealed a link between attractiveness and academic, professional, social and relationship success.
Treating someone differently because of their hair colour could be seen as demeaning, but Becca disagrees.
“It isn’t demeaning. It’s just a fact,” she argues. “People seem drawn to women with blonde locks. It’s life changing.
“Blondes enjoy more benefits. There is nothing wrong with that.”
So many celebrities are blonde. That definitely impacts the way people treat you if you have blonde hair and it influences people’s views of blondes.
Becca
Former childcare assistant Becca, who is married to advertising manager, James, 34, and is mum to Caitlin, 13, Skylar, eight, and Holly-Jayne, three, says she’s always experimented with her locks.
“When I was 16, I went blonde and loved it,” she says. “I wanted to be like all the cool girls.”
Falling pregnant at 17, Becca says having light hair didn’t help her reputation as a teen mum and says back then, unlike now, she was seen as a ‘dumb blonde’.
“I got a great deal of stick for it,” she says. “People were judgemental and made unfair assumptions that I was a ‘dumb blonde’ when actually I was the total opposite. I finished school and studied to be a sports therapist and then a child care assistant
“It was a time when teen parents weren’t as accepted as they are today.”
Becca left college and worked at a pizza restaurant as well as caring for her daughter before she returned to college and qualified as a childcare assistant.
At first, I thought I was imagining it. Now I know blonde privilege is real and I am embracing it.
Becca
In November 2013, aged 20, she met James through friends and the pair started dating. He proposed in 2015 and ahead of their wedding two years later, Becca decided to change her image.
“I wanted to be taken seriously as a 22-year-old bride,” she says. “I was pregnant with my second child. I wanted to leave the ‘teen mum’ trolling behind me when I walked up the aisle.”
The week before the big day Becca went back to brunette to achieve what she calls her ‘serious married mum-look’.
According to Becca, her family and friends were were stunned.
“Everyone said it made me look more mature,” she says.
As a brunette, people considered me a serious or boring person. older mums on the school run would ask me for advice not realising I was only in my early 20s.
Becca
“When Skylar was born three months later even nurses at the hospital assumed I was in my late 20s and not 22.
“As a brunette, people considered me a serious or boring person – older mums on the school run would ask me for advice not realising I was only in my early 20s.”
But hitting her 30s, Becca decided to go back to being a blonde and this time around, she has no regrets.
“Now as a blonde I feel lighter, more free and younger,” she says. “Life is definitely easier.
Dark hair is ageing. When I had my hair dyed blonde last year, I was amazed at how youthful it made me feel and look.
Becca
“People listen to my jokes and my opinion seems to matter more.
“Dark hair is ageing. When I had my hair dyed blonde last year, I was amazed at how youthful it made me feel and look.
“I get offered free samples from perfume counters without even showing an interest. Most recently I was offered a free sample of Paco Rabanne Olympia. I think staffers feel I am someone who would use their product because of my hair.
“At first, I thought I was imagining it. Now I know blonde privilege is real and I’m embracing it.”
And last year, Becca competed in Miss Glamour UK, her first beauty pageant – and she says being blonde was one reason she was crowned the winner.
I am not ashamed to take advantage of blonde privilege. If it makes my life easier and gets me compliments I am all in.
Becca
She says: “My blonde hair gave me the confidence to know I belonged on the catwalk.
“I instantly felt I fitted in – I felt the other contestants welcomed me more because like them, I had lighter hair.
“When I was crowned I knew part of it was due to my blonde confidence.
“I’m not ashamed to take advantage of blonde privilege. If it makes my life easier and gets me compliments I am all in.”