Are you a red head?

I am type 1.5. When asked at the Drivers License office what my hair color is, I always reply, “Tweed”

What an interesting discussion! :slight_smile: My hair, while growing up, was more or less a light shade of blond/brown, with natural red highlights to it. I don’t remember about freckles when I was a kid, but no freckles now. Do dimples count? :slight_smile:



My hair has become darker through the years, + a tiny bit of gray here and there, but those red highlights are very prominent in the sunlight, and under some lighting in the house. I am German, Scottish, and Irish, and born and reared in the midwest. My eyes are very blue.



I am also, the first and only Type 1, in my family. I’ve been 'betic since 1984. My sister has natural blond hair, and has had Type 2 for about 8 years, and she is 18 years younger than I. She has brown eyes.



Trisha

I know several people, one of whom I’m married to and the other of which is my son, who are redheads and NOT diabetic. I don’t know and have never met any redheads who are diabetic.

For the record, as you know I am type one and have brown hair.

So… I think it’s just coincidence here, but interesting observation.

This is really interesting observation…I am not White but I have a lot of mix races in my family, African being the dominate race. It is hard to really go to far back into the bloodline when your African American but I do know I am mixed with White, Native American and African on both sides of my family. From what area in Africa, Europe or which tribes are not really 100% known. My mother had red hair as a child, my uncle and cousin also have red hair. I have always had a red tent in my hair which could only be seen in the sun, it looks jet black in the shade and is reddish in the sun. People use to think I dyed my hair growing up. I also have freckles on my hands. And prob the only Black girl that needs SPF 45 at all times when going in the sun, lol… I am the only one with T1 on either sides and both are pretty large in numbers…

All of my father’s family were redheads, I inherited the fair skin and red highlights in my blondish hair. I never heard that any of them had diabetes, the aunt we kept most in touch with and my dad were not diabetic.

My co-worker has red hair, type 1 diabetes and celiac disease.

Yes, I am a type1 diabetic and I have red hair.

I am not a redhead but my Mom is (although now 92, its just white/grey). I was diagnosed T1 in 1965, when she had long wavy red hair. Mom was diagnosed T2 in her mid 50s.

Even though this is a very old discussion it’s still fun! So I was born with red hair that darkened to a light brown or dark blonde and I am predominately English, Irish (One of my grandmothers was a Gilliland and I traced that line back to Northern Ireland), German and Scottish.

One of my moms’ cousins was type 1 but died as a child, and a bunch of my dads’ siblings died as children but were undiagnosed as they lived in an area without a doctor, but my fathers childhood recollection was of his brothers and sisters getting weak and wasting away without obvious signs of typical childhood illnesses. So, IMO most likely diabetes. They all would have been half Northern Irish and my generation is only 1/4 and I’m the only diabetic in my generation.

I’m half Irish and Scottish. I used to be a really light strawberry blonde, but it’s gotten darker as I age. The red only really shows in the summer anymore.

Interesting. I do not have red hair, but I do have some Irish ancestry.

One thing that I have noticed very anecdotally is that most of the T1D’s I’ve met in person were born in the winter months.

Not a redhead here, not even T1 but I had to speak up. My mom and her sister were redheaded. My wife, when we married, had the most amazing and beautiful shade of red hair one can imagine. Not only is she perfect she’s a red head too. One of my sons has red hair. There are generations of redheads in my and my wife’s family. To my knowledge no Type 1’s.

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So do I!

People of Native American ethnicity which includes many people from Latin America along with people of black African ethnicity are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes.

@MikeyType1
I did find a paper on the correlation of red hair and higher T1DM and another on fair skin and blue eyes. Sadly all I can access are less than helpful abstracts. I also so a list of T1DM by nations with Finland very high at 57 per 100,000.

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I am definitely a redhead but more of a strawberry blonde. My sis is more of a firey redhead, she and I become T1D at the exact same time. My other 2 siblings are brunnettes and no T1D for them. :slightly_smiling_face:

Boy this is an old thread but as a matter of fact yes…Type 1 since 1970.

I’m strawberry blonde, so a lot of people call me a redhead, but I’m not really.