Blond / blonde or fair-hair is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color.
The word blond is first attested in English in 1481 and derives from Old French blund, blont meaning “a colour midway between golden and light chestnut”.
“Blond” and “blonde”, with its continued gender-varied usage, is one of few adjectives in written English to retain separate masculine and feminine grammatical genders. Each of the two forms, however, is pronounced the same way.
Social reasons why men may have preferred blonde women is that light hair color is a marker of youth. Since many Northern European children have blond hair, which darkens as they mature, blond hair could arguably be associated with youth and therefore, fertility. Blond as a color has also been associated with light and gold, things that people find attractive and desirable. Lighter color hair is usually more scarce or rare (exotic), arguably increasing its desirability.
An early Greek writer, Xenophanes (6th century BC) described the Thracians as a blond-haired race, although other translations render the Greek phrase in question as “red haired”.
In the early period of the Roman Empire blonde hair was associated with prostitutes. In the later period, it become more sociably acceptable and desirable, even among the upper classes. For example, the physical appearance of Emperor Nero, descended from an aristocratic family, is by the historian Suetonius described as: “… his hair light blond,… his eyes blue…” According to Francis Owens Roman literary records describe a very large number of well-known Roman historical personalities as blonde. In addition, 250 individuals are recorded to have had the name Flavius, meaning blonde, and there are many named Rufus and Rutilius, meaning red haired
and reddish haired, respectively. The following Roman gods are said to have had blonde hair: Amor, Apollo, Aurora, Bacchus, Ceres, Diana, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Minerva and Venus.
In the Middle Ages, blonde was usually associated with a seductress;for example, until the late 14th century depictions of Eve are usually blonde, while the Virgin Mary is usually brunette.
In the prologue to the Prose Edda, both Thor and his wife Sif (from Norse mythology) are described as fair-haired. In the Poetic Edda poem Rígsþula, the blond man Jarl is considered to be the ancestor of the dominant warrior class. In Northern European folklore, fairies value blonde hair in humans. Blonde babies are more likely to be stolen and replaced with changelings, and young blonde women are more likely to be lured away to the land of the fairies.
In European fairy tales, blonde hair was commonly ascribed to the heroes and heroines. Benign mythological creatures such as fairies and elves were often portrayed as young and blond. This may occur in the text, as in Madame d’Aulnoy’s La Belle aux cheveux d’or or The Story of Pretty Goldilocks (The Beauty with Golden Hair), or in illustrations depicting the scenes. One notable exception is Snow White who, because of her mother’s wish for a child “…lips as red as blood, skin as white as snow, hair as black as ebony,” has dark hair. This tendency appears also in more formal literature; in Greek mythology, Aphrodite, is the goddess of love and beauty and also had “golden hair”.
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