I often travel to Scandinavian countries mainly because my daughter lives there. There's that stereotypes in movies that Scandinavian have blond hair and fair skin. Is it always true? No. If you have a Scandinavian character, you don't have to give him/her blond hair, but...
Hubby and I were taking a small regional plane from Copenhagen, Denmark, to Turku, Finland, late at night. The airport was almost empty. They're were maybe fifty people waiting at our gate. Men, women, children, and elderly.
As we arrived at our gate after a tight connection, I caught myself stopping in my tracks. Except for the elderly people with white/grey hair, everyone had blond hair. There was every possible shade of blond, but they all fell under the "blond" category.
My hubby has dark brown hair/brown eyes/darker complexion and I have light brown hair/green eyes/fair complexion. Still, we both stood out like a sore thumb, not that anybody paid us any attention, but it was striking, and it got me thinking about characters. Do I want my character to stand out in a crowd, or do I want him/her to blend in? The answer to that question should determine his/her appearance.
Some stereotypes are based on reality and they vary depending on where you are. Still, there are some combinations of physical traits that are way less common than others.
When it comes to natural hair colours, there are five main colours: red, blond, brown, black, and gray/white
- About 1%-2% of people wordwide have red hair (commonly found in Ireland and Scotland)
- About 3% have blond hair (commonly found in Northern Europe and Asia)
- About 11% have brown hair
- Somewhere between 80%-85% have black hair
When it comes to eye colours, there are five main colours: blue, green, hazel/amber, brown, and gray
- About 1% of people wordwide have gray eyes
- About 2% have green eyes (more women than men have green eyes)
- Somewhere between 8%-10% have blue eyes
- About 10% have hazel/amber eyes
And what is the rarest hair/eye colour combination worldwide?
- Red hair & Blue eyes
Next time I have a character on the lam, I'll make sure not to give him red hair and blue eyes... unless she's hiding in Ireland.
Happy Reading,
J. S.
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