Redheads have genetic super powers, according to science

Did you know that redhead women also smell better? Photo / Getty Images

They may only make up a mere two per cent of the population, but it turns out those with red hair possess some serious power.

While the likes of Prince Harry and Ed Sheeran are in part defined by their ginger manes, there's more to being a red head than meets the eye.

As author Erin La Rosa notes, there are plenty of mixed messages about redheads out there and people simply don't know fact from sometimes cruel fiction.

"It's hard to know what to believe anymore," writes La Rosa in her book, The Big Redhead Book: Inside the Secret Society of Red Hair.

"Our eyes aren't naturally drawn to the fiery embrace of red hair, and yet society gives us mixed messages about what it means to be ginger (some good, some less so)."

Here are some of the most interesting facts about redheads according to La Rosa's findings:

They create their own vitamin D

Redheads have adapted the ability to created their own vitamin D due to cloudy European environments. So when a redhead goes outside, they produce more vitamin D in a shorter time period than people with other hair colours.

This gives them an evolutionary advantage too, as higher levels of Vitamin D can help prevent rickets, diabetes, and arthritis.

They have a higher pain threshold

Several studies have shown that redheaded women can tolerate up to 25 per cent more pain that women with other hair colours.

The University of Oslo also found that copper-haired females feel less pain when pricked by a pin and that they were harder to sedate.

They feel temperature more severely

The University of Louisville discovered that the redhead gene, also known as MC1R, can make redheads more sensitive to temperatures.

So if a redhead starts to feel hot or cold, it may be a sign a change in the weather is on the way.

Not all redheads are fair skinned

Native residents of Papua New Guinea, Morocco, and even Hawaii are known for their red hair and darker skin.

In Hawaii they use the term "ehu", meaning a descendant of a fire god.

They are more commercially popular

In a 2014 report by Upstream Analysis, it was found that 30 per cent of TV commercials in the US feature a redhead in a leading role.

Research also showed that the CBS network had a person with red hair appear on screen every 106 seconds.

They're perceived as having a better sense of humour

According to Professor Andrew Stott, from the University of Buffalo, circus clowns first wore bright red wigs in order to be seen from the back of large theatres.

The red-haired clown then became solidified in American culture thanks to the likes of the famous Ronald McDonald, and American's began to assume that red hair was symbolic of humour.