Residents, you may have heard it said that ‘gentlemen prefer blondes’ or that a brunette is more of someone’s ’type on paper’. But if you’re an avid Love Island viewer then you have probably noticed that hair colour can really hold a lot of value when it comes to choosing a partner.

‍

For many contestants hair colour is just that… the colour of someone’s hair. But for others, it seems that hair colour can determine someone’s personality traits, their attractiveness and even their IQ! And whilst the long list of dating ‘must-haves’ that most contestants enter the villa with, have often been thrown out of the window by the time they enter the ‘anything goes’ atmosphere of Casa Amour - for some contestants, they wouldn’t even be willing to pull someone for a chat who isn’t a ‘blonde bombshell’ or if they’re not ‘tall, dark and handsome’ (who knew that expression referred to hair colour, right?)

‍

With the recent launch of series 11 of Love Island UK, the many one-liners of our favourite contestants have begun to make their rounds on social media as per usual. This time they're not discussing how much dating your ‘type on paper’ matters or which boy was just taken for the ‘muggiest mug’ of all time. This time the question, as put forward by one Twitter/X user, is: 

‍

‘Can white people explain the logic behind being attracted to a hair colour??’

‍

Now, we know that within communities of colour - basing your sexual preferences on such seemingly small nuances in skin and hair tone - is dubbed ‘colourism’. However that’s not a term that is often used or even heard within white communities - but that didn’t stop several Twitter users from insisting that the mindset behind and the effects of choosing your partner based solely on hair colour is no different. One Twitter/X user stated that choosing your partner based on the colour of their hair is a ‘version of colourism’.

‍

Other users made much more extreme accusations for why the colour-ranking system is harmful - with one saying it has its roots in Hitlers white-supremacist ideology. One user alleged that because blonde was rarely lasts in adulthood - often men are attracted to blonde due to their association with youth and purity. Finally others suggested that those who date brunettes may also do so because they have reputation for being ‘more serious, sultry and feisty…’

‍

 Several commenters stated the obvious undeniable problem with assuming that someone’s hair color can make them ‘more fun’ or have any bearing on their personality at all - hair color can be changed… easily! One user captured this perfectly, saying:

‍

‘what kills me is you can just dye your hair like?

"i only date blondes" ok my hair blonde now what?’

‍

Which led many people to also make the connection that this preference in fact goes much deeper than hair colour. Many people from non-white ethnicities asserted that hair colour preference has more to do with race than it actually implies.  As one X commenter put it:

‍

‘Like u like blondes? Okay I'm black but if I dye my hair u still won't be attracted to me, say what u mean which is I am attracted to white people.’

‍

Whilst Love Island is far from a fair sport, we think love should be! And developing an attraction to a certain hair colour, for whatever reason, is not in itself problematic. However, is it possible that ‘liking blondes’ is more than just that… liking someone with ‘blonde hair’? Or is it a problematic dating criteria, because it assumes so much about a person based on such a small physical feature they possess, more importantly a physical feature that quite literally anyone could possess with a quick trip to Boots. 

‍