Real gentlemen prefer blondes or redheads?

Great.

-- kyle

i think i'm going to have to tell adam

The redhead's had her neck snapped. Good thing she can't feel pain.

Sadly untrue:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/the-pain-of-being-a-redhead/?em

A growing body of research shows that people with red hair need larger doses of anesthesia and often are resistant to local pain blockers like Novocaine. As a result, redheads tend to be particularly nervous about dental procedures and are twice as likely to avoid going to the dentist as people with other hair colors, according to new research published in The Journal of the American Dental Association.

Researchers believe redheads are more sensitive to pain because of a mutation in a gene that affects hair color. In people with brown, black and blond hair, the gene, for the melanocortin-1 receptor, produces melanin. But a mutation in the MC1R gene results in the production of a substance called pheomelanin that results in red hair and fair skin.

The MC1R gene belongs to a family of receptors that include pain receptors in the brain, and as a result, a mutation in the gene appears to influence the body’s sensitivity to pain. A 2004 study showed that redheads require, on average, about 20 percent more general anesthesia than people with dark hair or blond coloring. And in 2005, researchers found that redheads are more resistant to the effects of local anesthesia, such as the numbing drugs used by dentists.

Hm, my tolerance for pain is pretty high, but I am not ginger, but more auburn. Though very fair-skinned.
Dental work is no problem ;)

I know anecdotal evidence is meaningless, but I'm a redhead and I went for some minor surgery under local anaesthetic a while ago. Surgeon injected me with anaesthetic, waited a bit, scratched next to the needlemark to check it had taken - but he had to do this about four or five times before I couldn't feel it. After a few goes he didn't even ask and just started to make an incision, and I had to go "uh, I can still feel that, is that meant to happen?"

Weird thing was, a week later I had a migraine, and that area went completely numb, like the anaesthetic had just built up somewhere and had somehow been unlocked. Coincidence, I guess, but not a good morning...

Oh, and I think the answer to the thread question is "either as long as they're out of a bottle". (Not just bitterness: I guess fair hair is more appealing than fair skin, not to mention any lasting neuroses from having yr head be a giant glowing beacon of beat-up-ability at school every day.)