Men's Hair and Eye Color Preferences

September 7, 2011

The British men surveyed here had a preference for women with brown/black hair (61.7%) and blue/green eyes (57.7%). The remaining 38.3% preferred blond/red hair, and 42.3% preferred brown/hazel eyes. Men in France, Spain, Italy, the U.S. and Brazil were also surveyed, and black was the most popular hair color in all of those countries, while brown and green eyes were preferred.

Badoo, the world's largest Social Network for meeting new people, has polled 2,000 UK males to find the features they find most attractive in the opposite sex. The results have been surprising, with blondes being beaten by brunettes.

In fact a third (33.1%) of all those polled said they find brown hair more attractive than blonde (29.5%), black (28.6%) and red (8.8%), contradicting the adage that gentlemen prefer blondes.

A further surprise the study uncovered is that 38.8% of guys looked for a dress size of 12-14 in their perfect woman, with only 10% looking for a size 6-8. This proves that whilst magazines fill their pages with skinny models, UK males actually prefer a more average build. Only 4.2% preferred size 18+ whilst a curvy size 14-18 was the second most popular with 25.5% of the vote.

Blue eyes still rule the roost in the UK however, with a massive 40.2% of guys preferring blue eyes over brown (29.2%), green (17.5%) and hazel (13.1%).

When all of the pieces of the puzzle are compiled, it's TOWIE's Lauren Goodger who has all of the attributes that men in the UK find most attractive. Her brown hair, blue eyes and average build give her the perfect combination for being the girl next door and the type of girl that UK males find most attractive.

Badoo also ran the study in France, Spain, Italy, US and Brazil and came back with surprising results. In fact only the French said they preferred their women skinny with all others saying they prefer average to curvy women. In all of the countries surveyed, black was the most popular hair colour (except the UK). The UK was also the only country that opted for blue eyes, with brown and green topping the table around the world.

Lloyd Price, from Badoo, said, "I was amazed that blonde hair and size 8 did not top the list. Magazines are full of skinny blonde models, so it is nice to see that in reality guys prefer the girl next door look. Lauren Goodger's boyfriend Mark Wright is clearly a lucky man in the eyes on the nation."

Badoo. "Sorry Marilyn, Gentleman Don't Prefer Blondes Reveals New Study By Badoo.com" [Press Release]. Badoo.com, 22.08.2011.

19 comments

Average Joe said...

In fact a third (33.1%) of all those polled said they find brown hair more attractive than blonde (29.5%), black (28.6%) and red (8.8%), contradicting the adage that gentlemen prefer blondes.

The difference between the preference for brown hair over blonde is only 3.6%, so it seems that blonde hair is still pretty popular. In addition, many less attractive women dye their hair blonde to make themselves more attractive, while more attractive brunettes would be less likely to do so. This has the effect of fooling men into believing that less attractive brunettes are actually blondes.

Average Joe said...

The UK was also the only country that opted for blue eyes, with brown and green topping the table around the world.

This may be because men are attracted to women with whom they share genetic characteristics. This would explain why blue eyes are more popular in Britain than in France, Spain, Italy, and Brazil.

Anonymous said...

"The difference between the preference for brown hair over blonde is only 3.6%, so it seems that blonde hair is still pretty popular"

The difference between the preference for blonde hair over black is only 0.9%, so it seems that black hair is still pretty popular.

"In addition, many less attractive women dye their hair blonde to make themselves more attractive"

Apparently it's not working. Someone should tell them that men find blonde hair overrated.

Anonymous said...

It seems a bit strange to me to lump brown and black hair together instead of lumping brown, blonde and red hair together. After all, isn't black hair the "basic", most common type in the world, and aren't brown, blonde and red hair all Europoid genetic innovations?

Counting the preference percentages of brown, blonde and red hair together gives a total of 71.4% preferring "non-black" hair.

Lumping brown and hazel eyes together feels more right to me, but still, if hazel eyes are lumped with blue and green eyes, one gets a total of 70.8% preference for "non-brown" eyes.

Anonymous said...

Oh, by the way, to continue my previous comment a bit: if one lumps together the "light" hair and eye types against the "basic dark" hair and eye types like I did, let's say the preference for the "light" type in both cases is roughly 70% and for the "dark" type 30% (basing that assumption on this blog post at this time).

Now, if preferring the "light" or "dark" phenotypic feature of one type was assumed to not have an effect on the preference of the other feature (which is just an assumption for this thought experiment, of course), then one would get the following percentages for combinations of "light/light", "light/dark", "dark/light", and "dark/dark": 70% * 70% is about 50%, 70% * 30% is about 20% (for both combinations), and 30% * 30% is about 10%.

So according to this rough thought experiment, the difference between preference for a "completely dark" combination of phenotypic features against "partly or wholly light" features would be 10% to 90%.

Racial Reality said...

>>> It seems a bit strange to me to lump brown and black hair together instead of lumping brown, blonde and red hair together.

The distinction is between "dark" and "light" hair, not "black" and "non-black" hair.

>>> aren't brown, blonde and red hair all Europoid genetic innovations?

No. Some Australoid people have naturally light hair.

>>> if hazel eyes are lumped with blue and green eyes, one gets a total of 70.8% preference for "non-brown" eyes

Hazel eyes are not "non-brown".

Anonymous said...

>>> The distinction is between "dark" and "light" hair, not "black" and "non-black" hair.

Why should brown hair automatically be classified as "dark" instead of "light" hair? It is lighter than black hair, definitely, and I have understood that it is the same genes that produce brown and blonde hair, just more extremely concentrated in the case of blonde hair. Looked at this way, blond hair might seem like just the most extreme case of "light" hair.

>>> Some Australoid people have naturally light hair.

I have heard of that. I have assumed that it was their own innovation instead of the same one that Europoid light hair comes from, because those Australoids seem to have lived pretty isolated from other races/populations/etc.

>>> Hazel eyes are not "non-brown".

The quote in this blog post seems to indicate that hazel eyes were distinguished from brown eyes in the survey that produced these results, and only lumped together with brown eyes by you. (And the same seems to be true for black and brown hair too.)

Racial Reality said...

>>> Why should brown hair automatically be classified as "dark" instead of "light" hair?

Um, because it's dark in color. Stop asking stupid questions.

>>> I have understood that it is the same genes that produce brown and blonde hair

"Melanin...is commonly described as being of two principal classes: eumelanin, which is brown or black, and pheomelanin, which...is yellow or red. [...] The absence or relative absence of both melanin types is associated with white hair; a preponderance of eumelanin, with brown or black hair; and a preponderance of pheomelanin with red or yellow hair."

- JL Rees. "Genetics of Hair and Skin Color", 2003.

>>> I have assumed that it was their own innovation instead of the same one that Europoid light hair comes from

Irrelevant. The point is that light hair is not a uniquely Caucasoid trait.

>>> hazel eyes were distinguished from brown eyes in the survey that produced these results, and only lumped together with brown eyes by you. (And the same seems to be true for black and brown hair too.)

The survey distinguishes between all of the hair and eye colors, including the ones lumped together by you. The purpose of my introductory paragraph is to summarize the data by grouping the colors into "light" and "dark" shades. If you can't tell the difference, that's your problem.

Anonymous said...

>>> Um, because it's dark in color. Stop asking stupid questions.

Look, I just pointed out that there is darker hair than "brown", and thus, "brown" hair is in fact lighter than hair that is darker than it. In other words, not dark in comparison.

>>> Irrelevant. The point is that light hair is not a uniquely Caucasoid trait.

That's not actually the point. However, Australoid light hair seems pretty irrelevant (indeed), because their populations are low in number and live in "remote" places compared to the more or less light haired Caucasoids that, undoubtedly, are concerned by this blog post. I understand that very few Australoids, light haired or otherwise, live in the countries mentioned in the blog post.

>>> The survey distinguishes between all of the hair and eye colors

Interesting. Some lumping together of similar types is inevitable though, I would think.

>>> The purpose of my introductory paragraph is to summarize the data by grouping the colors into "light" and "dark" shades. If you can't tell the difference, that's your problem.

Oh, I could tell what you did and what you consider as "light" and "dark" just fine, I think. But I can tell the difference between "darker dark" and "lighter dark" hair too, as well as that one is actually "light" compared to the other. Just felt like pointing that out since you grouped the colors like you did.

Racial Reality said...

>>> Look, I just pointed out that there is darker hair than "brown", and thus, "brown" hair is in fact lighter than hair that is darker than it. In other words, not dark in comparison.

Look, I just pointed out that there is lighter hair than "brown", and thus, "brown" hair is in fact darker than hair that is lighter than it. In other words, not light in comparison.

See, I can play that game too.

>>> That's not actually the point.

The point is that you claimed non-black hair was a uniquely Caucasoid trait, which is false.

>>> But I can tell the difference between "darker dark" and "lighter dark" hair too, as well as that one is actually "light" compared to the other.

The only way brown hair could possibly be considered "light" would be if blond hair didn't exist, and even then it would be a stretch. But since blond hair does exist, brown hair falls clearly into the "dark" category, as you yourself (unwittingly) admitted by referring to it "lighter DARK".

Anonymous said...

I guess that you can find some poll to prove anything you like but the real figures are these.90% of men prefer females with blue and light eyes and tend to prefer blondes. Females on the other hand go for dark men in all countries about 90%. I think the reason is clear. Light eyes and skin are simply softer and more feminine while dark men are more masculine and appear stronger. Tall, dark and handsome? Females don't seem to prefer dark or light eyes it's about 50/50 but that 90% preference that men have for light eyes is really amazing.
And btw, a size 12 in England is like a 6 in the US. Sizing in the US is also vanity sized and not true because an actress like Liz Taylor at 5'5" and 115lbs wore a size 10-12 in her day. Back then the fat girls and lder matrons wore what were called 1/2 sizes (don't ask me why they were called this) but they were like size 22,24 etc

Anonymous said...

Joe- people are attracted to opposite looks. It's nature's way of preventing inbreeding.Of course this would be relative within populations.

Racial Reality said...

>>> the real figures are these

You mean the "real" figures you just made up?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, you just say the most stupid things. And this is coming from another anonymous.

Anonymous said...

Interesting post! Seems I'm in the right country then :P
Actually can't believe the earlier anon is trying to call brown hair light. Also, anon - a UK 12 is not a US 6, it's a US 8.
I'd be interested in seeing similar statistics for men. I prefer men with blonde hair and light eyes by far.

Anonymous said...

I notice that the polls only tested those nations of the West that are Europe, United States, and Brazil or the Northern and Southern American continents that have a strong western vibe, and cater to that society. Asia and Africa were omitted from these polls and have a different standard of beauty, so I'm guessing that these polls are aimed at white men and woman in general, and there features.

Anonymous said...

Well most "blondes" have bleached hair rather than natural, and since natural is almost always more attractive than fake, it's not surprising that they find brunettes more attractive. Additionally, men don't know what they're talking about regarding dress size. Men will always prefer a woman who is slim but healthy, which works out around a size 10.

Unknown said...

This article is lies and bullcrap. Brown eyes and black hair on women is the most preferred anywhere in the world.

Purpplebae said...

My baby daddy snoops on me all the time. He imagines in his own head that I would cheat on him. I love this dude so much but all he does is cause me stress that is not needed,he's actually trying to cover up his dirt.Thanks to ''hackingloop6@ gmail . com''a cyber genius who hacked his phone and gained me remote access to his phone activities and exposed all he was doing behind my back.my ex is actually not a page to revisit.

Post a Comment

Be civil. Write clearly. Proofread and preview. Don't troll or spam. Stay on topic.