Discover the Top 12 Fascinating and Fun Facts About the Color Red You Never Knew

1. Babies Spotting Red & Green

In this game of Chromatic Peekaboo, babies always come out as winners with their ability to spot the sneaky difference between green and red bandits earlier than you think: Starting from the tender age of 2 to 4 months, our little detectives can distinguish between shades of green and red, with their color perception reaching its full bloom by 5 months!
Source => healthline.com

2. Gingers & Sun Sensitivity

Bask in the sun with caution, gingers: You may have won the genetic lottery with your fiery locks and ethereal freckles, but Mother Nature decided to make you a bit more susceptible to her sunny charms. The MC1R gene mutation is responsible for your resplendent red hues, but unfortunately, it also weakens your skin's communication team – melanocytes and keratinocytes – resulting in a less-than-ideal defense against UV radiation. Skin cancer, including melanoma, lurks nearer for redheads, making ample sunscreen and chic sun hats essential accessories for your sun-kissed adventures!
Source => inverse.com

Did you know feeling blue isn't all bad? Color psychology reveals that mood is influenced by a complex combination of factors, including hue, shade, and even cultural elements. Discover more about the fascinating world of color interactions!

=> Fun Facts about Colors

3. Red: Color of Love & Danger

If red had a dating profile, it'd be swiping right on both Cupid and the Grim Reaper: despite being the color of passion and love, red's fiery nature makes it a popular choice for stop signs, traffic lights, and warning labels, as well as symbolizing power and luck in various cultural contexts.
Source => homedit.com

4. Red Cars & Speeding Tickets

Roses are red, violets are blue; but watch out, because your red car might just say "ticket me too"! Authorities' eyes seem to hunger for red as a bull might: In actuality, white cars hold the title for most tickets issued, but when accounting for prevalence, red cars still maintain their reputation as a magnet for speeding tickets, likely due to their vibrant association with high energy and thrilling speeds.
Source => cnet.com

5. Red Clothing & Dominance

Next time you're gearing up for an intense debate, consider dressing like a sartorial rodeo clown or an infuriated stop sign: Wearing red clothing has been shown to enhance perceptions of dominance and aggression in humans. Researchers found that men wearing red shirts were rated as more aggressive and dominant by both male and female raters, while people presented in red were more likely to be labeled as "angry" compared to those in blue or grey. Seems like the color red provides more of a bullfighter spirit to human males than we thought!
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

6. Bulls & Colorblindness

Bulls must be fashion-forward trendsetters, rocking the red carpet of the arena like nobody's business: In reality, they're colorblind to red and are instead attracted to the movement of a matador's cape, charging at capes of any color, including magenta and gold, as confirmed by the Discovery Channel's MythBusters. The small red muleta used in bullfighting serves another purpose - to mask the animal's blood in the final stage of the fight.
Source => livescience.com

7. Red's High Visibility

Feeling the need to ketchup on your red facts? Turns out, red's quite the attention seeker, much like a stop sign crashing a wedding: Red and orange are the first colors our eyes notice due to their high visibility, making them ideal choices for warning signs and safety equipment, followed closely by yellow. Colour our perception intrigued!
Source => vision-boutique.com

8. Red & Attractiveness

Who said roses are red, violets are blue, when red can make you attractive too? It's a chromatic code we need to crack: A study found that women wearing high chroma and medium value reds in digital photographs were perceived to be more attractive by both men and women, though it didn't necessarily make them appear more confident.
Source => fashionandtextiles.springeropen.com

9. Red Plates & Spiciness

Feeling the heat? Blame it on the red tableware! Next time your taste buds are doing the tango with a spicy dish, watch out for the plate: A study found that spicy bean curd served on a red plate was perceived as significantly spicier compared to when served on a green or white plate, with white plates actually toning down the spiciness perception. Now, who's up for a chili-infused rollercoaster on rouge chinaware?
Source => onlinelibrary.wiley.com

10. Cochineal Bug's Red Dye

Who said you can't make lipstick out of bugs? Meet the cochineal insect: a tiny creature, native to Mexican prickly-pear cacti, which produced a red dye so highly prized in the 16th and 17th centuries that it sprinted to become the third-greatest import from the "New World," right behind gold and silver. Visual maestros like Raphael, Rembrandt, and Rubens even used this bug juice to glaze their paintings, gifting them that extra bit of red oomph, and finding its way into modern times as a key ingredient in cosmetics like lipstick and blush.
Source => artsy.net

11. Red & Physical Stimulation

Next time you're seeing red, don't forget to check your pulse: the color red can physically stimulate the body, raising blood pressure and heart rate, making it the go-to secret sauce for fast-food chains to boost appetite and create a sense of urgency.
Source => smallbiztrends.com

12. Red Flowers for Pollinators

Ready to turn your garden into a buzzing hotspot for Nature's A-team? Red the runway for an all-star cast of blossoming celebrities that will satisfy the appetites of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds alike: Plant perennial favorites like Helenium, Yarrow, Agastache, Perennial Asters, Coreopsis, Rudbeckia, Penstemon, Echinacea, Monarda, Abelia, and Hardy Fuchsia, and witness a multi-season party that is as fabulous for the ecosystem as it is for your garden's red carpet appeal.
Source => swansonsnursery.com