Most Common Russian Hair Color | Is Blonde Hair Popular in Russia?

Hair color, texture, and style will continue to be interesting topics, especially when you discover how hair colors differ from one country to the next.

Even within countries, you find varying hair colors depending on regions, ancestry, and even genes. So, it isn’t strange to see people from the same family have different hair colors.

Russia is an interesting country to study when considering hair color because the country is home to several unique hair colors. 

If you’re interested in finding out about the most common hair colors in Russia, the uniqueness between them, and the rarest colors as well, then you’re on for a jolly ride in the following paragraphs. 

What Is the Most Common Hair Color in Russia?

The first step to answering this question is to state that Russia has a diverse number of people of different descents. Russia has more than 180 base ethnicities, with people of these ethnicities often having different hair colors and shades.

Slavs are the most common, and they mostly have light brown or blond hair, although you’ll find a smaller part of them with dark hair, especially those of southern ethnicities.

Chechens, on the other hand, have red, chestnut, or black hair. It is also common to find black hair color when you go Eastwards because you find many mongoloid tribes in the Far East.

Because you’ll find different hair colors almost equally depending on where you go, it is hard to choose a single most common hair color.

Also, the fact that hair color can and does change over time can make things complicated. You often find light hair turning darker with age, so blonde-haired children could become dark-haired adults.

Nevertheless, let’s highlight the four most common hair colors in Russia and where you can find them.

1. Brown Hair

Brown - Most Common Hair Color in Russia

Brown hair ranging from medium to dark is common in the Southern parts of Russia and also farther east.

However, because brown hair is most common across the world including Russia, you can find heads of brown hair in nearly every region in Russia, although with different shades.

You also find brown hair amongst the Chechens, although they also have red and black hair.

2. Blonde Hair

Blonde - Second Most Popular Hair Color in Russia

Several Russian are blonde, and they often share ancestry with Teutonic and Vikings, which are the Norsemen tribes.

It wasn’t common to find blonde Russians, but now you find more of them in the north.

Blonde hair is prevalent in the northern part of Russia, but not so much in the south.

This reality is because northern Russian people are genetically closely related to Balts and Finns. So, you can say that Russian blondness is a common trait inherited by some Mesolithic near-Baltic populations.

3. Slavic Hair 

Slavic - One of the Most Common Hair Colors in Russia

The Slavic hair is the hair color that ranges from light brown to black and sometimes transitions into both.

It is highly common to find people with hair color that ranges between light brown and blonde.

People call it “rusiy” or dirty blonde. It is very close to the color of wheat straw, hence the name. It is very close to the color of wheat straw, hence the name.

You’ll find that Slavs traditionally have brighter hair than the rest of Russia, especially as kids. So, blonde hair is common amongst Slavic Russians. However, as you head further south, you’ll find that the hair gets darker and less Nordic, so you’ll find light brown.

You can’t rule out dark hair. Although it is rare amongst Slavs, a very small part of them of southern ethnicities have dark hair. 

Most Slavic children have blonde or light brown hair. 

It is also common to find blonde-haired kids growing into brown-haired adults, thereby reducing the number of adult blondes.

4. Black Hair

Black - One of the Most Popular Hair Colors in Russia

Previously uncommon, black hair is rather common in Russia these days, even amongst people with prevalent Russian ancestry or those we call ethnic Russians. 

When you head farther Eastwards in Russia, you’ll find lots of heads of black hair because Russia has assimilated a lot of mongoloid tribes over the years.

It is, therefore, very common to see people with Asian features like dark hair. 

What Is the Most Unpopular Hair Color in Russia?

For a country as diverse as Russia, its population is sporting different hair colors, so it is hard to hate a particular hair color because what is rare in one region is natural or traditionally popular. As a result, it is difficult to peg a single hair color as hated in Russia.

If you notice any hatred or discrimination against any hair color, including redheads or blondes, it is most likely a personal opinion.

For instance, some persons see blondes as dumb or stupid, and some others try to draw relationships between redheads and witches or people with mean tempers.

However, as a country, you won’t find discrimination against any hair color.

Is Blonde Hair Common in Russia?

We can say that blonde hair is quite common in some parts of Russia, although this kind of blondeness isn’t often found amongst the predominantly ethnically Russian.

The blonde Russians in the country come from a northern ancestry, such as the Finnish and Scandinavians. So, you can say that Russian blondness is an inherited trait that’s common amongst some Mesolithic near-Baltic populations.

The more you edge towards the Baltic Sea, the more you find the Nordic people and the more blonde hair you find.

You can find people with 100% light blonde hair in some places across the north of Russia, but you would mostly find dark blonde ranging into brown hair amongst the ethnic Russians.

Final Words:

There you have it! The most common hair colors in Russia!

I’m sure you can see that it’s quite hard to generalize when it comes to hair color in Russia because their extreme ethnic diversity, genetic heritage, and race contribute to them having varying hair colors.

Also, many Russians now dye their hair in several colors, so you might have to look twice to know what color is natural and what isn’t. However, the major population still keeps their natural hair colors.