Earlier this month I was sent a new study that found that there’s yet another bonus of being blonde, and this one is unexpected: Blondes get paid more than women with any other hair color. This surprised me, and so I read further.

David Johnston, an economist at Queensland University in Australia, scoured a database of 12,686 Caucasian women ages 25 and older living in the United States. The database identified the natural hair color of each woman [light blonde (1.6%), blonde (19.0%), light brown (21.8%), brown (51.2%), black (2.4%) and red (4.0%)], their hourly wages, their marital status, their husbands’ hourly wages, and their education level. Johnston controlled for height, weight, eye color, education, and other variables.

Contrary to the (silly) perception that blondes are dumb, the data reveal that they have as much education as women of any other hair color. But, interestingly, they earn 7 percent more than women with any other hair color — the market equivalent of an extra year of education. (For the same job that pays darker-haired women $50,000 yearly, blondes would get paid $53,500). No other hair color but blond appears to influence a woman’s salary.

Blondes in the marriage market also appear to get a monetary boost. The data show that blondes marry men who earn 6 percent more on average than the husbands of women with other hair colors. Blondes appear to attract and marry higher-earners. Or wealthier men appear to marry blondes.

Johnston speculates tepidly on the reasons why blondes appear to have an advantage wage-wise. Skin color is one. Although all the women were Caucasian, natural blondes may have fairer skin, associated with countries with a strong work ethic (Northern European).

More plausibly, he cites attractiveness as a paycheck-plumper. Blondes may be perceived as prettier, and beauties are known to get paid more than plain Janes. Even if they aren’t inherently more beautiful, blondes, boosted by public perception, may be more confident, social, and therefore have better communication skills. They may be (wrongly) perceived as being more productive and valuable as employees.

What Johnston doesn’t break down are the types of occupations in which the women are employed. Among waitresses, dancers, Fox newscasters, and Mary Kay saleswomen, perhaps blond hair is a bonus. But do blond doctors and librarians, physicists and writers really earn more than their darker-haired colleagues? I hope not.

Do pretty waitresses get higher tips? Researchers at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration want to know. Why? Because it may affect hiring decisions. The researchers claim in their recent study that evolutionary theory suggests that attractive women should receive higher tips than less attractive women.

To test this theory, the researcher recruited more than 400 restaurant waitresses to complete an online survey, asking them to rate their physical attractiveness, sexiness, age, bra size, hair color, waist size, weight, and average tip percentage.

The findings (or how to increase your tips if you’re a waitress):

1.) Blondes reported receiving larger percentage tips than did waitresses with other hair colors, as expected. However, the blond waitresses in this study did not perceive themselves to be more attractive than the waitresses with other hair colors.

2.) Women with large breasts and/or slender bodies received larger average tips than their counterparts without these characteristics.

More surprisingly:

3.) Tips increased with age with the largest tips going to women in their thirties.

The author’s analysis:

Perhaps the male restaurant customers were most attracted to the waitresses in their late teens and early twenties as expected, but tipped the waitresses who were in their thirties more than those who were younger because they thought they had a better chance of picking-up the older waitresses. Alternatively, the majority of the male customers in this study, whose average age was probably greater than 35 years old, may have been most attracted to waitresses in their thirties.as men age, they prefer women increasing younger than themselves, but nonetheless prefer increasingly older women in an absolute sense….. Given that the median age in the U.S. is 35 years old and that median age of paying restaurant customers is almost certainly even older,….most of the men is this study may have preferred women in their thirties, which is the age group among waitresses that received the largest tips.

4.) WHR (waist-to-hip ratio) was unrelated to tips in this study. Thick-waisted women were just as likely to get big tips.

The analysis:

Perhaps the effects of WHR on perceptions of physical attractiveness are too small to affect more overt behaviors… Alternatively, the failure to find a WHR effect on tipping may be due to the possibility that the waitresses’ clothing obscured their WHRs to their tipping customers.

The study has several weaknesses. First, it relies on women’s self-reports of their attractiveness, which is always tricky. More importantly, the study didn’t attempt to assess is a waitress’s effectiveness at doing her job. One would think competence and friendliness would would be stronger factors. (Which is most important — competence, friendliness, or looks? Fodder for another study?) Nor did it take into account other variables: venue, uniforms, and customer base. Did the study consider the fact that many customers may be (straight) women?

I, for one, don’t care if my waitress has big breasts or blond hair. I just want my food.

Do blondes get picked up more than brunettes? The question can be taken literally, as evidenced in psychologist Nicolas Gueguen’s latest study* on female hitchhikers. A specialist in the nuances of courtship and attraction, Gueguen wanted to know if a woman is more likely to be offered a ride or other assistance if she goes blond. All else being equal, do light-haired hitchhikers get more lifts?

Gurguen recruited five women in their early twenties (all natural brunettes) to stand, one at a time, by the side of a road popular with hitchhikers in France. Their job was to try to get motorists to pull over. Each woman was equipped with three wigs, blond, brunette, and black, which she was instructed to rotate every time forty cars had passed. When a car stopped, she (and two independent observers) kept a record of what color wig she was wearing and whether the driver was male or female.

Drivers prefer blondes, it turns out. Blond hair, compared with brown or black hair, inspired a statistically larger proportion of drivers to stop and offer assistance (18% for blondes vs 14% and 13% for brunettes and women with black hair respectively). Interestingly, this was true only of male drivers. Female drivers, who stopped less frequently for hitchhikers, showed no hair color bias.

Gueguen attributes a greater attractiveness of blond hair color to men’s willingness to help blondes. As described in BLONDES, blond hair may be associated with female youth, health, and fertility. Because fair-haired hitchhikers may appear younger, they may come across as more vulnerable or less of a threat.

Blond hair is also more eye-catching than other shades, so drivers may be more likely to notice blond hitchhikers. But why would more male than female drivers offer rides to blondes if sexual attraction didn’t have something to do with it?

For various reasons, slightly more drivers appear to prefer blondes. But are they gentlemen? That remains in question.

***
Nicolas Gueguen’s studies are good fun. In BLONDES I reported on his fascinating research on the power of touch in a courtship context. I’ve also blogged about Gurguen’s studies on whether makeup is more likely to attract men; whether dog owners attract more dates (and whether breed makes a difference); how priming men to think about love changes their behavior; whether asking a woman a small favor makes her more likely to give him her number later; and whether cup size helps a female hitchhikers get picked up.

* to be published in Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2009, 109, 3, 1-8.

According to Brit magazine Marie Claire, more women are dying their hair blond to cope with recession blues. Quoting a celebrity hairdresser, the article mentions that going blonde makes women feel more confident, youthful, and attention-attracting. In light of a recession, blond hair is defiantly sunny. It’s a reminder, perhaps, of youth and its hope, resilience, nonchalance.

Or is it that women are going blond to attract men? If so, it behooves them to read about how tough economic conditions affect men’s preferences in mates.

All this said, lightening up is an investment. With a touch-up required every 2-3 weeks, the cost of maintenance adds up. In fact, the downturn could reveal some very dark roots.

Somewhat unbelievably, there was an academic conference last weekend called “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” and it was hosted by no less prestigious an institution than the Sorbonne in Paris. Judging by the conference program, the organizers have set out to make sure the blonde maintains her good standing. Among the agenda items are discussions about film (with special attention to M. Monroe), painting (Botticelli and Titian’s Venus, Aphrodite, angels, and so on). The organizer Marie-Camille Bouchindomme is quoted as saying, “Blondness awakens desire, probably because of the ambivalence it carries, from innocence to perversion….Blonde women seem to invite transgression, and thus eroticism in men that darker hair does not….Blonde hair is an attribute of Venus, the goddess of carnal love, whose hair is sometimes the final rampart against her modesty.”

My favorite responses in the comment box below the conference announcement:

I cannot believe there is to be a conference. Save your money boys and listen here. Men are attracted to blondes because they look safer and more childlike ….Any other problems needing solving? Can we get started on world peace now?
- bm, melbourne australia,

Having been many colours – the answer is yes – blondes do seem too be prefered. But you attract different kinds of men it seemed to me, depending on which colour you are. If you would like a lot of attention, go blond. In fact, even women treat you kindlier too, although they (men and women) can assume you are a little dappy, that suits me fine as you can get away with so much. Even my husband hates me dark – he says it gives me too much attitude.
- Emily Kelly, Marlow, UK,

I’m a natural blonde and a lot of men do prefer blondes…unfortunately, I mean all the creepy men. If it didn’t look ridiculous on me, I would much rather have brown hair to be rid of some of the weirdos. Blonde hair isn’t all it’s cracked up to be; I always have to deal with people thinking I’m ditzy and stupid and asking if my hair color is real.
- Romy, Charleston, SC,

According to an amusing Reuters article today, Sibu, an organg-utan in a Dutch zoo, is sexually aroused only by human blondes. Of course, it just might be that Sibu’s primary caregiver, who fed him and reared him, happens to be a blonde. Like many males, he prefers mates who remind him of Mom.