Yesterday, the internet was aflutter with news that blondes are more determined, likely to go to war, and feel more entitled than redheads and brunettes. This news, however, was kind of wrong. It turns out that the researcher credited with the findings has never conducted a study that proves anything. Instead, Aaron Sell says his University of California study on anger found that women who consider themselves pretty and stronger than men tend to feel more entitled, regardless of their hair color. [Gawker]

Over at The Daily Beast, Alison Prato has written a column on“Breakout Blondes,” which asserts that there is some sort of tow-headed backlash against the dumb blonde stereotype going on in pop culture. Prato gave a number of examples of successful blonde women, from Taylor Swift to Dakota Fanning to Agyness Deyn (the range is astounding isn’t it?), maintaining that after a dark reign in which brunettes like Angelina Jolie ruled our collective imaginations, the fair-haired contingent was back and better than ever. There’s a multitude of reasons why this “article” rubbed me the wrong way, but I’ll just address two.

The recession has had some pretty obvious effects on the fashion industry. Designers dropped out of fashion week, labels have closed, and mega sales are a regular occurrence as stores try to stay afloat. One unforeseen consequence of the economy is that blond models are getting most of the work in editorial shoots and ad campaigns.

Instead of sticking with the recent trend to use quirkier-looking girls, blond-haired, blue-eyed models are getting booked left and right. When there’s money at stake in a tough economy, no one wants to be blamed for making risky decisions that fail. According to Storm Models managing director Sarah Doukas, who discovered Kate Moss, “Ultimately, blonds are a safer bet for clients who want to hedge their bets. Plus when we’re constantly surrounded by bad news, that blond stereotype is zingy and upbeat.” Her agency and Premier Model Management have seen increases in the number of requests for blond models.

This reasoning may be why girls like Lily Donaldson and Toni Garn are getting so many jobs, and why Claudia Schiffer is back in business with Ferragamo and YSL ads. Even Gap’s spring campaign featured only blonds and a few minorities. Flip through the pages of Vogue or Elle and see how many pages feature flaxen-haired models. Then cry a little for all the brunettes who aren’t getting booked. [The Times]

A women wrote to Salon.com’s resident advice columnist, Cary Tennis, and as usual, I was a little confused by his answer. That is to say, I really couldn’t figure out what his answer was. The woman wrote that she met a guy a few months ago on Craigslist’s “Just Friends” section. She was new to town and just looking for someone to hang out with, but it didn’t take long before things between them became a bit more romantic in nature. The problem is that when they were just “platonic,” the guy expressed how much he dislikes like blondes, as well as redheads, and that he’s “really only attracted to brunettes—dark brunettes, with dark brown hair and matching dark features.” Unfortunately, this woman is a strawberry blonde, and now she’s self-conscious about her hair color, especially since every time this guy talks about a “girl he thinks is good-looking, or thought was good-looking in the past or whatever, the issue of how dark her hair was always seems to come up in the same way that a normal guy might mention a woman’s legs.” Oh, and “until relatively recently,” she writes, “he was in an extremely long-term relationship with a girl who matched his “ideal” to a T. But he broke up with her. Then again, he’s also mentioned he’s mildly attracted to his cousin. What the hell is going on?”

An easy ways to update your look is to change your hair color. But before you break out a bottle of peroxide, you should know that every hair color has a positive and negative perception. Before you send the wrong idea, find out what your hair color is saying about you.

Count the models—nine out of 12 of them are blonde. Is the Gap banking on blonde hair getting them through the recession?

According to an unscientific data from hairdresser Andrew Barton in the U.K., more women are getting their hair dyed blonde to cope with the recession. Barton has seen a 67 percent increase in the sales of his blonde hair products compared to the same time last year. “I don’t believe it is purely a coincidence that there’s been a huge sales rise in blonde hair products during these tough financial times,” said Barton. “Many of my female clients say they feel more confident, more youthful and more attractive when they go blonde and they get more attention.” And, as we all know, more attention from men, means more free drinks and dinners. However, it technically would cost more to dye your hair than it would to leave it your natural color, plus blonde hair is much more expensive to maintain, so you also would have more money if you decided to go back to being a brunette. Yes, you’d probably get less attention, but you wouldn’t have to endure two hours of conversation with a man you don’t even like just to eat. Decisions, decisions. [Telegraph U.K.]

Back in 2005 a woman in Bridgeport, CT, filed a lawsuit against L’Oreal Inc. alleging her social life was ruined when she accidentally dyed her hair brown with one of the company’s products. Supposedly Charlotte Feeney, whose hair is a “natural blonde hue,” used a box of hair dye that was allegedly mislabeled “blonde” but contained brunette dye. Feeney was so traumatized by the mis-dying incident that she went on anti-depressants; she said she missed the attention blondes receive and had to stay at home and wear hats most of the time. Luckily, a judge deemed Feeney’s claims silly and dismissed the lawsuit on Monday. [AP]

Ignore this girl’s outfit and just focus on the hair. It’s a glorious auburn shade that will go wonderfully with autumn’s olive green, navy blue, and royal purple color palette. [Trender Bender]