My mom is a nurse and I've heard natural redheads usually need more medication/anesthetic then people of a different hair color. Im a natural redhead so I think thats why I've heard it from a few nurses.

I've always been led to believe red-heads had higher pain tolerance. I'm a blonde/red (it changes seasonally) and I have a huge pain tolerance. Maybe that is just me but my red head friends have high pain tolerance too!

Oh well, maybe it varies in countries too haha

I'm a red head and think I have a high pain tolerance. But I did have major pain involved with breastfeeding my first and I was told that red heads sometimes just experience pain with BF to begin with.

I have red hair and my epidural over dd#1 was extremely patchy... however, I have had a general anesthetic before and that worked fine.

I have coppery auburn hair, and I have a very high pain tolerance, but have always had trouble with pain meds not working properly

What a load of rubbish, about the pain tolerance I was in established labour for 20 hours before I decided to have an epi with my first, my second I had no drugs, third despite them literally trying to ply me with drugs I had a paracetamol 12 minutes before she was born, fourth no drugs until I needed a section at 6cm's, and fifth no drugs again despite them trying to ply me with them.

I hate sterotypes like this, I dont think it would be acceptable in other ways for a doctor to say oh you look like x so its a higher chance you will have a low pain tolerance. When I told a mw my stretch marks had gone from none to about thirty in one night, she blamed it on me being a readhead in doing so she ignore the fact that it was because I was massively swollen and had pre-eclampsia.

I don't think its a stereotype. Us redheads have different genes, especially with skin (stretchmarks) - but that is because red heads are fair skinned so a fair skinned non-redhead would have same problem. Pain tolerance/anesthesia many dr.'s believe is fact, not stereotype. They have done studies but they are not conclusive. Its more of a hypothesis (Educated).
I mean black skin is prone to keloidal scars, its not a stereotype its just different genetic make up of the skin.

I'm a red head and having my first in 25 days. I am praying there is truth behind this hehe. Saying that i have tattoos and piercing and I've never felt any of them. So who knows. Shall report back after the big day hehe xx

I have red hair and although I don't deal with pain very well I can overcome it - but morphine does not work on me - interesting to know that it is related to the colour of my hair

Do you know where I can read about the evidence/studies into that redheads get more stretchmarks? Cos I was told by a doctor after the event that this was not true, and that they just tend to be more red than people with dark hair.

And from what I have read they are unsure, some things redheads are more sensitive to pain with (thermal) and others we are less sensitive, so to put a blanket redheads are more sensitive to pain is wrong, because (as far as I can see) the evidence is not yet there.

Another thing I have been told previously was that as a readhead I am more likely to hemorrage, again not true.

I just think it is imperative that each patient is treated as an individual, not seen oh she has x hair colour or is x size so this is going to happen because that can mean missing warning signs, like me they missed one of the warning signs of my pre-eclampsia just because I was a redhead and I could of died from that. Thinking that a redhead might not cope with pain as well, could make them miss the warning signs of say a ruptured uterus or a concealed placental abruption. And that is what I meant by the sterotype thing, I just dont like the idea of putting people in one box but couldnt word all of this last because I was tired.