But some new research suggests we've been getting it wrong. In the biggest study of its kind, published in the journal Nature Wednesday, researchers found that many Vikings actually had brown hair. And they weren't just from Scandinavia.
Red- or blonde-haired Vikings? Genetic research has shown that the Vikings in West Scandinavia, and therefore in Denmark, were mostly red-haired. However, in North Scandinavia, in the area around Stockholm, blonde hair was dominant.
It turns out most Vikings weren't as fair-haired and blue-eyed as legend and pop culture have led people to believe. According to a new study on the DNA of over 400 Viking remains, most Vikings had dark hair and dark eyes.
Did some Vikings have red hair? Contrary to what pop culture has us believe about Vikings, most of them didn't actually fit the prototype of blond hair, blue eyes, and rugged looks. In fact, research suggests that genetic analysis of this Norse tribe found that a majority of Vikings had red hair.
“From picture sources we know that the Vikings had well-groomed beards and hair. The men had long fringes and short hair on the back of the head," she says, adding that the beard could be short or long, but it was always well-groomed. Further down on the neck, the skin was shaved.
It turns out most Vikings weren't as fair-haired and blue-eyed as legend and pop culture have led people to believe. According to a new study on the DNA of over 400 Viking remains, most Vikings had dark hair and dark eyes. (Sorry, Chris Hemsworth and Travis Fimmel.)
Nordic hair is unique: fine, glass-like, fragile and pliable. Even if hair is dense, it tends to go flat easily. Hair is especially vulnerable to UV radiation, and the fluctuating weather conditions pose additional challenges to hair care. In summer, sun, wind and sea water put a strain on fine hair.
Red hair is most commonly found at the northern and western fringes of Europe; it is centred around populations in the British Isles and is particularly associated with the Celtic nations.
Contrary to what many people assume, redheads did not originate in Scandinavia, Scotland or Ireland, but in central Asia. Their coloring is due to a mutation in the MC1R gene that fails to produce sun-protective, skin-darkening eumelanin and instead causes pale skin, freckles and red hair.
Red hair has long been associated with Celtic people. Both the ancient Greeks and Romans described the Celts as redheads. The Romans extended the description to Germanic people, at least those they most frequently encountered in southern and western Germany. It still holds true today.
Determining the rarest eye color... not so straightforward
Green is the rarest eye color of the more common colors. Outside of a few exceptions, nearly everyone has eyes that are brown, blue, green or somewhere in between. Other colors like gray or hazel are less common.
Through DNA testing, it is possible to effectively trace your potential inner Viking and discover whether it forms part of your genetic makeup or not. However, it's not 100% definitive. There's no exact Nordic or Viking gene that is passed down through the generations.
The most well-known Viking physical traits include fair or red hair, light eyes, and tall stature. Though these features were found among many of the Vikings, it is important to note that not everyone who had these traits was descended from them.
In the Viking Age, the facial features of the men and women were more alike than they are today. The women had more prominent brow ridges which are typically a masculine feature, and the men had a more feminine face than today with a less prominent jaw and brow ridges.
Vikings worked long hours, carrying, and using heavy equipment which contributed to the formation of muscles, even from an early age. Another reason for the significant strength of the Vikings was their diet. Vikings were mostly hunters, not gatherers, due to their cold, harsh environment.
"The Nordid race is light-eyed, mostly rather light-haired, low-skulled and long-skulled (dolichocephalic), tall and slender, with more or less narrow face and narrow nose, and low frequency of blood type gene q. The Nordid race has several subraces.
Although red hair is frequently associated with Scotland, Ireland, and England, people of color can also be born with natural red hair. For example, places like Morocco and Central Asia have higher proportions of redheads.
“The only other density of red hair which compares to Scotland and Ireland is in Scandinavia. It becomes a cultural marker of the Norse and of the Vikings. “If you look at where the red haired patterning is in Ireland, in particular, it is very much around the areas where Vikings settled.”
While it may seem that only Caucasians have red hair, people from all races and ethnicities have ginger locks. It is more common in areas such as Northern Europe and specific parts of Russia. However, the genetic mutation has also spread throughout parts of South America, Asia, and Africa.
Ireland: Quite possibly the redhead capital of the world
By most estimates, the European Country Ireland has a higher percentage of redheads than any other country in the world, with the latest estimates suggesting that approximately 10% of the country's population have red hair.
Historians believe red hair actually originated in central Asia about 50,000 years ago. It is believed there are so many redheads in Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia because our redhead ancestors migrated to cooler climates.
In Norway, an estimated 75% of the population has blond hair, and between 60% to 80% of the population has blue eyes. Although Norway is predominantly blond today, many native Norwegians, such as the infamous 9th-century figure Halvdan Svarte, who fathered Norway's first king, had dark hair.
While it seems likely that some Vikings did indeed sport dreadlocks, they clearly weren't the first race or culture to wear them. In ancient India, the god Shiva is depicted with dreadlocks, while illustrations show the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun with braids in around 1300 BC.
“The 'Scandi Hairline'—or Scandinavian Hairline—is a color technique that immediately brightens the edge of the hairline around the face a touch lighter and brighter than the rest of your hair to replicate how the sun hits the hairline.”