Survey reveals fun facts about Minneapolis/St. Paul women and hair color.

Despite our predominant Scandinavian heritage, the Minneapolis/St. Paul area has more natural brunettes than blondes, according to a recent survey by Fantastic Sams of Minnesota. Nearly 50 percent of local women have natural brown or brunette hair compared to a blonde female population of approximately 32 percent.

Fantastic Sams, which offers a full range of hair care and color services, conducted the survey among Twin Cities’ women to gain insight about consumer motivation and preferences when coloring their hair.

“As more women use color today than ever before, we thought it would be interesting to see how women in the Twin Cities color their hair,” said Ernie Valeski, regional director of Fantastic Sams of Minnesota. “We were surprised to learn that in the land of Olsons, Petersons and Andersons, blonde isn’t the top color choice for most local women.”

The survey results indicate that Twin Cities’ women are split on what shade they color their hair. Nearly 35 percent color their hair a shade of brown, 30 percent choose light brown or sandy blonde tones and only 21 percent go blonde. Red is also gaining in popularity with 12 percent of local women opting for red color. Black is the least popular at nearly two percent.

The survey also revealed some interesting findings about hair color among the two rival cities and the surrounding suburbs.

  • No blarney! St. Paul boasts four times as many red heads (14 percent)
  • no surprise due to the large Irish population.
  • Brown is the new black. Minneapolis has the highest percentage of natural brunettes at 65 percent, and they are more apt to stick with a similar shade when coloring their hair. (47 percent color their hair brown, 27 percent choose light brown or sandy blonde shades and only 15 percent color their hair blonde).
  • Lighten up! St. Paul women, evenly split between natural brunette and those with light brown/sandy blonde hair, are more likely to lighten their locks. (60 percent color their hair light brown, sandy blonde or blonde compared to 27 percent who color their hair brown).
  • Just say no to roots! Women in the suburbs visit the salon to touch up their roots more frequently than urban dwellers who tend to wait 12 weeks between visits.
  • Leave it to the pros. Overall most women (75 percent) reported they color their hair at a salon; however, the farther they live from the city, the more likely they are to color their hair at home. (31 percent of women living 30 miles out of the city color their hair at home.)
  • Extreme Makeover Couples Edition: All of the women surveyed color their hair, and 15 percent reported they would like to see their man color his hair.
  • Color of money. Nearly three quarters of local women say they’ve paid too much to color their hair. (71 percent)

Fantastic Sams, with more than 100 locally owned salons in Minnesota, provides an affordable option for professional hair care by offering many of the same services as an upscale salon at a fraction of the cost. Its stylists are professionally trained to provide the latest trends and techniques in color including all over and partial color, highlights, lowlights, foil highlights and gray coverage. For more information, visit www.fantasticsams.com.

Survey Methodology

The survey, commissioned by Fantastic Sams and conducted by Stir Strategy, is based on a sample of 200 women living in the Twin Cities’ metro area.