Finally, A Redhead Emoji Has Been Released

The lack of a redhead emoji amongst the hundreds of other emojis in existence has been a (rightful) sore spot within the ginger community for years. The fiery-haired population had been trying to persuade the Unicode Consortium to recognize them since emojis entered the mainstream, and the logical question asked was: why were redheads left out of the keyboard when dragons and fairies managed to secure slots? Redheads are actually real! It's something a lot of people — even non-gingers — have been wondering... but now, there's finally an answer. As of Jun. 5, a redhead emoji finally officially exists.

With over 140 million redheads in the world — that's 19 percent of the world's population! — it's about time this emoji became official. Between the amount of random smileys and mythological creatures, it's pretty wild that redheads were left out this long, but at least justice is finally being served. Redheads can express themselves more personally in emojis with this new update.

Unfortunately, the new redhead emojis will probably take a while to hit iPhones and Androids — though the emoji is now an official Unicode offering, it usually takes a few months between an emoji being made official, and actually appearing in a software update on your phone. But it'll be here soon, and that's exciting.

If you had any doubt that the redhead community was feeling excited about this update, here's a little bit of proof:

And even more excitement:

Honestly, it goes on and on via Twitter. Redheads around the world are finally feeling heard, and that's pretty special.

Even better, the redhead emoji isn't even the only new digital treat being released: At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that went live in San Jose, CA on Jun. 4, Memojis were announced. They're basically emojis, but personalized — and interactive. Finally, we have an opportunity with the new iOS 12 to create our own avatars that look like us, dress like us, and make expressions like us. Because let's be real, while emoijis have bridged conversational gaps for years now, there's nothing quite like having ab animated representative of yourself, that's not, say, a koala.

That said, let's focus on Jun. 5's redhead emoji update and take a look at all of the different variations of ginger choices that are now available. (Note: the ginger emoji is just one of 157 new symbols to be added, thanks to the emoji keyboard update. That brings the total count of emojis that we have access to up to 2,823!)