Young Red Haired Girl Portrait

Religious and mythological traditions
Red is the preferred dyeing color in Islam. It is said that Muhammad used to dye his hair red using Henna. Henna or Hina is a flowering plant which traditionally has been used to dye hair red. There are no side effects to this. Al-Bukhari related in his Sahih, from 'Uthman b. 'Abd-Allah b. Mawhab: "We went to Umm Salma, and she brought out for us some of the hair of the Messenger of Allah, and lo, it was dyed with henna and indigo." (Bukhari, Libas, 66) And in the four sunan, it is related that he said, "The best you can use for changing the color of white hair are henna and katam." (Tirmidhi, Libas, 20). In the two books of the Sahih, from Anas, it is quoted that Abu Bakr used hair dye of both henna and katam. (Muslim, Fada’il, 100) (Ibn Qayyim; 259) (Katam is a plant from Yemen which produces a reddish-black dye).
Esau's entire body is supposed to have been covered with red hair. King David is also known for having red hair, based on the description of his physical appearance as "admoni", the Biblical Hebrew word normally interpreted to mean "ruddy" and/or "red-haired" (1 Samuel 16-17).
Judas Iscariot is also represented with red hair in Spanish culture and in the works of William Shakespeare, reinforcing the negative stereotype. In Spain the prejudice is extended to so-colored cats and dogs.