Ron Weasley betrays the Gingers

"I am a proud ginger," boasts Rupert Grint - the 22-year-old actor best known for playing Ron Weasley in the hit Harry Potter films, "and surprisingly don't get much ginger abuse."

Yet apparently, that's not good enough for him now he's hung up his Hogwarts robes.

"I need a change."

So one of Britain's most iconic gingers (second only to the Ginger Bullet Magnet himself, Prince Harry) has pledged to: "shave off my hair - or at least dye it."

I speak from experience, Rupe, when I tell you that this is a terrible idea.

You see, I've gone down that road myself. I shaved my head accidentally (never give the wife buzzcutters after she's had half a bottle of red) and it didn't look tough or sexy. Instead, I looked like I was undergoing chemotherapy.

And dying my hair was even more of a disaster. When I first moved to America, I tried going brunette and the result was... unconvincing.

Badly brunette - New York Harbor, 2001.

Years later, inspired by James Marsters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I tried to go peroxide blond. Again, it was an unmitigated disaster (made worse by the fact that I was a little tubbier at the time.)

Mummy Militant and friend were unimpressed when I was blond in 2006

Nope, it ain't gonna work. If there's one thing I've learned about being ginger, it's that you're a ginger for life. Your hair might fall out, or go gray, but one thing it'll never do is (convincingly) be anything other than red. You can fake being ginger, but it'll never work the other way around.

So my recommendation to Mr. Grint? Stick with what you've got. You're undoubtedly Britain's most beloved and recognizable redhead - so stay loyal to your ginger brethren and leave the hair alone!

That's what I did - and it turned me from a faux-blond and a wannabe-brunette into the loud, proud, Militant Ginger I am today.

See Rupert? All the ladies luuuurve a ginger!