A redhead emoji is finally in the cards

Redhead emoji just moved one step closer to reality.

Emoji with red hair are on the agenda for the next meeting of the Unicode Technical Committee, the organization that sets standards for the emoji you see on the smartphones and social networks millions use every day. Finally, gingers may get representation in the emoji universe.

Apple is hosting the meeting, which begins Jan. 23, at its campus in Cupertino, California, reports Emojipedia. Jeremy Burge, who works for the site and gives technical advice to Unicode, clarified the approach for including redhead emoji in emoji keyboards in a detailed proposal. Turns out it's not as straightforward as you might think.

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"I think the biggest reason we haven’t seen the redhead emoji gain much traction is that it’s a big ask to add a redheaded version of every single emoji. On the other hand, would it be enough to just had a man and woman with red hair?" Burge explained to Mashable.

In 2015, Apple finally introduced racially diverse emoji that allowed users to change the skin tone of any person emoji from the default yellow to one of five color options. More recently, the Unicode Consortium approved a person wearing a hijab emoji as well as a genderless person.

Ginger Parrot, a website for redheads and their supporters launched a petition titled "Redheads should have emoji, too!" two years ago. The petition currently has more than 20,000 supporters. "If you say your’e going to diversify, why not add a few red-haired emoji in the mix? Natural redheads may be rare at less than 2% of the world’s population but that is 138,000,000 iPhones waiting to happen." the petition says.

Even celebrities like Jesse Tyler Ferguson have weighed in.

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There are a few different options for how a redhead emoji could be implemented. One option is adding a new “person with red hair” emoji, like the "person with blonde hair" emoji.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Another option is adding hair “tags” that can apply to any emoji, the way skin tone is currently implemented.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The proposal's goal is to narrow down the option for how the redhead emoji would be implemented. The deadline for 2017 emoji proposals passed months ago, so if Unicode decides to go ahead with a redhead emoji, the soonest we could see it is 2018. Until that happens, there are currently a few third party apps and keyboards that have a collection of redhead emoji to satisfy your ginger fix.