After you’ve set up an online dating account its easy to start second guessing the personal information you shared in your personal profile. Did you pretend to like sports enough? Was it a good idea to list your top ten flavors of ice cream?  

A more worthy concern is whether your hair is the right color or not.  

Each day, eHarmony members upload 24,000 photos of themselves, and while dating sites don’t keep statistics on which hair color receives the most attention, Dr. Alan S. Miller claims to know exactly what successful men are looking for.  

“Men like blonde bombshells and the women who want to look like them,” he said.

Miller and his colleague, Satoshi Kanazawa, co-authored the book “Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters” which delves into and the evolutionary psychology of men being naturally drawn to women with blonde hair and skinny waists because those features represent health and fertility, things a man’s caveman brain is conditioned to value. 

“Blonde hair is unique in that it changes dramatically with age,” he said. “Typically young girls with light blonde hair become women with brown hair. Thus, men attempting to mate with blonde women are unconsciously attempting to mate with younger – and hence, on average, healthier and more fecund – women.” 

The irony, he says, is that with the help of wigs, hair dye and other cosmetic advancements, any woman, regardless of age, can have many of the key features that define ideal female beauty. 

But before you rush out to buy a bottle of bleach consider the following: 53 percent of people who meet online eventually get married after an average courtship of only 18.5 months, as opposed to 42-month average courtship for people who meet offline. So for most folks the aim of online dating isn’t just to attract the most dates, but to find a man who will love and appreciate you for being you. 

“If Auburn hair is hot this season but it doesn’t flatter your unique coloring, then what good is that for you?” said April Braswell, a dating coach who specializes in online dating and believes in women embracing the qualities they already possess. She encourages all of her clients to try a wig for two weeks before drastically coloring their hair. “It seems silly, but its straight forward and it works.” 

Braswell has plenty of advice for taking a good online dating photo: Women showing longer hairstyles often get the most attention. If you dye your hair, keep the color fresh so you look like your picture when you meet in person. Don’t use hairstyles that partially cover your eyes because it helps men connect if they can look into your eyes. Wear clothes that compliment the color of your hair. Keep your hair simple since the photo will inevitably be shrunken down to thumbnail size.  

But the piece of advice she gives most often in regards to hair color is to not worry about it at all. 

“All the time you spend thinking about your hair is lost dating time,” she said. “You’re worried about your roots showing through, he is worried about his gray hair making him look too old. Get over yourselves and start reaching out to people.” 

Almost seems too easy. 

Mark Collins is a freelance writer in Austin, Texas. He is a brunette.