The popular saying would have us believe that gentlemen prefer blondes. But while the old adage¹ may trip off the tongue, according to new findings, it no longer holds weight.

流行的说法让我们相信男士们更钟爱金发女郎。尽管这句老话脍炙人口，但新研究发现，它已经不再有分量。

Ideal woman: Lauren Goodger boasts all three of the top characteristics named by British men as making up their perfect woman
A study found that gentlemen, in fact, overwhelmingly prefer brunettes（浅黑肤色的女人） . The 2,000 men were polled by social network site Badoo to find out the features they find most attractive in the opposite sex.

Far from men finding blondes the most sexually attractive, the study found that more than 60 percent said they preferred raven-haired beauties over their blonde counterparts.

A third of all those polled - 33.1 percent - said they find brown hair the most attractive, while 28.6 said they liked black - making up a total of 59.7 percent over all preferring dark-haired girls.

Those gentlemen who indeed do prefer blondes made up just 29.5 percent of the vote, while redheads came in as the least popular with men, taking just 8.8 percent of the vote.

There was also excellent news for women shackled² to a life of constant dieting by the misguided notion that men prefer women with a model-like physique.

Actually, the largest majority - 38.8 percent of guys - looked for an 'average' dress size of 12 to 14 in their perfect woman, with only 10 percent looking for a size 6 to 8.

Women with a 'curvy' dress size of 14 to 18 came in as the second most popular size - roof indeed that while magazines fill their pages with skinny models, UK males actually prefer a more rounded build.

Unsurprisingly though, men do have a limit. To be too curvy was deemed unpopular, with only 4.2 percent expressing a preference for women size 18 plus.

When it comes to eye colour though, the dark side was trounced（痛打，严斥） by the light, with a massive 40.2 of men preferring blue eyes over any other colour.

Brown eyes came second with 29.2 percent, green 17.5 percent and hazel 13.1 percent.

The attributes add up to make TOWIE's Lauren Goodger the image of the nation's ideal woman, with her 'average' figure, brown hair and blue eyes.

Actress Megan Fox also fits the bill, while Angelina Jolie, with her light eyes and brown hair wins the hearts of many men - though according to the figures, she would lose favour for her very slim physique（体格，体形） .