The Baldness Syndrome

[Emil Miller]

Being an inveterate observer of the social scene, I have for some time noticed the spread of bald heads in London.
Many of these shining pates belong to young men who must spend a fortune keeping their heads completely hairless, but they are not alone
because I noticed in a bar yesterday three middle-aged men proudly displaying gleaming skulls to all and sundry.
Now they may, of course, have been somewhat follically challenged and decided to make a virtue of necessity by going the whole hog, but it caused me to ponder the peculiar nature of these hairless ones, because it seems but a short while ago that men would wear wigs or toupées and spend their money at trichologists rather than be seen as bald.
I don't know if this behaviour is noticeable elsewhere but I'm wondering how it came into being.

[Lokasenna]

The now slightly outdated picture to the left of this post not withstanding, I took the decision to have my hair cut drastically short about six months ago. I've not gone for the full-on Patrick Stewart/Walter White, but whenever I go to the Barbers (about once a month) I get my head shaved, which means my hair never gets more than about half-a-centimetre at its longest. It is my intention to go the full Patrick Stewart at some point, if only to see what it looks like.

My main reason is that, unfortunately, I've inherited my father's male pattern baldness - although while he managed to get to his early forties before it became noticeable, most of my hair was gone by my early twenties. I'm not a vain man by any measure, but it can be a very uncomfortable thing to lose one's hair at such an age. When I tried keeping my hair long, I couldn't help but think that a) it looked noticeably thin and b) it looked like I had the mange. Cutting it extremely short has been a real confidence booster, not to mention making the whole thing much more manageable.

...and if I chose to grow out the beard, I'll be able to improv a Heisenberg costume for any fancy dress party I get invited to. I've even got the fedora ready.

[Sancho]

Going Kojak is popular over here as well. I'm pretty sure white guys followed black guys in chrome domery. And although I wouldn't bet the farm on it, I'm pretty sure black guys followed Michael Jordan down the path of the high-speed-low-drag hairdo.

Anyway, as lumpy as my noggin is, it's a good thing I have a full head-o-hair. Otherwise I'd probably be required to wear a hat in public.

[Emil Miller]

Going Kojak is popular over here as well. I'm pretty sure white guys followed black guys in chrome domery. And although I wouldn't bet the farm on it, I'm pretty sure black guys followed Michael Jordan down the path of the high-speed-low-drag hairdo.

Anyway, as lumpy as my noggin is, it's a good thing I have a full head-o-hair. Otherwise I'd probably be required to wear a hat in public.

Yes it's funny how baldness affects human behaviour. Years ago I worked with a guy who was bald except for a few strands of hair that he scrupulously combed across a 90% bald head. One day he got into an argument with a colleague and shouted: 'Why don't you get out of my hair'?
Back came the obvious reply: 'Which one?"

[livi]

I have to say as a woman of 27, I find it very attractive.... is that weird? The again, a full head of hair is also attractive. I'm coming across as a man eater now. Ooops, I meant to keep it quieter for longer

[Emil Miller]

I have to say as a woman of 27, I find it very attractive.... is that weird? The again, a full head of hair is also attractive. I'm coming across as a man eater now. Ooops, I meant to keep it quieter for longer

No I don't find it weird. For a long time it's been known that for some reason women are attracted to bald men but nobody seems to know why.

[Clopin]

I would look awful bald but some guys can pull it off. Working out helps I think.

[Ecurb]

Bald women might turn on someone who is turned on by Nazi Collaborators.

I read a history of the Byzantine empire recently. Defeated political enemies were not treated well. If the victors wanted to show mercy, instead of killing the men and boys, they would blind and castrate them (cutting off, as it were, their dynastic potential). The women were shaved bald and sent to nunneries. Did they really think that no man could possible be sufficiently aroused by a bald woman to impregnate her? What is it with the Middle Eastern infatuation (shared by Muslims) with women's hair?

[papayahed]

I dig some guys that rock a Kojak, I think it's their confidence that I'm attracted to.

[Sancho]

Haha. You want confidence? Here's confidence for Ya: a middle aged dude going clubbing in a too tight Member's Only jacket while sporting a comb-over fashioned out of a single sideburn. Watch out, girls. (Also, looking good Uncle Alvin :thumbsup:!)

As for bald headed women, The Professor had something to say about that:

http://youtu.be/pHBE_pOOP-M
Professor Longhair, Bald Head

[Emil Miller]

Bald women might turn on someone who is turned on by Nazi Collaborators.

I read a history of the Byzantine empire recently. Defeated political enemies were not treated well. If the victors wanted to show mercy, instead of killing the men and boys, they would blind and castrate them (cutting off, as it were, their dynastic potential). The women were shaved bald and sent to nunneries. Did they really think that no man could possible be sufficiently aroused by a bald woman to impregnate her? What is it with the Middle Eastern infatuation (shared by Muslims) with women's hair?

I do not find bald women attractive, especially as some of them are pop singers seeking to replace zero talent with notoriety.
On the other hand, I've always had a thing about long hair on women. I was standing behind a woman at a supermarket checkout recently and she was wearing a well-cut winter coat with absolutely gorgeous long brown locks falling over the back collar.I thought that she was perhaps about twenty but when she started to be served I saw that she was somewhat older. There's more than a little truth in the saying that hair is a woman's crowning glory.

[papayahed]

I think you're right Bean. The guys/contractors at work are always commenting on and touching my hair. When I say "Get the hell out of my hair" I mean it, literally.

[Emil Miller]

I think you're right Bean. The guys/contractors at work are always commenting on and touching my hair. When I say "Get the hell out of my hair" I mean it, literally.

In the UK that would be tantamount to rape and worthy of instant dismissal with questions asked in parliament and a judicial committee set up to establish the exact level of criminality involved and the PC brigade, with Polly Toynbee at the forefront, would be calling for blood. Meanwhile, the powers that shouldn't be would be beavering away trying to excuse paedophilia.

Although I'm partial to women's long hair per se, I really go for the blue/black variety of Asian women. I once had a Chinese girl friend whose hair was regretably short and I asked her if she had always had her hair that way. She said no and she showed me a photograph taken on her wedding day some years previously. I have to say that she looked much nicer with a long dark mane reaching to her waist.

[livi]

Although I'm partial to women's long hair per se, I really go for the blue/black variety of Asian women. I once had a Chinese girl friend whose hair was regretably short and I asked her if she had always had her hair that way. She said no and she showed me a photograph taken on her wedding day some years previously. I have to say that she looked much nicer with a long dark mane reaching to her waist.

My hair is long, dark and worn with a loose curl and I get a lot of compliments on it.... particularly from other women.

[Emil Miller]

My hair is long, dark and worn with a loose curl and I get a lot of compliments on it.... particularly from other women.

Infinitely preferable to a bald head

[Pompey Bum]

I dig some guys that rock a Kojak, I think it's their confidence that I'm attracted to.

It's an interesting point of view, and don't mistake me, people are attracted to who they're attracted to and that's it. But for me (a middle-aged, heterosexual, and not-especially-bald male), I have felt for years that men who get some pattern balding and shave the whole gulliver are more or less being cowards. Women (and other men) ridicule men for being bald, wearing wigs, and "combing over" their hair. But what the hell do they want? Where are men whose hair grows like that supposed to put it? (The answer, of course, is that people want to feel better about themselves by ridiculing others).

It seems to me, for example, that wearing a rug is not that different from getting silicone boobs; and that a comb over isn't that different from wearing a padded underwire "wonder bra" (at least men don't wear codpieces anymore). That doesn't really bother me--women can avail themselves of any kind of glamor they choose--but men cowering before that kind of silly judgement does. For me, being yourself is what shows confidence, not fearfully shaving and waxing your noodle lest people you don't even care about snigger at you. Who cares what they think?

Perhaps I should be more compassionate. I don't have a lot of balding, but don't like the thinning and patterning that I do have. Maybe if I had bald spots, or tufts, or a comb over, I'd understand what it felt like to be laughed at. It's true, too, that I don't play the dating game or corporate smack down anymore, and that appearances matter in both of those full contact sports. But I sure don't see head-shaving as a sign of confidence in a man. To me, it seems just the opposite.

[Iain Sparrow]

I have to say as a woman of 27, I find it very attractive.... is that weird? The again, a full head of hair is also attractive. I'm coming across as a man eater now. Ooops, I meant to keep it quieter for longer

As a guy with a very full head of hair, like the kind of long hair you once saw in those heavy metal "hair bands" from the 1980s, or if I haven't shaved in two weeks like a mountain man:)... I've found women either really dig it, or are immediately put off by it. I certainly won't criticize guys for doing whatever they want with their hair, or lack there of, as there's nothing wrong with feeling comfortable with one's own self.
Vanity, all is vanity.

[Clopin]

Pompey my experience is that women, perhaps moreso than men are pretty consistent in condemning female behaviour when it's exhibited by (straight) males.

[papayahed]

It's an interesting point of view, and don't mistake me, people are attracted to who they're attracted to and that's it. But for me (a middle-aged, heterosexual, and not-especially-bald male), I have felt for years that men who get some pattern balding and shave the whole gulliver are more or less being cowards. Women (and other men) ridicule men for being bald, wearing wigs, and "combing over" their hair. But what the hell do they want? Where are men whose hair grows like that supposed to put it? (The answer, of course, is that people want to feel better about themselves by ridiculing others).

It seems to me, for example, that wearing a rug is not that different from getting silicone boobs; and that a comb over isn't that different from wearing a padded underwire "wonder bra" (at least men don't wear codpieces anymore). That doesn't really bother me--women can avail themselves of any kind of glamor they choose--but men cowering before that kind of silly judgement does. For me, being yourself is what shows confidence, not fearfully shaving and waxing your noodle lest people you don't even care about snigger at you. Who cares what they think?

Perhaps I should be more compassionate. I don't have a lot of balding, but don't like the thinning and patterning that I do have. Maybe if I had bald spots, or tufts, or a comb over, I'd understand what it felt like to be laughed at. It's true, too, that I don't play the dating game or corporate smack down anymore, and that appearances matter in both of those full contact sports. But I sure don't see head-shaving as a sign of confidence in a man. To me, it seems just the opposite.


See, it seems to me that those that have a comb over or toupee are trying to hang on to the past. Whereas a bald head says to the world "Hey, I have hair issues and I'm embracing them"

[Emil Miller]

See, it seems to me that those that have a comb over or toupee are trying to hang on to the past. Whereas a bald head says to the world "Hey, I have hair issues and I'm embracing them"

This I understand but why do men who don't have hair issues get their heads shaved ?

[papayahed]

I know one guy that shaves his head and I never asked him.

[Pompey Bum]

See, it seems to me that those that have a comb over or toupee are trying to hang on to the past. Whereas a bald head says to the world "Hey, I have hair issues and I'm embracing them"

My question is why a normal process of male aging constitutes having "issues" of any kind, and why it's necessary for anybody to make an apology for them. Would it be good for post-menopausal women to start wearing burlap shifts instead of form-fitting dresses as a way of saying, "Hey, I don't have the estrogen that I used to, but see, I'm embracing the change!"?

Okay, I don't want to belabor the point. It's fine to disagree, and like I said, people are attracted to whoever they're attracted to. I just think people should be a little kinder to each other in the first place, especially where issues of aging are concerned. But in the immortal words of the Wicked Witch of the West, "All in good time, my pretty, all in good time." :)

[Sancho]

Can't point my finger at anybody's vanity. At some point during my grammar school days my schoolmates noticed an Eddie Munsterish point of hair growing on my forehead and teased me relentlessly - they pointed it out every chance they got. So I took to shaving it off. It kept growing back, though. So I eventually embraced my vampirish side.

Anybody else out there sporting a widows peak?

[Calidore]

I do not find bald women attractive, especially as some of them are pop singers seeking to replace zero talent with notoriety.
On the other hand, I've always had a thing about long hair on women. I was standing behind a woman at a supermarket checkout recently and she was wearing a well-cut winter coat with absolutely gorgeous long brown locks falling over the back collar.I thought that she was perhaps about twenty but when she started to be served I saw that she was somewhat older. There's more than a little truth in the saying that hair is a woman's crowning glory.

You would have liked my great-great-grandfather's wife, then. (They lived in London, as a matter of fact--he was one of Queen Victoria's lifeguards.) She was 6-foot-4 with hair down to her ankles. I've seen photographs and may even have one or more on a family history DVD a couple of my uncles put together a few years ago. I'll post it if I can find it. I know she cut the hair off eventually because of the headaches it gave her.

[Emil Miller]

My question is why a normal process of male aging constitutes having "issues" of any kind,


Well you know what they say.....'Hair today gone tomorrow.'



You would have liked my great-great-grandfather's wife, then. (They lived in London, as a matter of fact--he was one of Queen Victoria's lifeguards.) She was 6-foot-4 with hair down to her ankles. I've seen photographs and may even have one or more on a family history DVD a couple of my uncles put together a few years ago. I'll post it if I can find it. I know she cut the hair off eventually because of the headaches it gave her.

Hair was a big thing in Queen Victoria's day. Early photographs show women with an abundance of hair, especially on young girls, but the problem was, and still is, how to manage it when it loses it silkiness with the onset of age. Then again, hair comes in different textures and obliges those with wiry hair, for example, to keep it short.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Going Kojak is popular over here as well...


See, it seems to me that those that have a comb over or toupee are trying to hang on to the past. Whereas a bald head says to the world "Hey, I have hair issues and I'm embracing them"

Kojak?...meh, he couldn't hold a lollypop up to this guy and one helluva comb over to boot...

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/yulb_zps8bd85054.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/user/tabuka1/media/yulb_zps8bd85054.jpg.html)

[Sancho]

^heh, yep.

My knowledge of cheesy 1970s Cop Dramas fails me. Was Kojak trying to quit smoking or something? Was that what was with his lollypop schtick?

Anyway, I am indebted to Telly Savalas for defusing many a marital spat between my señora and me. You see, when things start going down a certain path where nobody's going to win, or be happy, I like to go all Kojak on her:

"C'mon, who loves ya, baby?"

[hopetoso]

I'm embarrassed for my hair loss especially taking shower. How to treat it?

[Pompey Bum]

Take baths. :)

(Welcome to the site hopetoso. Make yourself right at home).

[Clopin]

I think I'm safe for at least twenty years, and by then whatever.