Hacker News Reader

Comment by tux1968 | Hacker News Reader

tux1968

It's baked into evolution and sexual selection. Guys with hair look better because it says something about their suitability for reproduction. Not much different than say breast size in women. We can combat such bias at an intellectual level, but that doesn't change our underlying wiring. The nice thing about getting older is I no longer care what anyone thinks about my baldness ;-)

View on HN

To me this sounds like utter nonsense. I never actually met a woman who had a problem with baldness. Only men. It's like a certain other subject that only men worry about and maybe 1% of women.

I find that men around me are more judgmental of my baldness than women

There's a bit of stigma about a woman commenting on a bald man's head to him.

Women generally won't express it. They often won't return advances, though, which speaks louder than words. Not that it matters, as there are far more important things to be anxious about.

> It's baked into evolution and sexual selection.

Human attraction is way more complicated than this

Please explain.

Sexual reproduction selects either the fittest available mate or the most compatible with the group, to create offspring that is likely to be either more independent or more compatible with group living.

Natural Selection favors throttling the reproductive pace of individual members of a species for the overall diversity and health of the group, and to prevent overpopulation that could be ruinous to a group. Some species are reproductive for the majority of their lives, and have shorter lifespans or less abundant reproduction. Humans' relatively long lifespan and relatively short reproductive period allow us to use less energy concerning ourselves with survival and reproduction than other species.

Baldness, menopause and homosexuality are examples of nature telling us to slow down our mating activities and ideally to find other ways to contribute to the collective- like supporting the young (teach), creating persistent works (write a book), sharing resources (buy a family house), or conserving resources (die).

Well, of course. They just highlighted the relevant aspect.

Studies have shown that a shaved head makes men appear more dominant. While that may be cultural, it’s interesting since testosterone/ dht are the instigator in hair loss.

I think balding has an evolutionary purpose too: you get more vitamin D from the sun.

This is a really interesting idea.

So why would not everyone be bald at ever age? Why would women not be balding? Evolutionary just-so story incoming...

It's baked into evolution and sexual selection.

Primates can go bald. My understanding is that it is a positive for sexual selection.

And if humans being bald actually affected sexual selection, we wouldn't have bald men any more.

Sexual selection wouldn't eliminate baldness. Most men marry between their early 20s and early 30s, when a large majority of men still have a large majority of their hair. It's influenced by a number of genes, and the X chromosome (inherited from the mother) has the most influence.

I'm pretty sure if a woman has the choice to reproduce with Jeff Bezos or some hairful homeless person, she will choose Jeff.

Of course it's only one small factor and not the most important by far. But all other things being equal....

Not sure because many bald powerful physically unfit men have no problems getting women.

It's not like it's the only factor, or even a primary one.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com