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Comment by hendzen | Hacker News Reader

I started going bald at a relatively young age. I fretted about it for a while, tried different hair cuts etc, and was pretty unhappy about it. After looking in to a few different treatments, procedures and dismissing them all due to side effects and/or cost I bought a pair of clippers and started shaving my own head regularly. The first day I did it was totally liberating, now I wouldn’t go back to having hair even if I had the option. The entire idea that losing your hair is bad is socially constructed by the mass media and advertising industry to sell you these expensive crap treatments. Balding is an entirely healthy and natural human process. Embrace your baldness, stop trying to “fix” it and focus on solving the real problems in the world.

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As someone who went bald before I was 20 (Like you it sounds like), I'd say you're heavily generalizing. Sure, shaving your head worked for you and solved your problem, but that doesn't mean it is a solution that solves the problem for everybody, and claiming that it's not a "real" problem because you found a solution that works for you is a bit ridiculous.

It's easy to say I should just completely shave my head and ignore what others think of me, but for me that's not a solution that has worked - it would be great if it did and I could just will myself to stop being self-conscious, but that hasn't worked that well for me. And if a "cure" for baldness would fix my problem then that's useful to me and a solution to a real problem I have - and it is something that would certainly improve my current quality of life.

Like you I began going bald before the age of 20. I was teased a bit in highschool but nothing that I let get to me enough to leave scars. I don’t know how old you are but until my late 20’s I’d wear a hat and preferred social scenes where it was appropriate. By the time I hit my mid 30’s I was more comfortable. Now in my 40’s it’s a non-issue. Meanwhile, friends of mine who began thinning in their 30’s are still fretting about it. I wonder if they’ll be comfortable by their the time they hit 50.

Reasons I chose to go with a shaved head:

My dad wore a toupee and nobody was allowed over after dad took it off (he’d take it off immediately after work, apparently they’re not very comfortable). My uncle tried every new cream/lotion that came on the market and was obsessed (he died of brain cancer at age 62 btw). My grandfather, was just bald. Of the three my grandfather was the most confident and comfortable in his on skin.

I’m not telling you to just get over it, it’s demoralizing when you’re young. I just hope that with time you’ll become more comfortable with yourself. My wife and previous girlfriends never had a problem with it as many women don’t. At this point she tells me what length I should keep it and I just go with that.

I would imagine it all depends on where you are in your romantic life. If you're 35 and happily married, I doubt you would fret way too much about balding.

But if you're 25 and right in the middle of your dating life, balding is a handicap

Survey results show that this is exactly the case.

Here's a survey across three age groups of women. Around a third of women across age groups feel neutral about bald men. The youngest women (18-24) are generally unattracted by bald men (47%), while among the oldest women (35-44), 44% find baldness at least slightly attractive. The middle age-group had intermediate preferences.

So yes, if you are younger, baldness could presumably hurt your dating life, while older men are probably significantly less affected.

https://www.primandprep.com/do-women-like-bald-men/

I wouldn’t cal it a handicap. I think a lot of it comes down to confidence. Women can tell when a guy is not confident in himself / his appearance and that’s a turn off.

I wonder if the cancer was related to the creams and stuff he tried though.

Terrible way to go out. My mother died from glioblastomas. Completely random (as far as we know). She was a very healthy person and did not smoke or drink after her young 20s.

Crikey, the part about your father and you sounds a bit dysfunctional :( Awfully sorry to read that.

As an almost-bald man myself (who shaves smooth twice a week; what a chore [0]), may I respectfully ask if you've considered treating the psychology of self-consciousness [1] rather than the hair loss?

[0] Seriously, can someone please invent a a once-and-for-all hair removal process that means I never have to shave again? While losing my hair was the "problem" initially, the real problem has turned out to be that the balding stopped. I wish it had continued to completion.

[1] Also, if you had say, implants, wouldn't it be possible that you'd still be self-conscious, but this time about whether the implants were detectable?

EDITED to add [1].

Shaving not for everyone. I clipper semi-regularly. Shaving tends to scar you up and some folk (including me) have major skin irritation that festers.

You can do waxing, a little painful but a lot less "Maintenance", also if you are sure you want to go the full Monty you can go laser hair removal (it's not totally permanent but it goes away for a long time).

Shaving the head is zen :)

But you're right, it is a lot of work that it would be nice to be without.

Just imagine the work that haired people go through.. (sorry)

Right; if I started going bald, I’d want a “cure” or treatment — I have a weirdly shaped head and it genuinely looks terrible with short cropped (or shaved) hair unfortunately! It doesn’t work for everyone, sadly.

> if I started going bald, I’d want a “cure” or treatment

If I started going bald, I'd do anything I could to stop it. I'm not particularly vain, so I don't think this desire really comes from vanity, it's more a stubbornness to accept aging and eventually death.

Same - I genuinely despise everything that has to do with hair maintenance, but I fully shaved once and I looked terrible.

I don’t particularly care for baldness (my dating days are likely over), but shaving is just not a magic solution for everyone.

>"I fully shaved once and I looked terrible." //

So? Why is the aesthetics important to you? If it's functional and useful but looks ugly, then I consider it a mature and developed response to choose that nonetheless.

Your, and others, preference for appearance doesn't need to be weighed into your decision, unless you wish it too.

> Why is the aesthetics important to you?

Because I enjoy looking good, where looking good is defined by my own aesthetics. You are not the arbiter on what I get to spend my limited amount of "focus" credits on in life, and I find your insinuation that my caring about my appearance and style is "immature" a little offensive.

Your life is not my life. Pretty straightforward.

I think you've misunderstood. I don't care about what you look like. The point is _you_ have a choice what weight you give it, you can choose to care less or more about it (at some level).

The reason to answer the "so?" question is to understand it for yourself, your answer doesn't matter to me in the slightest.

> find your insinuation that my caring about my appearance and style is "immature" a little offensive. //

I don't think it's immature to care about one's appearance; I do think it takes a particular development of character - that usually comes from maturity - to feel a desire to conform one's appearance to a particular pattern but look beyond that, and learn to accept it.

Along with that I'd note that appearance is often all-consuming for teenagers, and less important for most people as they age (things like functionality and longevity, say, become higher priorities than the simple look of a thing).

All that said, I'm not sure why you're so hostile to my opinion: as you say your life is not mine. If you're content in that then that's showing just the same sort of developed, mature, thinking.

[TL;DR] So, I merely suggest you answer for yourself why "I enjoy looking good" and _consciously_ decide on the weighting that has in sartorial and other aesthetic decisions.

>[TL;DR] So, I merely suggest you answer for yourself why "I enjoy looking good" and _consciously_ decide on the weighting that has in sartorial and other aesthetic decisions.

Which, I have. It's the fact that your original comment has unneeded swipes at complete strangers maturity for expression their opinions and worries regarding what they find attractive in themselves that I have issues with. If you can't see why one could read your messages in that matter, then I'm not sure how else to explain it I'm afraid.

[TL;DR] Being bald looks gross on me. I don't like that, because I like looking nice. This isn't a sign of immaturity, as much as you keep repeating it as it that'll make it true.

>your original comment has unneeded swipes //

If you think I've claimed someone is immature then your reading comprehension or logical model is lacking (now you have something I actually said that you can feel offended about).

If my cup of tea isn't hot then you presumably assume it has ice in it.

> So? Why is the aesthetics important to you? If it's functional and useful but looks ugly, then I consider it a mature and developed response to choose that nonetheless.

Then why don't you shave? Actually, why do you take care of your appearance at all?

I'm pretty sure that you do a minimum of works on your appearance. The same reasons you do apply to people balding.

Are you interested in my response personally?

Ask yourself those questions, that's my point.

> Are you interested in my response personally?

I'm actually not interested in your response, I'm interested in how you justify your previous comment while still not being able to apply it yourself.

Your appearance is important, even if you don't want it to be true. You answering these questions may make you realize how appearance is important. Anyone else answering for you won't change how you think.

people want to look attractive. you're not 'above it all' for discounting that

I appreciate what works for one person won't necessarily work for another and sure, if if this is a real problem for you then anything that can help you is great.

>and ignore what others think of me

What others think of us is important, sure, we're social creatures. But do others really think anything negative of us if we have a number 2? There are loads of people either bald or with close cuts that are well respected and beloved. Even celebrities widely regarded as good looking. It's not like it's a universal sign of ugliness, nowadays anyway. My dad used to have a comb-over. Yeesh!

I loved having hair, I like to think I was pretty good looking, but now I'm a slap-head and that's fine. One day I'll be dead. Eh. *hit happens.

This site is about finding solutions to hard problems, not just throwing your hands up in the air and accepting them. There are other sires for that.

I‘m not bald but I think your view on that matter is very simplified and a bit shortsighted.

Healthy hair is a big contributor to the perceived attractiveness of a person, which in turn can have a big influence on the career success of a person (numerous studies proof that). So going bald can severely limit ones career options and/or negatively influence the currently chosen career path. Personally, as a more drastic example, I think a bald(ing) person would have harder to become US president than the same person not bald(ing).

Also shaving your head definitely is not an option for everyone. You have to have a very well proportioned head and normal looking ears to make it look acceptable or even good.

So balding can also severely influence your perceived sexual attractiveness and limit your options for mating.

I think its not just superfluousness or as you state an "idea […] socially constructed by the mass media and advertising industry" that make a number of men who are starting to bald also getting depressed. It might be just the realization of some of the things I stated above and/or other factors, which I would not dismiss so easily.

Some people have terrible hair, or are also ugly in ways that hair simply won't hide. Life is a slot machine.

Yet one of the most successful politicians and arguably the most powerful individual in the world- Vladimir Putin- is heavily balding.

Comparing a US presidential election with Russia's system is not solving the problem. Baldness is intimidating, while most US elections hinge on a bit of friendly charismatic attractiveness.

Nobody is saying that bald people can't be attractive, but it _severely_ limits the kind of look you can go for. Nobody wants Vladimir Putin to be their child's elementary school teacher.

Patrick Stewart has this awesome interview about his baldness. I'm not balding yet but it has inspired me enough that I plan to shave it all off when I eventually start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXOK-ZVJMaU

Transcribe for those who can't watch videos, from https://wearebald.com/6740-2/

Even though Stewart lost his hair at an early age, he didn’t shave it bald for a number of years. He relates the hilarious story of the first time he went fully bald, “There was a man who was at drama school with me, Hungarian, he was older than the rest of us, he ran his own theater in Budapest. He was a man of strong personality and a good loyal friend to me. He and his wife invited me for lunch one day, the two of them got to the end of their lunch and I thought they were going to make a coffee or something.

Then all of a sudden, I was grabbed from behind by George, this big powerful man, and I thought he was playing some kind of game, so I was laughing and joking but then his wife appeared in front of me with a pair of scissors and I knew in an instant what she was going to do, and I began to scream and shout, and now it was serious. I was fighting to keep my appearance, then she lifted my hair and cut it all off.

Then George came around, knelt down in front of me and said, now you be yourself – no more hiding! And he was right because I used to walk constantly embarrassed, I couldn’t stand-up properly. It was not only inhibiting as a person, but it was hopeless if you were an actor, of course.”

Relevant quote from the video:

The reporter asked Gene Roddenberry "It doesn't make any sense, you've got a bald actor playing this part. Surely by the 24th century they would have found a cure for male-pattern baldness?" and Gene Roddenberry said "No, by the 24th century no-one will care."

In the Czechoslovakian 1980s TV series Návstevníci ("The Visitors" [0] - available dubbed in other languages) - the people in the future all are bald. They all use wigs though, different ones. I guess the show decided on having wigs so that the actors didn't all have to shave and only the first few initial parts of the series, those that play in the future (the rest is in 1984), had to be played with only a few seconds of baldness. Otherwise they would probably have gone for complete baldness as the haircut of the future.

By the way, that is one of the best TV series ever. Time travel involved but that really doesn't matter, only once to set the stage, not used to fix plot issues or to have an excuse not to care about the logic of the storyline. Absolutely captivating, like all those Czechoslovakian series from that era. Without any violence at all. If there is an English version, dubbed or subtitles, do watch it. It takes off slowly, it really only starts "for real" after the 3rd part or so, after they arrive in 1984.

By the way, the title music still sounds pretty good: https://youtu.be/_1MlEqeXD-8

[0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165019/

I used to watch this show when I was a kid too. It was fascinaniting to see food cook itself that came out of a toothpastelike tube or the time travel devices. It was a great show, I’ll try to watch it again and maybe even appreciate it more. Thanks for sharing

I get what you mean but also from another perspective: If one can switch from being bald to not being bald and vice versa in a snap, definitely no one would care.

Not initially, anyway.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20532689

Yes, but Patrick Stewart obeys Reddit's "rules 1 and 2".

1) be attractive, 2) don't be unattractive.

Or, to put it another way: https://extrafabulouscomics.com/comic/180/

As someone who's seen a few slightly chubby bald guys transformed into buff bald guys over the years just by hitting the gym a few times a week and eating better, I'd wager that the "be attractive" part isn't as far out of reach as some people think.

This is a transformation almost everyone can make with enough commitment. On top of that, guys really underestimate how much they can change in themselves to look more confident and attractive E.g. Good posture, proper hygiene, trimming eyebrows and facial hair to look sharper, fitting clothes, etc etc

Rather than obsessing over everything you could lose, set your mind focus on what you can improve and the results will follow.

Like Jeff Bezos?

https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a19525957/amazon-je...

TRT really is like buying a second youth

Joe Rogan (51 years old) also speaks openly about being on TRT. I've always been the type of person who'd rather leave things to nature, to the point where I'll tough out an illness with rest and fluids where others will reach for antibiotics, but sometimes I think about trying out TRT when I get older. I mean, aging gracefully is all fine and good, but if you had the option to have the speed and power of a 25 year old into your 50's and 60's, why wouldn't you consider it?

Google tells me that’s for Tinnitus Retraining Therapy.

Not sure that’s right.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy?

> The entire idea that losing your hair is bad is socially constructed

Humans are a social species, and trying to discount something as being not important or not “real” because it is a social norm just completely ignores large parts of human history and evolution as a social species.

Social interactions and conformity (within a limit) are extremely strong drivers of both friendship circles and options for successful mating. Many women consider a nice head of hair as an important trait for attraction, and few men would date a bald woman either.

You simply cannot discount these facts (or say they are not facts because they are “social”) just because doing so helps you to accept your situation, and certainly can’t say that everyone else should also do the same. Especially for young men who have not yet had the chance to find a mate, this is a very important issue.

> The entire idea that losing your hair is bad is socially constructed

Is there any evidence for this claim?

I don't doubt there's a component of that at work, but I suspect there's also innate factors.

Hair could be a, statistically speaking, signal of youth, and could influence the innate components of attractiveness judgements.

Just look at how many politicians are bald. When was the last time we had a bald president?

Looking this up, I stumbled on an interesting observation:

> Bald–hairy (Russian: лысый–волосатый) is a common joke in Russian political discourse, referring to the empirical rule of the state leaders' succession defined as a change of a bald/balding leader to a hairy one and vice versa. This consistent pattern can be traced back until as early as 1825

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald%E2%80%93hairy

In the US maybe. Where I'm from (Israel) the majority of prime ministers were bald or balding. It seems a lot of Russian/Soviet leaders were bald as well (and this seem to apply to many European countries).

I would argue US culture is a lot more focused on vanity than perhaps any other culture in the world - at least when it comes to men.

Not by a long shot! I would say Italy's had the US beat there for centuries. Probably South Korea also. I'd wager men under 30 in London probably also invest more time and money in their appearance than almost any group of men in the US.

What would your argument be based on?

Anecdotal observations.

But where is the proof that the reason we're averse to baldness is because of social construction?

Your statement is equivalent to saying that women prefer taller men due to social construction...because women on dating sites prefer taller men. It's circular logic and fails to address the reason why they prefer taller men.

It's absolutely due to evolution, not social construction.

Same thing for women - they prefer physically strong, tall men. It's also due to evolution. It boils down to survival of the fittest - the fittest had the most resources, and a mother needs resources to reproduce (mother's can't hunt while breastfeeding, so that's out of the question). Yes, it's that simple.

Same thing for men - they prefer young, sexually attractive, fertile females.

Those are our instincts anyway. We can and we do influence them consciously.

> It's absolutely due to evolution, not social construction.

You haven't presented any reason to think that, just as GP didn't present any reason to think it's purely socially constructed.

> absolutely due to evolution

No it’s not, there are some things we absolutely know and this is not one of them. This kind of stuff is extremely complex, and there aren’t good ways to test hypotheses.

Here's some questions we can ask to help answer the question:

- is this preference common to all known cultures?

- is this preference found in other mammals, including our closest relatives?

- if taller partners were selected for because they 'can offer greater protection to their partners and children from other men, and were likely to have been better providers of food and other resources throughout our evolutionary history' then are women with a higher fear of crime more likely to prefer physically formidable and dominant males? And do women who score lower on dominance show a stronger preference for taller men? https://m.phys.org/news/2018-06-women-sexual-tall-dominant-m...

Simply being tall requires a higher caloric intake, and thus puts tall people at a disadvantage. The genes for tall stature do not express themselves when that higher food intake is not present during developmental stages. Tall people are more a phenomena of advanced agriculture than natural selection. They are not necessarily more formitable, but are rather a larger target, or a clumsier hunter. Evolutionarily, being tall means a lifetime of above-average access to food, and while that's desireable in a mate, it's just as much about the environment one lives in as it is the genes one's born with.

”The genes for tall stature do not express themselves when that higher food intake is not present during developmental stages.”

So, it seems tall ⇒ was well-fed in his youth ⇒ must be from a rich family ⇒ will provide for my children well ⇒ attractive.

I don’t claim it did, but I do not see a reason evolution couldn’t pick up such an indirect correlation.

> Simply being tall requires a higher caloric intake, and thus puts tall people at a disadvantage

This is assuming that food intake is the only factor contributing to fitness. There are other possibilities. E.g. taller (larger) males may have advantages in competing with other males for mates, and thus be better at spreading their genes. Females who preferred such males would thus be better at spreading their genes down the generations.

> Evolutionarily, being tall means a lifetime of above-average access to food, and while that's desireable in a mate, it's just as much about the environment one lives in as it is the genes one's born with.

Evolution doesn't only concern the genes, as if environmental factors were distinct from evolution. Fitness is always a function of both genes and the environment.

Or unmarried? Or very short? Or without a perfect set of teeth?

Vanity is extreme in US politics, and US public life in general. You’ll find an extreme skew for high level US managers being taller and having more hair than the population on average .

In france, I'd say about half politicians are bald. And in our current republic, about half were bald too.

You're from USA? Your current president is partially bald, surely, he has some sort of intricate weaved toupee.

That aside, I'm not sure what your point is?

In The Netherlands I believe we were really close to having a gay bald president [0]. But sadly he got killed by some left-wing extremist.

---

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn

just let him cope

Depends of your culture. By the comments here and my experience hair as a symbol seems relatively important in the US, but maybe that’s due to heavy marketing from pharma companies. Some other countries have preferences for short or very short hair[1].

Also regarding attractiveness don’t be fooled, it’s marginal compared to being in good shape and how you behave.

[1] https://www.quora.com/Why-do-many-men-in-Eastern-Europe-Serb... (not a very scientific analysis but it illustrates the point)

I'm genuinely glad that you're happy, but I like having hair, and keeping it would improve my quality of life for the simple reason that I like not having to worry about sunburn on the top of my head.

I'm too bald to not get sunburn, but not bald enough to use sunscreen. :P

Hats are probably cheaper and more effective against sunburn. Probably safer than current hair loss treatment, as well.

Maybe so. But hats aren't hair, and as I said, I like having hair. I like the sun protection in the day. I like the cold protection at night. I like how it feels when a woman runs her fingers through it.

These are not life-shattering things. If and when I eventually go bald, I'll be fine. I am capable of wearing hats, and head scratches feel pretty good, too.

But, if I had a safe way of keeping mine, I'd do so. Just because a project isn't solving cancer or world hunger doesn't mean it isn't something worth doing.

I understand where you’re coming from and I’m confident that, I’m the future, there will be a solution for baldness — the market segment is too large to ignore.

Plus, I do believe people should be happy and having hair is a lifestyle improvement for most.

Your confidence is misplaced. From a business point of view they’re making more money now by managing symptoms than if it were possible to completely cure baldness.

All that means is that there's a market opportunity for someone else to develop a cure and compete against them.

While the thesis of your argument is valid (based on US healthcare and their sentiment), your argument is, most likely, flawed.

The premise is that a “cure” is a one time expense, hence why it’s less appealing than managing symptoms. However, in this particular case, I believe the cure will be similar to ED solutions: continued stream of income.

Per the article, the amount of work to replace hair is costly. In addition, it requires follow ups and maintenance. Hence, between the multi-stage process and maintenance procedures, it will be a goldmine.

In the future, a solution for baldness will, most likely, resemble skincare products or vision correction.

The other thing about hair that people don’t realize is that it protects the scalp from injury.

I’m completely bald and I’ve smacked my head a few times, not that hard and ended up with a pretty big gash.

If you have hair it acts like a lubricant - things can slide off. When it’s just skin it’s easy to catch it and tear the skin.

I’d be worried about my head feeling cold all the time. When I started cutting my hair shorter, the back of my head always felt like it was freezing.

The first year I grew a full beard I was pleased but not surprised that it made outside wintertime more comfortable.

I was more surprised by the fact that summertime was more pleasant, too. Hair is pretty neat stuff!

It gets better once you get used to it.

>> Christiano, who has an autoimmune disorder that caused her body to attack the hair cells on her head, notes that though much attention around hair loss is paid to men, some 30 million women in the United States experience thinning of their hair.

Perhaps it's different for men, but there are few events that I would experience as more disfiguring than losing my hair, and they all involve severe trauma. In fact, I have a facial scar from a fall when I was a kid and I don't ever think about it. But one time I managed to sear my hair off with too much bleaching and the couple of months until I was sure it was growing back were some of the hardest I've ever been through.

Is that socially constructed? I suppose having a nose (rather than just a pair of nostrils) is socially constructed. But we live in a socially constructed world and some things are harmful, even if they have no real substance.

Edit: but I'm proud of you if you can get over some of those things and more power to you. A handsome man is a handsome man, hair or not. I'm making a comment about how this sort of therapy can be beneficial to women, also, for whom losing hair is not "natural" (in many ways).

>I suppose having a nose (rather than just a pair of nostrils) is socially constructed

Worked for Voldermort.

> Embrace your baldness, stop trying to “fix” it and focus on solving the real problems in the world.

I'm reminded of a spot-on comment by Gene Roddenberry:

> At a press conference about Star Trek: The Next Generation, a reporter asked Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry about casting Patrick Stewart, commenting that "Surely by the 24th century, they would have found a cure for male pattern baldness." Gene Roddenberry had the perfect response.

> "No, by the 24th century, no one will care."

(via https://boingboing.net/2015/07/08/star-trek-creators-perfect...)

That wasn't really what he thought in the beginning though.

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/14167

> Gene Roddenberry's first thought was that he "can't put a bald head man in the captain's chair". (TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Beginning")

How good one looks with his head shaved depends a lot of the shape of your head, your ears and nose and your facial hair.

If you have big ears, there's no way you won't benefit of a full head of hair. The more perfect or circular your head, the more shaving will suit you.

Furthermore, you can play with your beard because its rare to find a clean shaved guy that looks good without one. But if you don't grow enough facial hair or have holes in it... You're out of luck.

My conclusion is shaving will help some, but it's no golden bullet.

Yep. I'm 22, thinning, have a baby face, and can't grow facial hair that doesn't look like a 13-year-old who hasn't learned to shave yet. If I shaved my head I'd look like an overgrown baby.

> The entire idea that losing your hair is bad is socially constructed by the mass media and advertising industry to sell you these expensive crap treatments

Are you sure about that? Because virtually every historical epic with an attractive hero makes sure to mention the hero's full head of hair.

Or maybe Homer was just trying to sell hair care products

+1 to this!

I first shaved my head for high swim team and after college started shaving it daily and would never go back. Save much time & money that other people spend drying, styling and cutting hair. It’s great to be able to dunk my head under the tap on a hot day and dry off after showering or water sports with one wipe.

> The entire idea that losing your hair is bad is socially constructed by the mass media and advertising industry to sell you these expensive crap treatments. Balding is an entirely healthy and natural human process.

Those two sentences seem fine with one another, until you think about what "natural human process" means. It's aging. It's getting old. It's getting out of reproductive phase.

It's completely normal to be devastated for males (and especially females) when they start losing hair. It has been linked with numerous health problems (so it's just not for vanity reasons).

It's very rare the case where bald looks better than full head of hair. Almost never, I would say.

Full head of hair = indicates youth and good health.

I can sympathize with you as I’ve been shaving my head since I was 23 because of thinning hair. Ive never felt self conscious about my hair, or lack there of, not have I ever explored medical treatments. However, ive always had an issue with the maintenance. Why should I be bald and still have to buzz my head every 4 days? Rotten deal.

Now, if the medical community came out with a way for me to keep my 0 buzz without constant maintenance, I’ll gladly sign up. And I’m not talking about laser removal to have a shiny head..I like my buzz but maintenance is a pain.

(This comment is light hearted and in jest.)

Regardless, being bald , in my opinion, doesn’t really mean much. Sure some folks talk nonsense or point it out but I feel pity for their thought process. We have so many responsibilities and worries in life that hair shouldn’t be in the top 10. Life’s too short to worry about such nonsense.

> The entire idea that losing your hair is bad is socially constructed by the mass media and advertising industry

Going bald means losing something you're not getting back (generally speaking). This is symbolic for something not being good/right in your life, either by your choices or not, whether by stress, diet, exorcise, genetics, whatever. I think this symbolic nature is also a reason people consider it bad.

I love shaving my head, but the look doesn't suit me. I got implants and it looks great, nobody can tell it's not natural.

Do you mean transplant? I would love to hear your experience. I have been meaning to get one.

Yeah, they were transplanted. For me, it was a two-day operation because I wanted more follicles. It was a bit of a hassle at the start, and a bit painful the first day, but overall it wasn't really that bad. It takes a week or so before you don't look weird, and you have to be super careful for a month, but after that it's just your hair.

Your results may vary, although I think I got perhaps the best result out of all of their patients. They seemed really excited about how it turned out.

I thought it would look better for the $5k I spent, but that probably says more about how they managed my expectations than about the work they did. It looks perfectly natural.

Whoever did/does Zuckerberg's hair did a good job in hiding his baldness.

You just need Toppik or similar with a matching color and nobody could tell... Used by stylists for movie stars all the time, including females. I bought a bunch of colors for my photoshoots as many models have their hair destroyed from all the stuff they are using and fixing it in Photoshop is unnecessarily time consuming (OK, GANs are coming, so it might be instant soon...). It looks pretty natural in studio lights unless you zoom in significantly.

> The entire idea that losing your hair is bad is socially constructed by the mass media and advertising industry to sell you these expensive crap treatments

The problem is that it is not something you can ignore or control. One can embrace their baldness but that doesn't stop other people's prejudice.

And these prejudices have real social and personal impact.

While I am not quite there on the balding aspect, I feel a similar way about beards.

For some weird genetic reason, at 30yo, I still can’t grow much facial hair and all of the hair above my lips is blonde. I do grow quite a bit of hair below the jaw-line though...

It doesn’t bother me much even though beards are nearly universal where I live among men (Texas) and all the men in my family grow full, uniform-colored lumberjack beards.

I wish I felt the same about balding and hairlines... can’t say that I do. I have always had thin hair and started noticing balding around age 24-25, I’d guess. None of the brothers aged 35-50 have much noticeable balding. Genetically, I guess I got the short end of the stick with regards to hair in my family.

Oh well.

> I feel a similar way about beards. For some weird genetic reason, at 30yo, I still can’t grow much facial hair and all of the hair above my lips is blonde. ... It doesn’t bother me much even though beards are nearly universal where I live among men (Texas) and all the men in my family grow full, uniform-colored lumberjack beards.

Do you really care about having a beard? It sounds like you care more about fitting in with other people around you. A beard will never make or break you, forget about it, show your value through something meaningful and people will respect far more than anything that can grow on your face.

Nope, I don’t care. In fact I wish I grew less facial hair so I didn’t need to trim at all.

Losing the hair on top of my head, though...

If this works out, being bald or balding is going to signal you're too poor to get the treatment. I would expect a similar level of social stigma as lacking a front tooth.

In many ways that stigma already exists for women. Women with thinning hair can get hair extensions if they have an extra $600 in their budget every few weeks.

The economics even apply to women dealing with hair loss related to medical conditions/treatments. Insurance companies have to cover one "cranial prosthesis" a year but they're only required to offer $300 of coverage. That wouldn't even pay for the typical Comic Con wig. A mid-quality human hair partial wig is around $3,000. A quality human hair full wig is around $10,000.

Women with more money (and better health insurance) are able to get the $10,000 wig while women with fewer resources are often forced to just make do.

Wearing hoodies and sneakers signals that you're too poor to afford a suit, but SV is full of people who avoid suits as much as possible.

SV has other signals that it values

I went bald in my early 20s, around the age when I started taking a bit more pride in my appearance and actually style my hair.

I've been buzzing my hair ever since, but if someone offered me a way to get all my hair back, then I'd definitely take it.

>The entire idea that losing your hair is bad is socially constructed by the mass media and advertising industry to sell you these expensive crap treatments.

I'm with you as far as not having hair being liberating. I'm not losing my hair, but for many years shaved my head out of pure convenience; the maintenance was so much easier.

But not every thing is a conspiracy to sell you something. On average people are more attracted to not-balding as opposed to balding. If those things concern you, solutions (kind of) exist.

Well if you ask me, the face shaving is even worse social construct and the whole industries were invented around it... but that's because I hate shaving, and also like how I look with the beard better. However, let's take into account that beard or shaved head look doesn't work for everyone's style. Even more important some people like it better one way or the other for their own set of reasons (like me being too lazy to shave regularly).

I came here to say the same thing.

I also just hated worrying about which hairstyle to get, how to maintain that style, and when to repeat that process. Now it's a cheap and simple part of my routine that looks and feels great!

Only downside buzzing myself is that I occasionally miss a small spot if I'm in a hurry, but it's never a big deal and it's easy to fix.

I started going bald in my early 20s, and initially I just had my hair cut longer on top, in an attempt to mitigate it.

By my late 20s, I bought a trimmer and started buzz cutting my remaining hair at the lowest setting once a week.

Now I just let the power donut grow, and trim once every couple of weeks.

i agree with you. this is just like being a little weighted is 'bad' or having crooked teeth is 'bad'. people should appreciate all of human spectrum, not just some TV ideals.

happy for you that you are happy with yourself and got over it :) good on you! - i know a lot of people can end up in a struggle due to this kind of pressure on 'image'

Don't forget that women lose hair too. Socially, it's much worse for them.

Men are much more likely to lose hair though. And I feel like women can make wearing a wig work much better than men, but it's not a competition. I do know that thinning of hair women suffer from strucks them hard.

It's vastly a social construct. But it's also an aging degradation sign, and a chore (Young hairs are maintenance free)

> Young hairs are maintenance free

Have you spoken to any women about this?

Or ever had a haircut?

No, I'm a genetically bald monkey. Of course I had, and older, thinner, less numerous hairs are a different kind of bore. In you twenties hairs almost fall into place cutely.

If balding it's entirely healthy and natural and magical and whatever, what are you shaving your head for?

Well said bro, I did the same and not going back to having hairs.

completely false.

Women prefer men with a full head of hair. And sexual selection maybe 'socially constructed' but it is as real as you can get.

I recommend you to watch Up in the Air. "You know, honestly by the time you're 34, all the physical requirements just go out the window. You secretly pray that he'll be taller than you, not an asshole would be nice just someone who enjoys my company, comes from a good family. You don't think about that when you're younger. Someone who wants kids, likes kids. Healthy enough to play with his kids. Please let him earn more money than I do, you might not understand that now but believe me, you will one day otherwise that's a recipe for disaster. And hopefully, some hair on his head. I mean, that's not even a deal breaker these days. A nice smile. Yea, a nice smile just might do it."

Whether that's true will depend on the person, but it was written by two men, neither of whom had reached that age yet.

I had long and flat hair sometime back, so I always fantasized about going bald.

Earlry 20s, so one day I decided to go bald and my girlfriend back then wasn't happy with my decision.

After some days, my hair started growing curly and I like them more now so changed my mind about going bald.

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