Can anyone name....

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A positive bald role model who is still alive today and not an actor who gets typecast as a villain or a tough guy? There are some rules to this challenge:

1) They have to be successful off their own back. Prince William isn't a useful role model to aspire to for anyone!

2) They must have started going bald at 25 or younger. Lots of people bald in their 50s, I'm looking at the real unfortunates who never have an adult life with hair.

3) This is the tricky bit. Most well known people have an estimated net worth in a rich list or similar. They must be the wealthiest person in their field of expertise.

4) No wigs or toupees, they have to embrace their baldness.

5) They're not allowed to be sportsmen. Sportsmen have the advantage of being able to break down barriers by sheer talent. Most people don't get to demonstrate their talent until they pass an interview or other such test.

I think it's time for people who say you can get on with your life with hair loss to prove it. To prove there are no perceptive barriers to balding men that is. I'll be extremely surprised if anyone can think of someone fitting this description.

What I do expect to find is bald men part way up the ladder, but never at the top. Bald men do 'ok,' it's 'greatness' they can't reach.

[clee984]

Michael Stipe. Bruce Willis. Ed Harris. John Malkovitch. Sean Connery. Michael Chiklis. Woody Harrelson. Silvio Berlusconi (I know, I know). Samuel L Jackson. Black Francis. The guy from the band Live (don't know his name, Ed something). Gandhi. Isaac Hayes. Larry David. George Foreman (I know he's a sportsman, but he peddles those grills too).

I'll probably be back in a minute if I think of others who might qualify.

[clee984]

Oh, sorry, have to be alive. Cross Gandhi off then.

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Okay, none of those fulfil all the criteria!

[clee984]

Michael Stipe? Samuel L Jackson? Larry David? How do they fail?

Cool game btw. I like it.

What about that Microsoft guy - Steve Balmer?

Ooo, what about William Hague? (possibly not a positive role model).

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Well, personally when someone mentions Samuel L Jackson I think actor who plays tough guys. Balmer and Stipe went bald after age 25, so far as I know. The creator of George Costanza is hardly a good role model. Someone who thinks it's fine to take the p*ss out of bald men and created the ultimate bald loser stereotype is not someone I want to look up to! Also, did he go bald before 25?

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Oh, and Balmer fails because he's not at the very top of his game. Bill Gates is. Bill Gates has hair.

I'm looking for a bald man who is the undisputed leader of their field, not some also ran.

As balding men make up about 20% of men in their 20s, it's reasonable to expect at least 10% of the people at the very very top to be bald (factoring in women very generously there, as they're a minority at the top too). But it's extremely difficult to find anyone, isn't it?

Starting to see my point yet?

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I should say there is a serious aspect to this post. I am desperately trying to find a contradiction to my theory that bald men, in general, always underachieve in modern society. In history, it's easy to find balding men who succeeded; Winston Churchill, Clem Attlee, Dwight Eisenhower; Julius Caesar. In modern society? Nada.

In business its Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, in politics its Obama and Brown. They all have hair.

There are bald men who do okay. Steve Jobs for example. But they never reach the top. At least 20% of the world's most powerful or influential men should be people who started to go bald in their 20s but they're not. And this works its way down right through society. Bald men never quite reach their potential. They're always second best. They succeed, but only to a point.

The stark reality is that we will all be underachievers for reasons beyond our control.

[clee984]

Michael Stipe was balding in his early 20s, but didn't shave his head til early 30s. Dunno about Balmer in his youth, but he's one scary bald mo-fo in his 50s! I wouldn't cross him for all the tea in China.

Ah man, you don't think Larry David! (Yeah, if you watch his old stand-up, he was distinctly balding by age 30). I do see your point about him, that he uses his baldness as a self-deprecating joke in the same kind of desperate way that some overweight people joke about eating pies, but surely he's still a positive role model for just being one of the funniest guys around? (quote: "I became funny when I realised how inadequate I am"). How about David Cross? He was completely bald in his 20s, but I've never heard him make a joke of it. Or even mention it, now I think about it.

Clem Attlee - the greatest bald man of all time. Possibly the greatest man of all time. Legend. I understand what you're saying, and you're right, neither Britain or US has had a bald PM/president since the advent of TV. It does matter.

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Even Clem Attlee spent his entire political career being called modest and boring, even though he was far from it. Why? Because he was bald (although the moustache didn't help matters). He was overshadowed by Herbert Morrison's quiff!

Winston Churchill didn't suffer in the same way, but it took a long time for his political career to go anywhere. People forget what a political failure Winston Churchill was until substance was needed over style. He would never have been able to prove himself without a world war to fight. He always wore a hat in public too - the loss of the hat as a fashion piece made baldness for men 10 times harder.

Politics is probably the hardest sphere for a bald man to get into, because of the constant TV coverage. Anyone noticed how David Cameron isn't balding anymore? My guess is a toupee or a brilliant comb over. I've noticed in public how his hair does blow in the wind, but only to a point. The middle bit doesn't move....

The trouble is a lot of doors are closed to bald men, politics being the most obvious one. In entertainment, bald men are horribly type cast (what I do wonder is why can't men wear wigs when they're ACTING for christ sake? Let bald men have a bit more range). I think the door is beginning to close in business, as appearance matters more.

I also think that because a lot of bald men like me hate socialising, we miss out on opportunities. But we're barred from socialising, except in situations where we're made fun of, so we miss those networking opportunities.

[clee984]

I don't think it was necessarily coz Attlee was bald, I think he just was a modest and quiet man generally! He really was all substance and no style.

And Churchill, not only was he a baldie, but he was a ginger, and a bit of a podger too! No wonder the dude was so defiant

Was Cameron ever balding? I never noticed that. Has he not just got a high (in his case, huge) forehead?

How about Dick Cheney? He did pretty well for himself. Dunno if that counts as "positive".

[stud27]

How about Peter Gabriel?

[mlao]

Jack Nicholson, Phil Collins

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I find myself putting others down a lot these days, it's the only way to redress the balance when they're being superior. It's just not me though.

I just wish my father had been sterilised when he started losing his hair. I really mean that and I'm seriously considering a vasectomy myself.

I can see a fake smile every time. I've never seen a genuine smile on a bald man, not once.

[stud27]

Yes, bald men need to be sterilized!