Is the Shaved Head the New Comb Over?

[Fixed by 35]

One other thing. Asians do go bald nearly as often as white men (Australia, which has a high Asian population with a western culture, demonstrates this). There are loads of young balding Asian men in Australia, most of whom opt for dodgy combovers.

The difference in Asian countries is that wearing wigs was not only more acceptable but actually expected in the past. Aderans, for example, is predominantly a toupee business and is a large listed company.

That said, expect the numbers of bald Asians to increase. Wigs are going out of fashion in the east pretty quickly (Aderans got into Hair Cloning as an act of sustainability).

[Weedwacker]

I disagree that Asian men go bald as early or frequently as Caucasian men. I did say that they "appear" to thin at a lesser rate - but that does not technically prove my point. I suppose I would have to live in China, Korea, Laos and the Philippines for a couple of years each in order to know for sure. I do know that I have never seen an Asian male who is under 30 and balding. That does not mean the phenomenon doesn't exist; however, it must be rare there.

There are millions of Asian Americans and, even though a majority are concentrated in the Western U.S. (I live in the Northeast), I have never seen a significant number of them (no matter their age) who are balding. It indeed seems less common in Asians than Caucasians.

My real point, though, was about the cultural differences between countries. As far as I have seen, there are not many shaved headed men in Asia. Further, I have never seen (as far as I can recollect) an Asian man in the U.S. who shaves his head. There may be underlying and inconspicuous elements of behavior within Asian culture - but there is not the overt macho 'image' thing that has plagued (shaven head) America. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that our national mascot is the bald eagle. America is probably more about 'image' and stereotypes than any other country, which would make sense considering our collective intellect, commercialism, materialism and the crap pop culture that exists here.

Seeing as I once wore a piece (as did my Brother) I am rather expert at detecting them. I admit that it would be harder detecting an Asian man wearing a wig because of his very dark, straight hair; but, having said that, I do have a small obsession (or hobby) of studying the authenticity mens' hairlines. In my personal life, I have never seen an Asian man who was (in my opinion) wearing a piece. It's not easy to fool me.

[clee984]

I disagree that Asian men go bald as early or frequently as Caucasian men.

I'm a bit of a history geek, I definitely once read that before WWII baldness was very rare in Japanese men (although a lot of military men shaved their heads), but increased a great deal after 1945. Nobody made a close study of why, whether it was the result of a more westernised diet (more red meat, animal fat and so forth), or Allied occupation forces breeding with the locals, or what. Interesting though.

There's a book called 'The Wind-up bird chronicle' by Haruki Marukami which has a japanese schoolgirl character who is employed by a wig-making company to go out "spotting" men who are wearing wigs or combovers, to gauge what proportion of the population is balding.

[UK_]

I'm a bit of a history geek, I definitely once read that before WWII baldness was very rare in Japanese men (although a lot of military men shaved their heads), but increased a great deal after 1945. Nobody made a close study of why, whether it was the result of a more westernised diet (more red meat, animal fat and so forth), or Allied occupation forces breeding with the locals, or what. Interesting though.

There's a book called 'The Wind-up bird chronicle' by Haruki Marukami which has a japanese schoolgirl character who is employed by a wig-making company to go out "spotting" men who are wearing wigs or combovers, to gauge what proportion of the population is balding.

Must be all that green tea

[Weedwacker]

I'm a bit of a history geek, I definitely once read that before WWII baldness was very rare in Japanese men (although a lot of military men shaved their heads), but increased a great deal after 1945. Nobody made a close study of why, whether it was the result of a more westernised diet (more red meat, animal fat and so forth), or Allied occupation forces breeding with the locals, or what. Interesting though.

There's a book called 'The Wind-up bird chronicle' by Haruki Marukami which has a japanese schoolgirl character who is employed by a wig-making company to go out "spotting" men who are wearing wigs or combovers, to gauge what proportion of the population is balding.

The point about baldness in Japan prior to WWII is interesting. I am not sure if the mixed breeding had anything to do with it because I know it was uncommon for Japanese to marry an American at that time - but it sounds plausible.

Perhaps the radiation from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had something to do with causing genetic damage - which in turn led to an increase in MPB. This is indeed interesting and sad at the same time.

One thing I have never been able to understand is why men only lose hair on the top of their heads and not the sides; this makes no sense whatsoever. Why does the hair on the top have a sensitivity to DHT - but not the hair on the side (doner) areas?

[northeastguy]

Shaved head.... absolutely! could you imagine what Jason Stratham, Vin Diesel, or Michael Jordan would look like with a comb over?

[DannyBoyy7]

I remember i kinda had a comb over when i was about 18 not the typical hair on one side to the other side while fully bald in the middle it was in the fringe area...i still had my hair everywhere but it was just very weak in the fringe area and receded so i use to do some weird style with my fringe (to be honest i seen alot weirder hairstyles in the fringe area on someone who wasnt going bald) cause it receded on one side more then the other so i use to comb my fringe over or spike it up i saw my reflection one day and thought "what am i doing? i look stupid"...the next day i got it shaved and never did it again (as years went on it got shorter and shorter cause the hairloss got worse and worse)


But with the shaving thing when i finally do it to the lowest number (i buzz my hair to about a 2 at the moment) i will be doing it cause i just hate the balding look not to fit in some "trend" or scared of what others will think if i keep it etc but for me i hate the balding look on me (you know the loads of hair on the sides but not in the middle look to be honest my hair is kinda like that now i be shaving it soon) so i shave it (only to stubble though to much effort to do it to skin for me anyway).

[DannyBoyy7]

This message is a carry on from my last message i went to edit it but it said my 15 mins was up or something


But yeah never do a comb over (obviously) i had a type of comb over but it looked like i just did some weird hairstyle at the time cause i still pretty much had my hair so i kinda got away with it...now a days i dont even have a fringe lol.

[Chromeo]

A guy with a comb-over is in denial and cleary can't handle the fact that he is losing his hair. A shaven head is an acceptance of the situation and can even be somewhat empowering. A guy with a shaven head is much more likely to get laid than a guy with an embarrassing comb-over.