Is the Shaved Head the New Comb Over?

[Fixed by 35]

I don't think this question is so clear cut. The 'shavers' like to believe they have superiority over the 'combers' because their style is more in fashion and less scruffy. That said, it is not a particularly good look (and I'm talking specifically here about grade 0 wet shavers here), especially for men who are overweight and it is very time consuming to maintain. A lot of men don't want to spend ages shaving their heads in the morning when they know they won't be happy with the end result anyway. The end result can often be a pinky, lumpy, spotty scalp with the 'neck rolls' on show.

The combover is no better, not least because it is scruffy, flimsy in the wind and also very time consuming to maintain. Like the shaved head, it very rarely looks good and worse than that it typically lasts no more than five minutes outdoors!

The sensible approach is to accept that baldness looks like crap no matter how you frame it. Baldness is no different to warts, scars, excess fat or wrinkles in that it is a negative and unfortunate thing. It is not something that can look good any more than losing all your teeth can look good. The only thing you can do when it happens is accept that you didn't win the game of life when it comes to looks and find the least time consuming way to deal with it. There's no point trying desperately to find some sort of solution such as the gym, expensive clothes or a fake tan because it all just looks like overcompensating, which looks desperately insecure, as does pretending to like your baldness by 'owning' it.

My advice is to stick with grade 3/4 for life, until they find a cosmetically acceptable solution. You only need to get your hair cut about once a month, it's too short to get untidy or to succombe to a temptation to 'comb over' and you avoid looking like a tramp (combover) or an egg (wet shaved). An added benefit is that you're unlikely to stand out in a crowd either as a scruff or as a reflector for the lights. The bottom line is that your hair is not an asset, so avoid spending time on it.

[thejdizzle]

interesting question...

I think that cultural context has played a role in determining what is 'socially' acceptable over time. However, today i strongly believe that the comb over is the worse possible solution, of course it totally depends on the person, age and extent of loss.

Obviously this is completely subjective but in my experience most women find confidence and masculinity highly attractive. These are two attributes that can only be communicated with a shaved head. On the other hand, a comb over highlights possible insecurities which are the biggest turn-offs for women.

although i am preying for a cure and am internally very insecure, i have been with more women this year since i started shaving my head than of all my years past...

looks aren't everything, just my 50 cents.

much love - thejdizzle

[Fixed by 35]

I'm not entirely sure where the idea that the shaved head communicates confidence comes from. When I see someone with a shaved head I don't think 'confident,' I think 'bald.' Confidence is a behaviour, not a look; I see confident men with some horrific comb overs because of the way they behave, not because of how they look. Also, I see men with shaved heads who are unable to look people in the eye.

If you saw me in the street, you probably wouldn't guess I was uncomfortable about my hair line, because I get all the social niceties right 'on the street.' That I'm dying inside I conceal very well, even when I get treated like crap as is the norm in an image obsessed society.

I keep coming back to the same conclusion. The only way you can be truly happy and bald at the same time is to divorce any sense of self from how you look. The body should become nothing more than an inappropriate shell. That's how I think some of the most successful bald men deal with it, such as Patrick Stewart and Bruce Willis, neither of whom went bald gracefully.

The shaved head continues to be pushed as a solution and, whilst preferable to a combover, it really does nothing for a person's appearance that can't be achieved by having the hair trimmed short. Furthermore, it can look terrible. You give me one bald man who looks 'normal' and I'll give you a hundred off the street who don't.

[Weedwacker]

I will never understand the concept that a shaved head represents confidence and 'boldness'. I think perhaps one of the reasons people (including women) think this way is because we live in an image obsessed culture in the West. If you go to Japan, China, the Philippines etc. you will almost never see a man with a shaved head. Now, it is true that men from those countries appear to lose their hair less (I have never seen an Asian man who is balding and under 30) because of better hair genes. Moreover, you don't see the shaved head as often in certain parts of Western Europe - and you almost never see it in South America. Again, I think Latin men, like Asian men, lose their hair less than Caucasian males. Asians have the best hair in the world.

Reverting back to the image thing, people associate a shaved head with confidence. Why? I don't know. People who 'act' certain ways do so for many reasons; sometimes because they have an inferiority complex or have something to 'prove'. Many shaved headed men are pathetically insecure simply because I have heard them admit it. It is true that many people associate a 'look' with confidence, which pretty much speaks of the average person's intellect. I think this goes back to the lizard brain. Women and men see a 'macho' man and because he 'appears' confident, they think he is - which, in my experience, he usually is not. The shaved head is affiliated with the 'Bad Boy' image, and I think that is its main draw. An insecure person usually has a storm (shaved head, macho behavior) on the outside because there is little on the inside. A secure person usually has nothing on the outside because there is a storm (confidence) on the inside.

Again, the shaved head is a trend. One is not bold for following a trend; instead, one may be docile. Some men, however, shave their heads because they look better. I have seen, however, many men with shaved heads who look like living hell; they have that menacing, criminal look (which, I guess, they like); or, they look like they have alopecia totalis instead of androgenetic alopecia. Comb overs are not a good option either. It makes sense to accept the fact that you are bald and move on with life; there are worse things. Shaving doesn't eliminate the problem; in fact, if you shave, you're more bald. Some guys can look well that way - but many don't. There is no 'owning' something if that something is something over which one has no control.

Like inmates, who are forced to lose their identity (buzz their heads) and control, the bald man loses control. What options does a man with hair have? Well, he can buzz his hair, shave it, grow out an afro or style his hair in another 50 ways. He is in control - with many options. Now, which options exist for the bald man? None. Pure submission. This, by the way, is nothing to celebrate by shaving your head. I don't despise the way I look bald - but I will not try to tell myself that I love it. I accept it for what it is.

[Fixed by 35]

The point on subjugation is a good one. What I found was that the minute I started losing my hair, everyone else suddenly decided they must know a lot more about style than I did. For about six months, plenty of Norwood 0s were saying 'why don't you just shave it off?'

That's the problem. When you have hair, you decide what to do with it. When you start losing it, people dictate to you how you must deal with it to remain acceptable to 'their' society.

[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?