Hair Thinning Or Shaved Head: One Is The Powerful Look!

Hair thinning is madness. Our hair is our crown. With it, we are kings of the hill. Samson of our society. A thick and strong hairline is man’s best friend when it comes to virality and status. Without it, crying becomes the new flirting, staying home is the new bar and wearing a hat is the new personal fashion trend.

But, wait a minute! We have news for you. You can (and will) avoid all this hair thinning drama. Your situation may not be as ugly as you think it is…

Jump in and by the time you finish this article I promise you to be 180.456 percent happier than before. If not, I’ll shave my head for you. Let’ go!

Hair Thinning In The Past: Sexy?

Keep in mind that the role of hair on men goes way back to our first civilizations. As long as men had mirrors, they were getting crazy about hair thinning off their ancient beautiful scalps. In ancient Greece and Rome Empire, a full long hair in men was a sign of status, vitality, strength, and wealth. That kind of hair was associated with royal heritage.

Roman Emperor Julius Ceasar had an obsession with his hair thinning. He was balding and tried everything to get his hair back. There are historians that comment:

…the wreath of laurels that Ceaser wore is not a nod to Roman tradition rather than an attempt to cover his baldness.

Poor Ceasar was completely bald by the time he made the move to date the most beautiful and powerful woman of his era. Yes, the Greek-Egyptian Queen and Pharaoh of Egypt, Cleopatra. She saw his hair thinning and felt sorry for him. Kindly, she recommended a home remedy of ground-up mice, horse teeth and bear grease (yaks..). Of course, the mighty Emperor gave it a try, but nothing changed on his mighty scalp. Could be the reason why Cleopatra chose the much younger full of hair Marcus Antonius instead of him? We can only suspect.

Baldness has influence over every man, including the most powerful man of ancient times and Emperor of Rome, Julius Ceasar. Click To Tweet

It was not only Ceasar that had shiny scalp but other significant men of the past too that dealt with hair loss and lost. Some of them may ring something. Ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and Aristotle, Indian liberator and philosopher Gandhi, “father” of evolutionary biology Darwin and one of the greatest writers of all time, Englishman Shakespeare were just some of them. Even the “father” of Western Medicine Greek physician Hippocrates was balding. Of course, he tried everything known to cure baldness at the time, called pigeon droppings (yaks again…). Didn’t work.

During American Colonial times, the European upper-class men wore curly, white wigs. Men with wigs considered as wise and sophisticated.

That means that thick hair was perceived as a great sign of power in ancient times. All these guys tried to fix their hair thinning issues and restore as much hair as they could. Or at least they covered their scalps with new hair called wigs.

We can only suspect from historians that even then, being bald was a disservice to any man trying to raise his status and sex appeal. But that is the past, right? How are things today?

How Are Bald Men Perceived Today

Hair thinning is tough. For every man, confident or not, it’s an event you have to adjust your life around it. Society makes it even harder for most of us.

As Spencer Kobren, host of the Bald Truth radio show, comments:

Hair loss is the last bastion of political incorrectness in our society. Click To Tweet

A Man Complaining About His Hair Seems Like A Loser

Imagine going to a girl and say to her something like “Hey, your ass has got bigger, did you noticed?” You ‘re going to get slapped in the face or criticized as an a-hole. Now imagine a quite similar scenario. A girl, confronting your balding spots, says something in the lines of “Hey, you ‘re balding, did you noticed?” Worst case scenario, you just accept this with a silent anger.

Expressing anger and frustration openly will be perceived as weak. In our society, hair loss criticism is not considered a bad psychological trigger that leads to frustration and sadness. Sadly.

Expression of complaints and sadness from bald men about their appearance is perceived as weak these days. Click To Tweet

It seems as if men are not allowed to be uncomfortable about their hair thinning appearance. But things do not stop there.

Bald Men Is Less Likely To Be Trusted

Why is the society built that way? No one really knows, but consider also the following statement that indicates a lack of trust in balding guys.

From the forty-five US elected Presidents, only five were bald - President Eisenhower is the most recent one. Click To Tweet

People seem to not trust bald men easily. Is this just pure damnation, or is it something deeper to look for? It seems that there is a lack of trust from society to bald men, except for some outliers. The fun part is that Eisenhower was less bald than his presidential campaign opponent, Adlai Stevenson. Hair thinning seems like the critical vote for some presidents.

Bald guys in the workforce are valued improperly

Another concern is that men with hair thinning may have a disadvantage in the work force. Unfortunately, many studies have shown that they look older and most employers need young vibrant workers.

So when employers screen job applicants, men with nice hair lines are viewed more favorably than the bald guys. Click To Tweet

Men that deal with hair loss in the show industry have even more problems than the average Joe in his cubicle (Joe, stay strong!). That’s because he is in front of a camera or public all times, and so the pressure to look young and in good shape is tremendous. Without their hair, they lose touch with their audience and the even can lose their job. Just imagine Johny Depp bald. Would he be able to make this career? I doubt it.

Are bald men perceived as attractive?

There is a well-known advertisement for hair pieces that features a smiling woman. She is running her fingers through her boyfriend’s hair and the headline goes like, “By the time she finds out, she won’t care.”

Got it? Meaning that she would care if her boyfriend lost his hair and probably dumb him. Which seems cruel, but that’s how nature works. If you get in a relationship with a girl and she has a nice butt, it’s highly possible to break up is he gets fat.

This is one of the man’s deepest fears – no longer to be considered a potential mate for beautiful women. Let’s face it. Our culture has provided plenty of basis for that fear to grow inside our mind. Just think all these Hollywood movies. Most villains are bald guys. Isn’t that cruel? But it happens all the time and there seems to be a pattern. Bad guys have a bad rep and definitively seem less attractive.

Famous Bald Men Help Change Social Perception

The good news is that bald guys with influence are making hair thinning an issue that must be addressed as a real problem. Most of them have gone under the knife for a hair transplant. John Travolta, Jude Law, and Matthew McConaughey are just a few good examples. Each successful hair fall treatment that a star makes it public, helps make men hair loss something we all should respect and pay attention to. The implications are not only visual but also psychological. That’s why we are glad to see society changing its stance.

But what happens if a man is balding and has no money to spend for expensive hair fall treatments, but still wants to be socially “approved”?

Hair Thinning or Shaved Head?

In 2012, the University of Pennsylvania conducted a study regarding bald men and their attractiveness. The researchers concluded that men with shaved heads, in particular, are perceived as more manly. All things equal, bald men with shaving heads were more attractive to females than bald men with natural progressing receding hairline.

The clown / old teacher baldness (leave hair on the sides whereas bald on top) is perceived as weak and hopeless. People “see” this guy as someone who tries a lot to cling to his past glory thereby creating an air of desperation. Whereas, bald guys seem to be liberated and cool when shaving their heads. You’re saying:

'Yes, I'm going bald and I don't care.' Click To Tweet

That’s why researchers from the Pennsylvania University also concluded that bald men with shaving heads are viewed as taller and better leaders.

In antithesis, men with an incomplete semi-receding hairline had no such luck. The public opinion formed the following words for them. “Weak” and “sick”. Not a good bargain if you ask me.

Thus, for men whose receding hair affects their self-esteem, shaving their heads could prove a superstar comeback! But wait? Is there more?

Want to look 13% stronger?

Shave your head. Sounds crazy, I know. A study was done and published in the journal “Social Psychological and Personality Science”. According to their research results, guys with shaved heads are seen as 13% stronger, taller and with greater leadership potential than guys with naturally progressing receding hairline. Even guys with full hair looked weaker than shaved headed ones!

A shaved head seems to indicate dominance, authority and being in control of situations. Want to look tough like Bruce Willis, Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel and Jason Statham? Shave your head (and workout also)!

If those guys hadn’t their shaved heads, they would not be able to play the bad boys so easily. Their physique is at very high levels but so are other stars physiques. It takes a man of high confidence to be able to display a shorn head with ease to the public.

Being cool showing your shaved scalp takes guts. Click To Tweet

Albert Mannes, Ph.D., conducted three hair loss related social experiments. Their results were summarized in a paper called “Shorn Scalps and Perceptions of Male Dominance”. Take a look:

Experiment #1: Are Men With Shaved Heads Perceived As More Dominant & Authoritative?

Fifty-nine volunteers analyzed twenty-five photographs of men in business school programs. Out of the twenty-five men, ten were completely bald with shaved heads. The rest were classic full hair guys with different styles. The volunteers were asked to rate each photograph. The criteria were “power”, “influence” and “authority”. The results were surprising. Men from the Shaved Head group topped the ratings in terms of how powerful, influential and authoritative they appeared to be.

Experiment #2: Can Your Shaved Head Make You Look Strong?

The second experiment was also interesting. The scientists were curious to find out which kind of baldness is more attractive and aggressive. Artificial (shaved) or natural hair thinning (non-shaved)? Three hundred and forty-four adults were shown photographs of four different men. One photo was of the man’s real hair. The second photo was a shot of him with digitally altered hairline – completely bald.

The researchers asked the participants in which photos men seemed more dominant and strong? Again, the results were conclusive. Shaved bald-style men were assessed as more dominant and slightly stronger too (remember that 13% increase?).

Experiment #3: Receding Hairline, Shaved Head Or Full Hair?

For the final study, five hundred volunteers were asked to read written descriptions of men. No images were used. Only the profile of the man, except the description of his hair, that was intentionally hidden from the researchers. The hidden hair choices of these men were thick brown hair, thinning brown hair or a shaved head. Guess what?

The guy with the thick hair scored the higher points for attractiveness description and slightly higher on confidence than the shaved heads (as expected). The guy with brown receding hairline scored the lowest on every trait given, except for the not so sexy “norm violation”. But how did the shaved headed man?

Our ‘hero’, the shaved head guy, ranked the highest in dominance (yiha!), masculinity (o yes!), leadership potential (Bezos anyone?) and strength (Dwayne Johnson style baby).

The overall results indicated the following conclusions:

egg with hair thinning is sad — The happy egg pick the right choice.

Men with shaved heads seem more powerful

The research suggests that men who take the bold step to shave their head give the impression of dominance and boldness. The act of taking such a self-image impacting initiative needs a strong will. Taking initiative is one of the sexiest traits for a man.

The shaved look is more attractive than the visibly hair thinning look

Your receding hairline makes you look less masculine. Shaved heads come across as more honest too. Wearing toupees seems spooky and gives a bad idea that you ‘re a man who hides things from others. Shaving your head increases the perception of your high self-esteem to others, because shaving your head and still being cool, is tough.

There is a catch though…

Although a shaved head has its advantages, some things are still ugly. All men with shaved heads were rated as less attractive and nearly four years older than their thick hair counterparts. You may gain points in dominance, but your attractiveness level may go down some points. Is it a fair bargain? You tell me in the comments.

In a nutshell:

Men in military, sports and law enforcement are predominantly populated by shaved head guys. These “male” professions are the epitome of dominance and authority.

Shaving your heads is a bold move. Men doing this appear more unconventional than others. They seem to play by their own rules in society and claim a higher status than average. That means less interest in social norms and more prone to violate these norms (for the worse or the better).

It takes a lot of guts for a guy to ignore the aesthetic value society puts on thick hair. It’s a lot of pressure. A guy that shaves his hair and still integrates himself into the society has a high level of confidence in himself. Boldness is a key characteristic of those men.

The End

You got the picture! An ultra shiny scalp can be a better choice than a half-shiny one. If your hair thinning is in a later stage of development (aka the whole scalp starts to shine) go to the barber and enjoy your first shave! Of course, if you are in beginner level in your balding journey, give the honest fight. Cool shampoos, refreshing conditioners, massage toys, and hair strengthen solutions are your allies.

Special thanks to:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-couch/201205/hair-loss-and-desirability
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9bgz7e/its-seriously-depressing-to-lose-your-hair-511
http://www.webmd.com/men/features/going-bald-all-your-head#1
http://www.calvitie-ohana.com/en/alopecia/psycho.html
http://www.webmd.com/men/features/going-bald-all-your-head#1
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160921-the-benefits-of-going-bald
https://www.hairsciencescenter.com/psychology-of-hair-loss/
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-asim-shahmalak/hair-loss-new-research-_b_2437282.html
https://www.bernsteinmedical.com/hair-loss/basics/psychology-of-balding/
http://nyhairloss.com/the-psychological-effects-of-balding/
http://www.realmenrealstyle.com/shaved-head-men-dominant/
http://www.jaad.org/article/0190-9622(92)70134-2/abstract
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/face-it/201202/the-psychology-behind-good-hair-day

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Table of contents

Hair Thinning In The Past: Sexy?

How Are Bald Men Perceived Today