- Reaction score
- 620
So I was looking at my shitty diffuse NW3 today. I've been on propecia, topical and oral (I plan to go all pill once the topical solution I bought runs out, currently alternating between .5 mg and the topical every other day, in addition to minoxidil and 2% ketacozanole, also added in derma rolling recently with a 1.5 mm roller). I've already suffered from side effects from these meds, I've gotten dark circles under my eyes from all the minoxidil I was using before I started fina, and I'm constantly terrified of fina sides so even if they haven't manifested physically I've had boner problems due to it for sure, even if only psychological. I also monitor and post on this stupid board way too much. So in short this disease is eating me up.
So why not shave it bro? My brother was NW4 at 23 and did just that, hasn't looked back in the 3 years since and advises me to do so. I don't think I have to tell you gentlemen (and pasbrilliante, evillocks and our other esteemed ladies of HairLossTalk.com) what the general opinion is around here. Our friend IKickedHairsAss aside it's pretty much equated to the aesthetic version of cancer. Castration and even death are preferable for many of our members here. Certainly, how you feel about your own self-image is deeply personal, and no survey or study could ever affect that. What I find on this sub-fora, though, are a lot of unsourced claims that bald men are "genetic trash" ugly losers who will never amount to anything (I've heard worse calumnies against the bald here than I have heard anywhere else from anyone, in fact). In truth, I think there's some truth to what's said here--the old canard "bald is sexy" seems stupid and untrue on its face. But then it seems that everything just naturally falls downward, yet we know gravity is at work; it seems that nothing surrounds us when there's no wind about, but we know the air we breath is a fluid consisting of oxygen and nitrogen; it seems sun revolves around us, but we know the opposite to be true. So what does science have to say?
If you do a google search in English on the subject, news reports referencing this study come up:
http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/DPlab/papers/publishedPapers/Mannes_2012_ Shorn scalps and perceptions of male dominance.pdf
It's a great starting point, especially considering a ton of the new reports literally contradict the study they're supposedly reporting on (they also have come out recently, when this study came out in 2012 strangely).
The paper is actually 3 studies. In the first, students enrolled in an MBA program in a US Uni were selected, mixed white and black white, shaved and full head. Their pictures were then shown to 59 US Uni students (presumably at a different uni?) and they were rated on Dominance, Agreeableness, Attractiveness, and Age. The shorn headed were rated much more dominant, slightly more agreeable, less attractive, and older than the full heads.
The second was done online with a survey size of (ultimately) 344. They were shown pics of four of the white men with hair featured in the above study who were rate similarly, but 4 additional pics were created by digitally removing their hair, thus producing eight pictures. The 344 online participants rated the men and their bald doppelgangers on dominance, confidence, norm violation (normal-abnormal, proper-improper, seemly-unseemly), masculinity, attractiveness, age, height, strength, and leadership potential. The shorn headed men were rated as less attractive, older, more confident, stronger, taller, slightly less likely to break norms, more dominant, and possessing more leadership potential.
Finally, the third study ultimately 552 online participants were paid to evaluate a written description. The description, very detailed, described a man's age, height, ethnicity, and other qualities, but different participants were either told that the man had a shaved head, thinning hair or thick hair. The description of the shaved headed man was rated on the same metrics as above. The written description was scored very similarly to the visuals vis-a-vis the thick haired and the shaved head, with the only differences between the shaved head and the thick hair being that here the shaved head was perceived as more likely to break norms and less confident, contra the visual survey. The thinning hair, though, scored worse on almost every metric than both the shaved and thick hair.
Take-aways: as I've known for a long time, you can't trust news reports on scientific studies. Many of the news reports literally reported that bald men were perceived as "more attractive" even though the study says the opposite. Overall, the feeling around here that baldness hurts a man's looks was definitely confirmed.
Also no surprise, from the last experiment it's obvious that hair which is visibly balding does much more damage than a shaved bic top.
The feelings on most of the other categories besides attractiveness for the slick bald were very positive I must say, and they now have me seriously thinking about shaving. True, I won't be able to hop on Tinder or POF and get laid.....but at this point in my life my career is more important to me, and the dominance and masculinity boost seems like a definite advantage in the corporate world, especially in the relatively beta-male IT space I work in. And besides, my hair-driven depression has me in no condition to slay anyways. Also the boost to the perception of height and strength would be a good thing for me, accentuating some of my better features, since I'm 6'1 and pretty "beefy." The attractiveness hit is a real bummer, but is it really worth the mental torture of hair loss obsession and f*****g around with a dangerous drug like finasteride? Side note, I'm going to try to post more studies in this thread, if we could keep the discussion based in empirical studies I think that would be cool.
So why not shave it bro? My brother was NW4 at 23 and did just that, hasn't looked back in the 3 years since and advises me to do so. I don't think I have to tell you gentlemen (and pasbrilliante, evillocks and our other esteemed ladies of HairLossTalk.com) what the general opinion is around here. Our friend IKickedHairsAss aside it's pretty much equated to the aesthetic version of cancer. Castration and even death are preferable for many of our members here. Certainly, how you feel about your own self-image is deeply personal, and no survey or study could ever affect that. What I find on this sub-fora, though, are a lot of unsourced claims that bald men are "genetic trash" ugly losers who will never amount to anything (I've heard worse calumnies against the bald here than I have heard anywhere else from anyone, in fact). In truth, I think there's some truth to what's said here--the old canard "bald is sexy" seems stupid and untrue on its face. But then it seems that everything just naturally falls downward, yet we know gravity is at work; it seems that nothing surrounds us when there's no wind about, but we know the air we breath is a fluid consisting of oxygen and nitrogen; it seems sun revolves around us, but we know the opposite to be true. So what does science have to say?
If you do a google search in English on the subject, news reports referencing this study come up:
http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/DPlab/papers/publishedPapers/Mannes_2012_ Shorn scalps and perceptions of male dominance.pdf
It's a great starting point, especially considering a ton of the new reports literally contradict the study they're supposedly reporting on (they also have come out recently, when this study came out in 2012 strangely).
The paper is actually 3 studies. In the first, students enrolled in an MBA program in a US Uni were selected, mixed white and black white, shaved and full head. Their pictures were then shown to 59 US Uni students (presumably at a different uni?) and they were rated on Dominance, Agreeableness, Attractiveness, and Age. The shorn headed were rated much more dominant, slightly more agreeable, less attractive, and older than the full heads.
The second was done online with a survey size of (ultimately) 344. They were shown pics of four of the white men with hair featured in the above study who were rate similarly, but 4 additional pics were created by digitally removing their hair, thus producing eight pictures. The 344 online participants rated the men and their bald doppelgangers on dominance, confidence, norm violation (normal-abnormal, proper-improper, seemly-unseemly), masculinity, attractiveness, age, height, strength, and leadership potential. The shorn headed men were rated as less attractive, older, more confident, stronger, taller, slightly less likely to break norms, more dominant, and possessing more leadership potential.
Finally, the third study ultimately 552 online participants were paid to evaluate a written description. The description, very detailed, described a man's age, height, ethnicity, and other qualities, but different participants were either told that the man had a shaved head, thinning hair or thick hair. The description of the shaved headed man was rated on the same metrics as above. The written description was scored very similarly to the visuals vis-a-vis the thick haired and the shaved head, with the only differences between the shaved head and the thick hair being that here the shaved head was perceived as more likely to break norms and less confident, contra the visual survey. The thinning hair, though, scored worse on almost every metric than both the shaved and thick hair.
Take-aways: as I've known for a long time, you can't trust news reports on scientific studies. Many of the news reports literally reported that bald men were perceived as "more attractive" even though the study says the opposite. Overall, the feeling around here that baldness hurts a man's looks was definitely confirmed.
Also no surprise, from the last experiment it's obvious that hair which is visibly balding does much more damage than a shaved bic top.
The feelings on most of the other categories besides attractiveness for the slick bald were very positive I must say, and they now have me seriously thinking about shaving. True, I won't be able to hop on Tinder or POF and get laid.....but at this point in my life my career is more important to me, and the dominance and masculinity boost seems like a definite advantage in the corporate world, especially in the relatively beta-male IT space I work in. And besides, my hair-driven depression has me in no condition to slay anyways. Also the boost to the perception of height and strength would be a good thing for me, accentuating some of my better features, since I'm 6'1 and pretty "beefy." The attractiveness hit is a real bummer, but is it really worth the mental torture of hair loss obsession and f*****g around with a dangerous drug like finasteride? Side note, I'm going to try to post more studies in this thread, if we could keep the discussion based in empirical studies I think that would be cool.
Last edited:
