
Men with shaved heads are perceived to be more masculine - OJKoukaz
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443862604578032541863652264.html
======
jimmytucson
Thanks to that blog post by Paul Graham about PR firms, I couldn't read this
without thinking it's just a long, pathetic ad for shaving products.

My goal is to get to become so cynical that I only believe what I read in Dr.
Seuss books.

~~~
awj
...which are blatant advertisements by the much maligned green egg industry.

~~~
SageRaven
I think it was the pork lobby that commissioned that book.

------
jonnathanson
Actually, since male-pattern baldness is driven by testosterone (more
accurately, a testosterone derivative called DHT), it makes sense that people
have evolved to perceive baldness as masculine and dominant. In this case,
baldness is a signifier -- a sort of subconscious code -- for a host of other
traits that are seen as powerful.

~~~
mhurron
Wiki actually has the complete opposite theory, baldness seems to convey a
maturing and calming instead of power and dominance.

"One theory, advanced by Muscarella and Cunningham, suggests baldness came
about in males through sexual selection as an enhanced signal of aging and
social maturity, whereby aggression and risk-taking decrease and nurturing
behaviours increase."

"A study done among South Koreans has shown most people rate balding men as
less attractive, if these results generalize to other cultures, any mating
benefit must target purely maternal instincts."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgenic_alopecia>

So maybe it's because you're ugly but domestic and perceived to be no real
threat. Or maybe human nature is more then just animal instinct. Maybe I just
wanted to go nananana and call you ugly while I ran my fingers through my head
of hair. Maybe it's all of these things.

~~~
manmal
That's about balding men, not shaved heads. The article claims that shaving
makes all the difference for balding men. I guess shaving alleviates the
effects this wikipedia entry describes.

~~~
mhurron
I was going to say 'ya well, wiki doesn't have a head shaving article, but it
would appear I would have been wrong.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaved_Head>

It unfortunately only says a little regarding virility.

It does however link to this <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichophilia> which
has the statement "Hair does not in itself have any intrinsic sexual value
other than the attributes given to it by individuals in a cultural context." I
would suspect baldness (shaved or natural) would be similarly linked entirely
to cultural contexts. For instance I doubt most people see Buddhist monks as
especially virile.

~~~
lambda
I know I'm fighting an uphill battle here, and being prescriptivist, and
derailing the conversation, and all that bad stuff, but could we please stop
using "wiki" as an abbreviation for Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is _a wiki_ , not the only wiki. That's why it's called Wikipedia;
it's a wiki based encyclopedia. Calling it "wiki" is like calling Encyclopedia
Brittanica "encyclopedia" for short. It makes no sense. Would you say "ya
well, encyclopedia doesn't have a head shaving article"? No, you would say
"Encyclopedia Brittanica" or "the encyclopedia" (if one was clear from
context) or "my encyclopedia".

------
pohl
Walter White in the pilot - full head of hair and a mustache - he's hapless,
blown hither and thither on a wayward course by cancerous winds.

Walter White by the end of season 4 - shaved head and a goatee - large and in
charge.

~~~
thenomad
See also Sisko in Season 1 of Deep Space 9 vs Sisko in Season 5.

Although I'm struggling to think of many more examples of hairless
protagonists outside Star Trek.

~~~
pchivers
Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Randy Couture, Vin Diesel...

~~~
codegeek
Out of these, Vin Diesel is the only one who has full head of hair but still
shaves it. The rest do it because they are all bald. Just my observation :)

~~~
pchivers
Vin Diesel is definitely balding. You can see it very clearly in xXx.

~~~
codegeek
may be more recently. But certainly not as much as willis, stathom etc.

------
EwanToo
I think there's something to it about the active choice of a shaved head - I
started going bald fairly early (around 18), and shaving my head really seemed
to change people's perceptions of me for the better.

Of course, it could just be that I became more comfortable and confident after
it.

~~~
mhurron
Well part of that is that (if you do it right, too thin or lanky and you look
like a cancer patient) purposely shaved bald looks far better then naturally
thinning.

That it does look better probably helped with your comfort level and
confidence.

------
gadders
Yes!! Grade 0.5 all over, and toying with grade 0 or using a razor.

What I want to know though is when will the US have a bald president? I always
thought good hair was a pre-requisite.

~~~
dkokelley
It is true that the taller candidate typically wins elections. It wouldn't
surprise me if there were a significant correlation between hair and votes.

Eisenhower is probably the closest we've come to a bald president.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EisenhowerChiefofStaffPort...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EisenhowerChiefofStaffPortrait.jpg)

[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1675631,00....](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1675631,00.html)

~~~
gadders
Thanks for the links. I wonder if it could happen now people can see the
candidates more on TV (and hatless)?

As I understand it, a lot of the population didn't even know Roosevelt was in
a wheelchair, something that would be impossible today.

------
ddellacosta
There's a great interview with Patrick Stewart where he talks about his
experience acclimating to baldness, I highly recommend it:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXOK-ZVJMaU>

------
zxcdw
I think same goes for being even remotely fit. Not necessarily muscular, but
at least not overweight at all.

Or perhaps I'm just envious to those who can tolerate themselves as bald, and
don't look like eggs. :)

------
superkvn
Men with shaved heads are perceived to be more masculine, dominant and, in
some cases, to have greater leadership potential than those with longer locks
or with thinning hair... Wow - my bald head makes me look more masculine.
That's definitely a shocker.

------
ljf
Things change over time. I was talking to my father about the birth of the
original (non racist) skin head movement in the UK. He said that the two
enduring images of shaven heads in popular psyche, were of those in mental
asylums, and people from concentration camps.

So initially it was about subverting something that was wildly seen as a mark
of weakness and abuse. He said there were article and letters questioning why
young men would allow themselves to appear like this, and it was at the time
in no way seen as masculine.

------
codegeek
If I shave my head, I would look like a round potato. Forget about anything
related to masculinity, machoness etc. ppl just laugh at me.

------
krollew
Seems reasonable that bald people seems to be percieved more masculine, men as
well man as women. Although I'm not sure if baldness makes those people more
atractive. I think it's that they did something unusual. They gained more self
confidence and people love self confidence.

In fact, I have dreadlocks and people like it, because I look healthy and self
confident. I think it's even better than bald head. In XXI century agression
is no longer advantage - charisma and inteligence are much more efficient
these days.

However, a bit of masculine look may help women, they seem to look very
atractive with no hair. Maybe not every woman, but I know women that looks
good with no hair.

------
grandalf
Not to mention what one saves by not having to get a professional haircut.

~~~
tomjen3
A lot less than the shaving cream costs.

~~~
Willwhatley
Shaving soap.

Also see double edged razors.

~~~
SageRaven
I started using the soap, brush, and DE razor about 3 years ago. A year ago, I
shaved my head to start off a new job with something different. Maybe I
haven't mastered the technique, but the last time I tried the DE on the head,
I butchered up my scalp. I suppose practice would help, but I'm too timid to
try after the first attempt. I'll stick with the electric shave and touch-ups
with dollar-store triple-blade razors for the head.

I haven't shaved since May, and now that bead-head is once more a big problem,
I might shave before the fall temps get too cold.

------
systematical
Well a small consolation is better than none.

------
camus
Does it mean they are more attractive to women? not sure about it. Rich men
are for sure ,wether you have hair or not.

------
cafard
And it puts in you great company with (for example) Mussolini, who started
shaving his head when his hair began to thin.

~~~
to3m
On the other hand, Stalin and Hitler both had full heads of hair, as did Pol
Pot. Chavez looks like he has a good amount of hair, too, likewise Saddam
Hussein. Pinochet and Kim Jong-Il both looked like they were thinning towards
the ends of their lives, but didn't apparently feel the need to do much about
it. I can't find much evidence about Gadaffi one way or the other, other than
a few shots that suggest he was at least not going bald at the front (and
certainly not the sides).

So all in all, it looks like responding to male pattern baldness by shaving
one's head does not correlate especially well with becoming a dictator.

But then again, correlation is not causation, and that goes both ways.

~~~
dmorgan
How exactly Chavez, an elected leader of a sovereign country, not a dictator
or a mass murderer or anything, fits in the company of people mentioned here?

Or is it just a generic list of people that Americans are told "are bad
persons", because some are indeed dictators and others just stand in the way
of the foreign exploitation of third world country and it's natural resources?

~~~
to3m
I don't really know how to respond to this, but if any offence was caused then
I apologise...

~~~
dmorgan
No hard feelings.

It's just uncomfortable for people to see their _elected_ leader demonized
along with Hitler and mass murderers, especially if said leaders just concern
themselves with their own, sovereign country, business.

Doubly so in a region where foreign invasion and intervention has started many
dictatorships and cost many casualties.

It's not Chavez that did this:
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/guatemala-
experimen...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/guatemala-
experiments_n_941284.html)

Or this: [http://www.alternet.org/world/us-funded-death-squads-el-
salv...](http://www.alternet.org/world/us-funded-death-squads-el-salvador-
casts-shadow-over-gop-ticket)

