Men with shaved heads are perceived to be more masculine

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443862604578032541863652264.html

by OJKoukaz • 14 years ago

52 44 14 years ago

online.wsj.com

superkvn• 14 years ago

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.

EwanToo• 14 years ago

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.

mhurron3• 14 years ago

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.

jimmytucson• 14 years ago

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• 14 years ago

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

SageRaven2• 14 years ago

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

gadders2• 14 years ago

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• 14 years ago

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://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1675631,00....

gadders2• 14 years ago

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.

tomjen32• 14 years ago

They will if Patric Steward ever runs...

pohl• 14 years ago

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.

thenomad2• 14 years ago

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.

jonnathanson3• 14 years ago

Interesting bit of trivia: for the early casting meetings on TNG, the producers got nervous about Patrick Stewart's baldness, and fitted him with a toupee. It didn't test well, which is probably for the best.

pchivers2• 14 years ago

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

MikeCodeAwesome• 14 years ago

Here's one more: Michael Chiklis in The Shield.

kayge• 14 years ago

Matthew Inman used the characters from Breaking Bad for an in-depth analysis called the Proximity to Violence vs. Amount of Hair on One's Head http://theoatmeal.com/comics/breaking_bad_hair

grandalf• 14 years ago

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

tomjen32• 14 years ago

A lot less than the shaving cream costs.

Willwhatley• 14 years ago

Shaving soap.

Also see double edged razors.

zxcdw• 14 years ago

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. :)

cafard• 14 years ago

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

to3m2• 14 years ago

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.

jnewell• 14 years ago

I would think that Mao Zedong would be the most obvious balding dictator who didn't shave his head.

dmorgan2• 14 years ago

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?

ddellacosta• 14 years ago

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

jonnathanson3• 14 years ago

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.

mhurron3• 14 years ago

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• 14 years ago

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.

camus• 14 years ago

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

codegeek3• 14 years ago

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.

systematical• 14 years ago

Well a small consolation is better than none.

ljf• 14 years ago

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.

krollew• 14 years ago

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.

Men with shaved heads are perceived to be more masculine

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