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.
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.
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.
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.
According to Patrick Stewart (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXOK-ZVJMaU), a reporter once told Gene Roddenberry that having a bald captain wasn't believable. By the 24th century they will have cured baldness. Roddenberry's responded that, by the 24th century, no one will care.
I also would have accepted the nerdier answer, which is that in the ST universe, humanity went through a whole genetic engineering craze (in the '90s!) that resulted in Khan and a lot of other madness. So we kind of avoided it after that, and just went au naturel with our gene pool.
The franchise actually did make a few attempts to circle back on this topic, usually as a convenient way of explaining why humans in the 24th century aren't all perfectly fit, hyperintelligent, post-Singularity badasses. Genetic engineering had become a taboo. This was highlighted in a DS9 episode, where Julian Bashir was hiding the fact that his parents GE'd his intelligence, coordination, etc. It was illegal, and he was worried he'd be kicked out of Starfleet.
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 :)
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
48 comments
[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 101 ms ] threadOf course, it could just be that I became more comfortable and confident after it.
That it does look better probably helped with your comfort level and confidence.
My goal is to get to become so cynical that I only believe what I read in Dr. Seuss books.
What I want to know though is when will the US have a bald president? I always thought good hair was a pre-requisite.
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....
As I understand it, a lot of the population didn't even know Roosevelt was in a wheelchair, something that would be impossible today.
Walter White by the end of season 4 - shaved head and a goatee - large and in charge.
Although I'm struggling to think of many more examples of hairless protagonists outside Star Trek.
I also would have accepted the nerdier answer, which is that in the ST universe, humanity went through a whole genetic engineering craze (in the '90s!) that resulted in Khan and a lot of other madness. So we kind of avoided it after that, and just went au naturel with our gene pool.
The franchise actually did make a few attempts to circle back on this topic, usually as a convenient way of explaining why humans in the 24th century aren't all perfectly fit, hyperintelligent, post-Singularity badasses. Genetic engineering had become a taboo. This was highlighted in a DS9 episode, where Julian Bashir was hiding the fact that his parents GE'd his intelligence, coordination, etc. It was illegal, and he was worried he'd be kicked out of Starfleet.
Also see double edged razors.
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.
Or perhaps I'm just envious to those who can tolerate themselves as bald, and don't look like eggs. :)
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.
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?
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...
Or this: http://www.alternet.org/world/us-funded-death-squads-el-salv...
"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.
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.
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".
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.
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.