Why Does Society Put Such Emphasis on Hair?

I am 24 years old and I have somewhat serious hairloss. I have a receding hairline and thinning on top. My hair is so weak, that if I were to pull at it and brush my hand through my hair, there would be a large number of follicles in my hand. I took Propecia from the age of 21-23, but stopped when I turned 24. Going bald seemed inevitable, and at 24, I couldn’t stand the thought of taking Propecia the rest of my life. Every hair transplant I have ever seen always looks “unsightly” and often worse when compared to them bald. Why does society put such an emphasis on hair and is there any data that shows financial success with copious amounts of hair?

You could come to one of our free Open House events and see if your comment, “Every hair transplant I have ever seen always looks ‘unsightly’ and often worse when compared to them bald”, still holds true. I would challenge you to spot a hair transplant in many of my patients from what a normal non-balding man has.

You sound angry with your situation. Upon finding out what I did for a living, a woman at a dinner engagement last week said, “What is the problem with being bald anyway? I think that bald men are sexy.” I responded simply by saying, “If you take the lion’s mane away from the lion, you have a lioness.” You see, it is really a matter of perception. If a man feels less manly because of his balding, then hair is important to him. In particular, young men hang their image on anything that differentiates them from others. Balding at 23 years old certainly makes them different and that is not what they want. Generally speaking, women (particularly young women) don’t want a man to look older, and balding men tend to look older so that the discrimination is significant. I have found many wives bring their husbands for a hair transplant, because they do not want to have an older-looking man for a husband, particularly when they appear young or have had some plastic surgery to make them appear young.

I personally think that many men look great bald, particularly when the balding is in its final stages, but as they get there, some look scruffy and that becomes the motivator for hair transplant surgery. Clearly, a good hair transplant should not be visible and very few of my patients comment that their transplants were recognized as such. Examples of our fine work can be found at NHI Patient Photos.