One of the most striking aspects of these is the stark divergence of opinion about them between people who are themselves bald and people who are not. Among the latter group combovers seem to be universally ridiculed and reviled as pathetic attempts to hide the obvious. I don’t recall seeing or hearing a positive word about them from the hairy segment of the population. OTOH, a pretty high percentage of actual bald guys grow them.
My theory is that it grows on these guys slowly. Guys don’t set out to grow combovers, but as their hair gradually thins, they take to growing what remains longer and longer, and this eventually evolves into a combover when the hair is gone altogether. So it’s no different than a lot of other things that change slowly so that people don’t notice the ultimate effect.
[I actually knew one guy who did the combover in a convincing fashion. He didn’t go for any halfway measures, taking a few wisps of hair from the side - he took a massive chuck of hair and made his part near his ear. It actually looked pretty good, and you wouldn’t even notice the lack of hair although if you looked closely the low part was a bit weird. Still, I never saw how it held up under trying conditions - he wasn’t the type that did much exercise but he must have gotten caught in the rain every once in a while, but I never saw him then.]
He’d grow most of the head on the left side of his head really long and whip it up and over his chrome dome; after generous spritzing of hair spray you almost couldn’t tell he was bald (from a suitable distance, of course).
One of my favorite memories of the old man was seeing him climb out of a pool with this big, looooooong hank of hair on the left side of his head covering his ear and hanging almost to his shoulder. When he noticed me laughing, he was like, “What?! What?! What’s s’damn funny?!”
They really are pitiful in all of their manifestations.
I seem to have been blessed with good strong hair genes. But should I ever start to thin I sure hope I have the grace and good sense to simply buzz it high and tight.
I started balding at age 35. Never considered the comb-over at all. Once it reached a point I just buzzed it short and keep it that way today. My theory on men with comb-overs is that they are single and/or their spouses hate them! I mean there is no way in hell my wife would let me out of the house looking like that!
The other problem is that at some point ‘you’ finally get it (hopefully). Then what do you do? Buzz your hair all off? So you go from quasi hair style to no hair? I know a guy who went the opposite way. Bald head, then one day he comes in with a hair piece. Lots of second looks that week! What he didn’t think anyone would notice? He kept the hairpiece for about a month then he was bald again.
Even worse are the ones who start the hair plugs and then stop. So now you have this bald guy with this big tuft of hair in the front. Now that is attractive!
If you lose or are losing your hair. Accept it, give up the ghost man. Lots of women dig bald men—I know my wife does and that is all that matters to me. Plus look at how much I save on shampoo–hell a bottle lasts me at least a year!
My Dad has one that starts about a half inch over his left ear that he combs over. I think he’s been going to the same barber for years. These combover guys have to be in cahoots with their barbers or something. Can you imagine if the barber says, “Look Bob, you have three strands left to work with. I’m sorry man, I just can’t do it anymore.”
I think guys with combovers just like the way they look, and prefer it from the way they look right out of the shower with bald showing.
And they judge it from the front in the mirror.
And that’s fine with me.
Much worse to my eye is ANY updo on ANY woman, my sweetie especially. Why on earth women think this is “special” or “more formal” is beyond me. I think every man’s dream is the girl in the shampoo ads who tosses her tresses.
I started thinning in my 20s and that’s when I started trimming it short - first 1/2", then 1/4" and a few weeks ago I decided to go with 1/16" (000 clipper guide) before a camping trip, that’s my new 'do.
I would rather look like Ed Harris or Bruce Willis than Gallagher.
A friend of a friend has what I’ll call a “hairnado” - somewhere on his scalp is a chunk of really long hair and he literally winds it around the rest of his (otherwise bald) head in a big spiral to give the illusion of a full head of hair. This fools nobody and frankly it does not look good at all. He’s in major need of an intervention.
An updo keeps the hair neat and in place so you don’t have to worry about messing with it at whatever formal event. It’s probably not done with the man in mind, but with the woman’s desire to avoid “maintenance”, it falling into your eyes, etc.
I was a teenager in the late 70’s hanging out with a group of friends. The 10 Commandments was on TV and the kid whose home we were in made a remark about Yul Brynner. His hot mom replied that Yul was pure, concenrated sex appeal. I asked her what she thought about Telly Savalas and she replied that he was hot too.
I noticed my hairline receeding when I was 20. Other people started to notice it when I was 24. By the time I was 30 I decided it was time to shave it all off. I haven’t regretted it since.
Interesting. I can’t think of any balding people (myself included) that do the combover. Most in my age (30s) just shave it. I just keep it fairly short (1 - 2 inches max) and just let the pattern baldness show itself–I’m not at all self-conscious about the fact that I’m bald, but I’ve been balding since I was in my very late teens/early 20s.
The last time I remember seeing a comb over in real life was at a wedding with the 60-something father of the bride. I almost never encounter them, and certainly no-one my generation seems to sport them (once again, in my personal experience.)
My father sported a comb-over for most of the time I knew him; at some point later he finally gave up the fight and shaved it all off. I swore from a very early age I would not do this if I were balding because it just looks so goddamn stupid. I’m definitely balding, and I keep it cut short; my part is still on the top of my head and what’s up there is around an inch long. It gets any thinner I’ll probably shave it. A barber I went to once tried to foist one off on me; I told him if he wanted to see anything resembling a tip he had better strongly consider cutting it a lot shorter.
Worst one I ever saw started at the nape of the guy’s neck.
For the other 99.8% of the female population who doesn’t have shampoo ad hair, updos work pretty well! Seriously, imagine you have thin, I mean fine, hair in a non-descript shade that you keep shoulder-length in order to put it up when you exercise, but can’t be grown any longer or it’s really stringy. What could be formal about leaving it down like you do every other day? (Not that I speak from personal experience or anything! Well, mine is curly, but curly fine hair isn’t that attractive.)
Yes it is! (Can you tell I have curly, fine hair? Though I keep it much longer than you.)
As for updos, well, we don’t really care what you think, men. Every day of my life my hair is down in one of a few simple styles, that take less than 5 minutes to do and usually less than one minute. For the special occasions, sure, I’ll spend $200 if I feel like it and if it fits into my budget…I have a long(ish) neck and it looks very graceful when I put my hair up, and I like the complicated things they can do to my hair.
We just do it for a change. For fun. For ourselves.
Seriously, imagine you have thin, I mean fine, hair in a non-descript shade that you keep shoulder-length in order to put it up when you exercise, but can’t be grown any longer or it’s really stringy. What could be formal about leaving it down like you do every other day? (Not that I speak from personal experience or anything! Well, mine is curly, but curly fine hair isn’t that attractive.)