# Combovers **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 8, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274 "2009-09-08T13:08:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/21 "2009-09-09T20:50:44Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Sure. Don’t you occasionally pay for convenience? Yeah, but I pay $14.95 plus the tip. It takes me about an hour and a half to do the job myself. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/22 "2009-09-09T20:55:13Z")
I’m not sure how the exact dollar amount rules out it being about convenience. She decided that particular convenience was worth $200 to her. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/23 "2009-09-09T20:55:43Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > 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 keep a close eye on my hairline for just that reason – I’ll be damned if I ever have anything even resembling a combover. It probably won’t be an issue, as I have a strong widow’s peak, but, the instant it even comes close, off it all comes! ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/24 "2009-09-09T20:59:46Z")
I’ve been surreptitiously taking photos of people on the CTA for the last few months. I’m considering posting them somewhere, haven’t decided where yet. These photos are all of heads of hair that make me go “WTF?” when I see them. There are a few combovers. I have one photo with 2 guys in it, each with the bald top and overgrown bottom pulled into a pathetic little white/gray haired rat-tail. It was a lucky day that day. Fully how neither looked at the other and thought, jeez, that looks stupid. Oh, I’m doing that! I’d better cut it off so I stop looking stupid like that guy! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/25 "2009-09-09T21:05:40Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > I’m not sure how the exact dollar amount rules out it being about convenience. She decided that particular convenience was worth $200 to her. Of course, people can spend money how they want. But if the reason is “I want my hair up just to keep it out of my eyes while I do some gardening”, then spending that much seems a bit excessive. That’s “fancy night at the Ritz” kind of hair care. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/26 "2009-09-09T21:10:12Z")
My father says he used to have a combover and that it did indeed creep up on him in increments too small ever to provoke a decision to do something differently to the previous day. Until he went to a different barber from his usual one, who said “Aha! I see sir is a master in the art of disguise!” - and from that day, he lost the combover. This all happened before I was born. I have inherited the baldness trait from him (although it struck a little later in my case) - I keep my hair cropped fairly short nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/27 "2009-09-09T21:11:05Z")
Completely agreed, but still about convenience. Both the convenience of having hair that will hold up through hours of fancy-night eating and drinking and dancing, and the convenience of having someone else do it for you. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/28 "2009-09-09T21:11:43Z")
I had kind of a combover in my twenties, and, yeah, it kind of snuck up on me. This was in the seventies when big hair was the thing for 20-somethings and buzzing it off was not really an option like it is today. Also, _I was in my twenties, for chissake!_ I wasn’t ready to accept the fact that I was going to look like guys I made fun of in my teens. And it wasn’t even the cool bald, like Jack Nicholson. It was the moon-shaped bald, like Art Garfunkel. It was a matter of placing the hair _very carefully_, then holding that sucker down with some heavy duty hairspray. It looked OK, except during high winds or rain, of course. One day I caught myself trying to turn my head into the wind so it wouldn’t mess up my hair, and the ridiculousness of it all hit me. I got it cut short the same day and felt very self-conscious for a couple of weeks (“Hey, there goes Baldy!”). Christ, I was vain. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/29 "2009-09-09T21:23:22Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > I’ve been surreptitiously taking photos of people on the CTA for the last few months. I’m considering posting them somewhere, haven’t decided where yet. These photos are all of heads of hair that make me go “WTF?” when I see them. > > There are a few combovers. I have one photo with 2 guys in it, each with the bald top and overgrown bottom pulled into a pathetic little white/gray haired rat-tail. It was a lucky day that day. Fully how neither looked at the other and thought, jeez, that looks stupid. Oh, I’m doing that! I’d better cut it off so I stop looking stupid like that guy! That’s not a combover, it’s a skullet. Also known as the Ben Franklin. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/30 "2009-09-09T21:24:08Z")
I had a prof in law school who had a _legendary_ comb-over, held in place with I would guess liberal applications of hairspray or gel. Thing was, he was an energetic lecturer and, quite routinely, that comb-over would peel off his sweaty scalp and stand on end about halfway across - sort of like a mohawk. It was actually kind of cool, though not I think the intended effect! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/31 "2009-09-09T21:31:55Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Completely agreed, but still about convenience. Both the convenience of having hair that will hold up through hours of fancy-night eating and drinking and dancing, and the convenience of having someone else do it for you. Yep. But while a woman should spend what she wants on her hair for whatever occasion at whatever level of convenience she desires for her own reasons and not to impress men, the reason this topic came up is that we men are usually not that impressed with the $200 job. Sometimes to us it can look far worse. I took an ex to a company dinner/dance years ago, and she practically went into debt for a fancy up-do. Frankly, I thought it looked ridiculous. And I know she did it to impress me. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/32 "2009-09-09T21:45:50Z")
My own forest has been thinning for a few years, now. If I grow it long, you might not notice unless you were standing over me looking down. As I am about 6 feet tall (roughly 1.85 m or therabouts) this can’t happen very often. Last year I grew my hair long (shoulder-length) and finally decided this June that I needed less insulation on my head, so now I shave my head. The results aren’t bad, as I now look something like [General Hammond](http://heimdallsgatebase.de/grafics/convention/autogramme/sgc_2003/gross/dsd_01.jpg) of Stargate SG-1 (or [Uncle Fester](http://maggieg.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/f_charge.jpg)). ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/33 "2009-09-09T21:50:33Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > 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 can`t speak for older men who have lost most of their hair decades ago but in my experience as a 25 year old with thinning hair on my crown, it can be very difficult to accept that your hair is really thinning. I remember clearly asking my hair stylist once if my hair was thinning and have felt much better ever since he gave me an unequivocal yes. It seems ridiculous to need someone to confirm you’re losing your hair but it’s so gradual and I totally felt better once I had outside confirmation. Prior to that I had asked a family member a few times starting with when I was 19 and they’d always said no. Even now, it’s only thin on the very top of my head and you can’t notice it in normal conversation. It’s really noticeable from behind at the moment and we keep it short and neat but not buzzed, about as good as possible. When I was 19 or 20 or 21 it was really just beginning to thin but I’m quite sure any family could have been honest about it. Since they weren’t, I deluded myself into believing it was just my imagination for years. So, if you`re 60 and you’ve been doing a combover for 30 years, I’m sure you know you’re really bald. But it’s a sensitive issue and I can believe men with combovers really believe they’re fooling people. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/34 "2009-09-09T22:37:36Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I keep a close eye on my hairline for just that reason – I’ll be damned if I ever have anything even resembling a combover. > > It probably won’t be an issue, as I have a strong widow’s peak, but, the instant it even comes close, off it all comes! My “Widow’s Peak” snuck up on my “tonsure” about the same time as I enlisted. I’ve kept my hair pretty tight since then and have been stunned (and a little insulted) when barbers suggestd I start nurturing a combover. I’m about a year away from just keeping it clipped to a 1 or 0. I would rather eat lint than be thought to be trying to do the combover. Combover symbolizes weakeness and denial. Shaving it bald symbolizes the intestinal fortitude to employ a retributive strike rather than suffer a humiliating defeat. What’s not primal and sexy about that? ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/35 "2009-09-09T22:41:30Z")
> [@TheMadHun](#): > > Much worse to my eye is ANY updo on ANY woman Totally disagree. A great updo can be a thing of beauty, especially on the right person. e.g. [this](http://media.photobucket.com/image/updo/LetThemEatCupcakes/Hair%20and%20Makeup/eva-longoria-updo-hair-styles.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/36 "2009-09-09T22:56:14Z")
> [@Hakuna Matata](#): > > 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! I’m pretty sure this is actually just another balding pattern, not what you’re describing. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/37 "2009-09-09T23:47:44Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > That’s not a combover, it’s a skullet. Also known as the Ben Franklin. 🙂 Ha, yeah, I meant that to be 2 separate thoughts but didn’t proof before submitting. :smack: Haven’t heard the “skullet” term. I like it. I think the high prize now will be to spot a hairnado and manage to get a picture of it! ---
**Author:** ![Hakuna\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hakuna\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna_Matata)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/38 "2009-09-10T00:42:38Z")
> [@Lama\_Pacos](#): > > I’m pretty sure this is actually just another balding pattern, not what you’re describing. really? Then I feel sorry for those guys. It always seems though like there is a fair amount of hair but just in a tuft right at the front. but do you think this is a natural pattern? They honestly seem more like bad hairplugs to me, but you might be right. I would buzz my hair if this indeed is a balding pattern. [bad hairplug 1](http://www.drfrankblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/post2_pic_1.jpg) or this one: [bad hairplug 2](http://img.perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/alfred_dunhill_store_launch__oPt.jpg) or this one: [bad hairplug 3](http://www.hairsite.com/hair-loss/img/uploaded/764_image293.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Jerseyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Jerseyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerseyman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/39 "2009-09-10T00:47:39Z")
If they shaved the rest then they might call it a Mohican. If mine goes, I’ll come it forward instead of the right and cut it short. I have high forehead anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274/40 "2009-09-10T00:47:56Z")
> [@Lama\_Pacos](#): > > I’m pretty sure this is actually just another balding pattern, not what you’re describing. I’ve seen it where it’s definitely plugs - tell-tale Astroturf pattern. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combovers/509274.md?page=3)