# going bald.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 22, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295 "2004-07-22T03:29:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/21 "2004-07-22T19:03:31Z")
> [@nonpolar](#):
>
> Now I remember ,that my 80 year old father still has great hair no balding in any way, so maybe I’m going to be OK(DNA ,genes stuff).
Not necessarily. IIRC, the balding genes come from the maternal side. Look at your mother’s father and grandfather and her brothers if you want to know if you’ll be bald.
And I agree with **masonite**. Bald can be very sexy. Especially if you grow a goatee with it.
Combovers = BAD. You’re not fooling _anyone._
Bald = very nice. How you doin’?
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### Author:  [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/22 "2004-07-22T19:11:19Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#):
>
> Not necessarily. IIRC, the balding genes come from the maternal side. Look at your mother’s father and grandfather and her brothers if you want to know if you’ll be bald.
Anyone ever confirm this? I’ve always heard it but in my family, all the men on my mom’s side have full heads of hair into old age while on my dad’s side, they go bald early. And my brother started losing his hair in his twenties.
But he did keep it really short and I think he’s even more [handsome](http://www.funtigo.com/tremorviolet?b=154280&c=896843&p=start) than when he had hair.
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### Author:  [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/23 "2004-07-22T19:14:17Z")
> [@tremorviolet](#):
>
> But he did keep it really short and I think he’s even more [handsome](http://www.funtigo.com/tremorviolet?b=154280&c=896843&p=start) than when he had hair.
Dangit :smack: , I thought that link would take you right to a pic of my bro’ instead of the whole album. Anyway, the handsome, balding groom with the beard is my brother if yer bored enough to flip through some stranger’s wedding pics…
So, yeah, don’t sweat the balding… 🙂
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### Author:  [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/24 "2004-07-22T20:06:19Z")
Shave it.
Bald is sexy.
mmmmm…bald men.
That’s my take on it anyway.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/25 "2004-07-22T20:16:33Z")
We grow facial hair, some of us.
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### Author:  [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/26 "2004-07-23T02:14:53Z")
> [@observer](#):
>
> For Propecia users, how has it worked out? Are you getting new hair growth, just slower hair loss, or no results at all? Any side effects? Are your results justifying the expense? For many men, Rogaine has been a disappointment in both regular and extra-strength formulas, and even when it works it usually only affects the crown, not the hairline. I have read that Propecia generally gives better results, but it doesn’t work for everybody either. What’s the definitive word?
Rogaine/Minoxidil 5 percent solution should be thought as more of a hair preservative than a regrower. Many men starting to lose their hair, whether in the crown or at the temples, will probably experience good results with the 5 percent solution. BTW, it’s not true that hair loss at the temples cannot be stopped, or reverse (slowly) in some cases.
Minoxidil 5 percent combined with Propecia is the recommended treatment today. As someone said, you can get the former at Sam’s/Costco for $5 a month. Propecia will run you about $40.
Believe it or not, there’s been much talk about that new laser comb ($1,000+). For some reason, users are reporting surprising success.
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### Author:  [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/27 "2004-07-23T02:21:18Z")
[http://www.minoxidil.com/](http://www.minoxidil.com/)
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### Author:  [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/28 "2004-07-23T03:02:39Z")
My honey is 41, and while he’s far from bald his hairline has receded to a point where his best styling option is to clip it short. It’s probably for the best; his sister has delighted in showing me old photos in which he sports a white-guy 'fro. :eek: 😛
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### Author:  [@observer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/observer)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/29 "2004-07-23T04:21:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Believe it or not, there’s been much talk about that new laser comb ($1,000+). For some reason, users are reporting surprising success.
OK, I’ll bite: How could this thing possibly work? Anybody have any experience?
[http://www.regrow.com/lasercomb/lasercomb.asp](http://www.regrow.com/lasercomb/lasercomb.asp)
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/30 "2004-07-23T12:58:07Z")
> [@Lsura](#):
>
> Shave it.
>
> Bald is sexy.
>
> mmmmm…bald men.
>
> That’s my take on it anyway.
Well, dang.
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### Author:  [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/31 "2004-07-23T13:41:08Z")
I really don’t care. A fact of life. I do keep my hair cut real short (#1 clipper all over), but I’ve done that since I’ve had lots of hair. When my hair grows out alot my thin places look ‘funny’. Even almost bald guys (hair only on the sides) look better with closely shorn hair IMO.
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### Author:  [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/32 "2004-07-23T13:56:33Z")
Well, I’m thinning a lot on the crown of my head, thinning noticably right up top, and my hairline is starting the slow march away from my forehead (a small scar that was in my hairline five years ago is now an inch from the nearest hair). What do I do about it?
I wear a hat when I’m out in the sun. Sunburned scalp is a hassle.
That’s all. I don’t worry. I don’t obsess. I don’t waste money trying to “cure” it by popping pills or rubbing ointments in or doing anything else that might cause a little fuzz to pop up. I will never attempt a pathetic comb over. I don’t allow hair stylists to attempt to camoflage it. If I’m going bald, I’m gonna do it with my dignity intact.
I just have to figure out what to do with my beard so it doesn’t look weird when I’ve got a shiny chrome dome up top. Maybe I’ll go to a goatee eventually. I dunno.
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### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/33 "2004-07-23T14:38:25Z")
> [@Kilt-wearin' man](#):
>
> I just have to figure out what to do with my beard so it doesn’t look weird when I’ve got a shiny chrome dome up top. Maybe I’ll go to a goatee eventually. I dunno.
I happen to like a beard or goatee with a bald head. It doesn’t look weird at all. As long as you keep it neatly trimmed, it looks nice.
My husband is pretty bald on top, and has a longish mustache. I wish he could have a beard or goatee, but he’s a firefighter and isn’t allowed (so his face mask will have a proper seal).
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/34 "2004-07-23T16:15:30Z")
I look at pictures from when I was a teenager and lament the loss of my hair. When I first started thinning I bought the Minoxidil and later the Propecia. They were both PITAs. I also thought about the double standard that I was living. See, I’ve never been a big fan of plastic surgery. A girlfriend wanted to get her breasts enlarged for me and I thought that was stupid. “You should be happy with who you are” is what I said. I had to take my own advice to heart. Within a year, I imagine that all the hair will be gone from the top of my head, and I’ll have the Capt. Picard look, just not grey.
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### Author:  [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/35 "2004-07-23T21:20:29Z")
> [@observer](#):
>
> OK, I’ll bite: How could this thing possibly work? Anybody have any experience?
>
> [http://www.regrow.com/lasercomb/lasercomb.asp](http://www.regrow.com/lasercomb/lasercomb.asp)
We we’re joking today about an add for a Laser Baldness cure in the local paper. I just hope some creative editor places it next to an add for Laser Removal of unwanted hair. Have your cake, eat it too!
I am curious on the theory on this one.
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### Author:  [@legion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legion)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/36 "2004-07-23T22:46:50Z")
> [@nonpolar](#):
>
> how do you guys cope with hair loss?
> I’m 37 and still have head full of hairs ,but I’m affraid when the hairs start to fall off I will go crazy.
> The problem is I’m full of complexess,still single and little bit shy ,so I can not imagine being bald ,DISASTER!! :eek:
Nature tends to compensate. When/if you start to go bald nature will compensate you with thick, luxurious growth in your ears and nostrils.
I appear to have the tonsorial equivalent of a privet hedge up each nostril and a good-sized rhododendron bush in each ear.
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/37 "2004-07-24T00:44:38Z")
I have the same pattern as **Critter42**. At 38 I have plenty of hair along the sides & back of my head and just enough on top that I have to keep it short to avoid looking like I’m growing a comb over. Inigo’s advice is to not fret about the chicks–all of us bear some deformity, some obscene physical cheat. Some of us have hair folicles choked off by an abundance of testosterone, others of us are ugly. If you’re both, well…I give you Sean Connery, Bruce Willis & Ed Harris for role models. Ron Jeremy if you prefer.
As for me? I’m stupid. I live in Denver and as a Seattle native still have a viceral disbelief in sunblock. This provides much amusement to my pals when we spend the day outdoors and my head becomes a reading lamp…and then a horrible reptillian mess as the burn begins to peel.
But all in all, I’m in the magic wand camp: I don’t want the hair back, I just want it to hurry up and get to whatever phase it’s going to. Magic wands are for getting a 6-pack & a pizza to appear on your coffee table at 11: pm while you’re watching a small army of Uruk-Hai get slaughtered by 4 of Middle Earth’s Finest (one of whom is bald, by the way) in FOTR (yeah, baby! I got plans for tonight)!
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/38 "2004-07-24T12:01:49Z")
I was weird looking when I had hair, I am weird looking while losing my hair, and if I shaved it short I would be extremely weird looking still because short hair spikes on me, and I have a funny shaped head.
I’d rather be weird looking with a full head of hair, but I just don’t have that choice.
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/39 "2004-07-24T13:15:11Z")
The ancient Egyptians recommended a poultice of crocodile dung to reverse baldness…don’t know how easy crocodile crap is to obtain.
Anyway, an observation: my maternal grandfather went bald by age 30…however, late in his life, he started working in his garden without a hat…in his late 80’s, he strted growing hair again! It wasn’t real thisk, but it was hair…enough so he had to get it cut./ Could the ultraviolet light have re-stimulated his hair follicles into resuming production? I understand the follicles are always there…they just shut down for some reason.
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### Author:  [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bald/256295/40 "2004-07-24T14:51:59Z")
> [@spooje](#):
>
> God has decided you should be bald.
>
> Don’t fight it. \*Embrace \* it!
>
> Shave that head!!!
Yes! I think my hairline’s receeding (at the tender age of 24) and my Dad and both grandfather’s were both bald so I’m using the clippers to take it right down to the skin already.
Don’t come over or wig it, just be proud to be bald! 😃
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