# Receding hairlines: deal breaker? Instantly not-cute? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439 "2005-09-06T23:38:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wasson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@wasson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wasson)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/1 "2005-09-06T23:38:06Z")
As a young guy (25) cursed with a forehead that gets bigger everyday, I often wonder how many girls actually care about this feature. I get hell about it from my guy friends often enough, but women don’t seem to notice or care much. My girlfriend isn’t complaining, and I have been referred to as “cute” on more than one occassion. Based on my experience, I’d say guys care more about having a small forehead than girls do. What’s the straight dope, ladies? Can a bald/balding guy still be “cute”? Or would you describe him as “cute… but balding”? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/2 "2005-09-06T23:41:49Z")
In my view, a bald or balding guy can be every bit as attractive as a guy with a head full of hair. Some of the sexiest men in the world are follicularly challenged. Sean Connery. Patrick Stewart. Mitch Pileggi. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/3 "2005-09-06T23:53:17Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > In my view, a bald or balding guy can be every bit as attractive as a guy with a head full of hair. Some of the sexiest men in the world are follicularly challenged. Follicularly challenged is a fun term, I’m going to use it as I have thinning hair. I also have oral hygiene phobia and kleptomania, but those aren’t as sexy. ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/4 "2005-09-07T00:08:46Z")
Any balding or bald guy can be plenty cute. Just as long as he’s not trying to pretend that he’s NOT balding. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/5 "2005-09-07T00:14:55Z")
> [@wasson](#): > > What’s the straight dope, ladies? Can a bald/balding guy still be “cute”? Yes. The Cutest Guy In The World (Mr. Neville) is balding, and he’s still, well, The Cutest Guy In The World. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/6 "2005-09-07T00:24:15Z")
> [@Orual](#): > > Any balding or bald guy can be plenty cute. Just as long as he’s not trying to pretend that he’s NOT balding. You know something? That’s how it’s always seemed to me, too. It’s not the baldness that turns the ladies off, IMHO; it’s the insecurity men display about it. Insecurity in any way shape or form is ALWAYS a turnoff. I’ve heard women say that they find unabashedly bald men sexier than their hairy brethren. Something to do with testosterone, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/7 "2005-09-07T00:25:17Z")
My SO is 27 and getting quite thin on top. He’s also got some grey. He is, in my opinion, adorable. And he’s alllllll mine. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/8 "2005-09-07T00:35:00Z")
You know when my hair started going thin, I did exactly what I told myself I was going to do when I was a teenager. Which was shave it ALL off. -And man, let me tell ya’. If I’d of known the types of responses I was going to get from the ladies; I would’ve started shaving my head when I was six! Don’t even get me started on how cool it is to wake up in the morning and NOT have to mess with your hair! ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/9 "2005-09-07T01:09:25Z")
I’d rather date a man with thinning hair than a man that shaves it all off, and I know that he does it because he’s got thinning hair. That to me speaks of insecurity, which is so not attractive. You’re not fooling anyone! By the way, replace the masculine identifiers with feminine, and balding with small breasts, and you get a glimpse of the way women feel about their bodies! ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/10 "2005-09-07T01:14:40Z")
As long as the follically challenge male loses his hair gracefully, I don’t care. Come overs need not apply. Mr. Ujest started losing his hair, as he likes to say, the day he met me. 😃 But, really he has what I refer as a Bruce Willis hairline that he now shaves and looks wunderbar. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/11 "2005-09-07T02:01:59Z")
My girlfriend had a conversation about this this past weekend. It went something like this: Happy: You don’t care that my hair is thin in the forehead region? Girlfriend: I don’t even care that you’ll be bald in less than seven years. So I got that going for me, even if I got _that_ going for me too. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/12 "2005-09-07T02:10:19Z")
> [@Linty Fresh](#): > > You know something? That’s how it’s always seemed to me, too. It’s not the baldness that turns the ladies off, IMHO; it’s the insecurity men display about it. Insecurity in any way shape or form is ALWAYS a turnoff. Word. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/13 "2005-09-07T02:38:14Z")
FWIW, every man is given the same amount of hormones. If those other guys want to waste theirs growning hair. I don’t have a problem with that. I have better things to do with mine. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/14 "2005-09-07T03:08:14Z")
I actually find a receding hairline to be very attractive. I don’t know why, and once it’s become reced **ed** , the effect fades, but I’m very drawn to that in-between phase. Oh, and as long as there’s no combing-over going on, I find an attractive bald or mostly-bald man just as appealing as an attractive man with a full head of hair. ---
**Author:** ![Burnt\_Sugar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@Burnt\_Sugar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burnt_Sugar)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/15 "2005-09-07T03:27:59Z")
It’s fine to be balding. I’m even fond of the shaved look, myself. My SO occasionally worries to me that his hairline is receding, but I really don’t care one iota. I don’t know why _he_ does. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/16 "2005-09-07T03:57:56Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Come overs need not apply. Comb overs either. 😉 Hubby and I were together for about three years before he stopped doing the comb-over. One day the wind was blowing really hard, the mat of hair stood up and then flipped over to the other side of his head. I think that’s when he realized how silly it looked, and he was at the barbershop the next day. There’s nothing unattractive about a receding hairline. I’ve heard women complain about dirty greasy hair on a guy, but never about baldness. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/17 "2005-09-07T04:37:27Z")
I prefer to think of it as an advancing forehead vs a receding hairline. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/18 "2005-09-07T04:39:45Z")
I’m currently buzzing my hair really short because I’m thinning so much on top. Most of the comments I’ve received have been overwhelmingly positive, even though it’s pretty obvious I’m balding to begin with. Luckily, really short hair is in these days. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/19 "2005-09-07T05:07:01Z")
> [@trublmakr](#): > > I’d rather date a man with thinning hair than a man that shaves it all off, and I know that he does it because he’s got thinning hair. That to me speaks of insecurity, which is so not attractive. You’re not fooling anyone! I disagree. I find it far more attractive when a man acknowledges the hair loss and simply gets rid of the problem than when he tries to hide it with comb overs or whatever. I’ve seen many men with shaved heads (including my husband. What, me biased?), and that always looks far better than the men who go to extensive lengths to hide the fact that they are balding. _They_ aren’t fooling anyone but themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439/20 "2005-09-07T05:27:02Z")
My husband shaves his head, but that’s because he looks so damn good that way. He’s not yet balding anywhere, but it won’t matter a bit to me if he ever does lose it all. Most guys on the street I see that are balding are cute if they’re cute. It barely registers sometimes that they are showing off a lot more forehead than some. I had a friend in high school who starting going bald when he was 15. He was adorable. He looked just like his father, who, incidentally, was also adorable. I would have dated … er … either one of them. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/receding-hairlines-deal-breaker-instantly-not-cute/320439.md?page=2)