# Toupees -- How Common Today IRL vs. Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 28, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424 "2011-08-28T22:37:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![miamouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@miamouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miamouse)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/21 "2011-08-29T17:32:03Z")
I work at a catering hall. Mostly it’s weddings, and I see about 3-4 rugs a month. I attribute the ability to see when a man is wearing a toupee to the same reason that men who grow their hair long often looks ratty. They are not used to the care it would take to make it look healthy/natural. I also analyze nose jobs when I get bored. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/22 "2011-08-29T17:57:14Z")
I had a boss 20 years ago who wore a rug forever. Because it never occured to me that anyone would do such a thing I was surprised when someone made a joke about it. It wasn’t that bad, his hair just had a kind of rigid look to it, like it never moved. Much worse was a few implants I’ve seen over the years - so obvious and I can’t help thinking about having holes punched in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/23 "2011-08-29T18:39:18Z")
Elton John wears a rug, doesn’t he? I’ve noticed men where the rug is a different color and texture from the hair on the sides/back of their heads. That makes it pretty obvious. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/24 "2011-08-29T19:01:15Z")
I always thought the bad rug thing was just a cliche, or something that had died out. Then I had someone come into the office recently in a really obvious hairpiece. Dead squirrel on head toupee. Super nice man in sales… but the hair was weird. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/25 "2011-08-29T19:03:02Z")
Gary Giordano, who is suspected in the disappearance of Robyn Gardner in Aruba, [wears a toupee](http://thedailyrecord.com/ontherecord/2011/08/25/former-msba-president-speaks-to-today/). I think they are still relatively common. And I think most would agree he fits the negative toupee-wearing stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/26 "2011-08-29T19:32:49Z")
Supposedly the good hairpieces you don’t notice. I know a lot of the African American women where I used to work would wear wigs. Some good and some awful. They didn’t seem to care either way what it looked like. They were happy with it. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/27 "2011-08-29T19:35:37Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Gary Giordano, who is suspected in the disappearance of Robyn Gardner in Aruba, [wears a toupee](http://thedailyrecord.com/ontherecord/2011/08/25/former-msba-president-speaks-to-today/). I think they are still relatively common. > > And I think most would agree he fits the negative toupee-wearing stereotype. If he gets convicted and sent to prison, we’ll know fir sure very quickly. Mike Milkin went bald very quickly once he was in the slammer. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/28 "2011-08-29T19:38:05Z")
I’m not sure if Donald Trump counts. I believe he keeps an orange-dyed sedated possum glued to his head. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/29 "2011-08-29T20:07:27Z")
My dad wore one until he retired, about ten years ago. Most people never knew. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/30 "2011-08-30T00:11:15Z")
My barber wears one. I never realized it until he told me. Now I can tell, but it is far from obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/31 "2011-08-30T00:28:11Z")
Shatner? Most people know from the older pieces that he wears hair. No way anyone would know now, without prior knowledge. [http://www.exposay.com/william-shatner-the-59th-annual-primetime-emmy-awards---arrivals/p/13706/2/](http://www.exposay.com/william-shatner-the-59th-annual-primetime-emmy-awards---arrivals/p/13706/2/) [http://www.superiorpics.com/pictures2/Shatner\_JS151554.jpg](http://www.superiorpics.com/pictures2/Shatner_JS151554.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424/32 "2011-08-30T10:43:49Z")
> [@AndyLee](#): > > Supposedly the good hairpieces you don’t notice. This. A friend and neighbor of many years went waterskiiing with me. After arriving at the lake he told me he wore a hairpiece (in case a bad fall knocked it off). Neither I nor Mizpullin knew this, despite spending a lot of time with him at his house and in his pool. The hairpiece was amazingly natural, and was somehow attached with snaps that apparently, were embedded in his skull. :eek: He told me later he actually had several identical ones that he rotated through some cleaning process and that he had to shave his head periodically when he changed pieces. Trust me, nothing gets by Mizpullin; If she didn’t notice, then it was one helluva good rug. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toupees-how-common-today-irl-vs-fiction/594424.md?page=1)