4 ms·

Wasn't aware that baldness was a problem.

by nerbert 4y ago

edge17 4y ago
Whatever it is, problem or not, it's a huge market.
mywittyname 4y ago
It effects like 2/3s of men by age 35 and about 1/2 of women by age 55.
jjoonathan 4y ago
Bald man here: I got clued in when I accidentally started A/B testing with a baseball cap. It was strange, every so often I would have a day where people were noticeably warmer on average. They would laugh at my jokes, they would help carry a conversation, they would let me have the stage in a group discussion without pushing in -- it was amazing. This only happened every so often, and I chalked it up to luck and chance and some days just being better than others. On one of these good days, I was busy regaling my enraptured audience with a tale about a covey of quail we were raising when I got an itch on my head. I lifted my hat to scratch and a wave of revulsion washed over people's faces. Instantly, they lost interest, glanced away, and looked generally uncomfortable. Someone even coughed. I stumbled but kept going, however it was clear that the story was now unwelcome so I abortively wrapped it up. I made a few attempts to restart conversation but got the "good day" responses were gone, I got only the typical lukewarm responses. I went to the restroom to look for something on my head that might have caused the reaction, but it took me some time staring in the mirror and searching until I found the culprit. Peoples' enthusiasm didn't return until the next day, when I ran the test again, this time intentionally, but with the same result. It was reproducible. "Good days" happened when I covered my thinning hairline. To be clear, these people included both men and women and they had known me for years. On a conscious level, they knew exactly what I looked like and that I was balding. On a subconscious level, though, they treated me very differently depending on whether or not they had recently seen my hairline at its worst. Once I started paying attention, I realized that this behavior was universal, and a bit of introspection revealed that the exact same instincts were active in my own mind. Appearances matter! Incidentally, I've found that women tend to be much more understanding as they often have had similar A/B experiences with makeup, while men will often just chalk my observations up to confidence, reversing cause and effect.
- nurettin 4y ago
  Maybe it isn't the hair, but the hat? Have you tried with a wig?
  - jjoonathan 4y ago
    People saw the ugly underside of the baseball cap bill and flipped? Kindly understand that you have probably put at most 1/1000th the thought into this that I have, and that I have 15 more years of first hand corroborating evidence to follow it up with. Even a number of informal RCTs! If you don't trust me, that's certainly your right -- I'll just ask you to keep an open mind, point you in the direction of the "bad hair = bad person" Hollywood trope, and let you go on your way. Wigs boost me into a tier of attractiveness far beyond what I was able to achieve with a hat coverup and, later, with shaving. On one hand wigs yield far better results than people realize, but on the other they demand upkeep, disclosure, and the social stigma is severe if you "get caught." I don't use them because hair systems (wig + glue -- the good ones) get nasty quickly from my workout routine, so I prefer to just go shaved. When you start losing hair, all of your compensating options have steep tradeoffs.
    - corpMaverick 4y ago
      I find your comments distinctly funny. Perhaps it is your hat/wig day ?
      - jjoonathan 4y ago
        Hah, wigs make me so damn attractive that women initiate conversations. Feel the power!
      - smegsicle 4y ago
        on the internet, everyone is wearing a hat/wig
- mancerayder 4y ago
  There's a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Jeff gets his head shaved by accident due to something Larry said to a doctor who was about to work on Jeff. From then on Jeff experiences loss of a client, being ignored by wait staff, and is made to experience the status Larry tried to tell him about. I think there are a lot of physical things that people judge us over: body type, height, weird quirks like an eye problem or a big mole. Attractiveness of the face is very important in how we're treated. I feel like we'll hyper focus on whatever our weakness is compared to the norm, and it turns into the center of the world for us. The most important is the attitude and vibe you put on. There are inspirational figures in government, industry and entertainment that buck the trend and use whatever personality traits to overcome the physical. I can point to any number of ugly people who are treated as if they weren't.

Wasn't aware that baldness was a problem.

edge17 4y ago

Whatever it is, problem or not, it's a huge market.

mywittyname 4y ago

It effects like 2/3s of men by age 35 and about 1/2 of women by age 55.

jjoonathan 4y ago

Bald man here: I got clued in when I accidentally started A/B testing with a baseball cap. It was strange, every so often I would have a day where people were noticeably warmer on average. They would laugh at my jokes, they would help carry a conversation, they would let me have the stage in a group discussion without pushing in -- it was amazing. This only happened every so often, and I chalked it up to luck and chance and some days just being better than others. On one of these good days, I was busy regaling my enraptured audience with a tale about a covey of quail we were raising when I got an itch on my head. I lifted my hat to scratch and a wave of revulsion washed over people's faces. Instantly, they lost interest, glanced away, and looked generally uncomfortable. Someone even coughed. I stumbled but kept going, however it was clear that the story was now unwelcome so I abortively wrapped it up. I made a few attempts to restart conversation but got the "good day" responses were gone, I got only the typical lukewarm responses. I went to the restroom to look for something on my head that might have caused the reaction, but it took me some time staring in the mirror and searching until I found the culprit. Peoples' enthusiasm didn't return until the next day, when I ran the test again, this time intentionally, but with the same result. It was reproducible. "Good days" happened when I covered my thinning hairline. To be clear, these people included both men and women and they had known me for years. On a conscious level, they knew exactly what I looked like and that I was balding. On a subconscious level, though, they treated me very differently depending on whether or not they had recently seen my hairline at its worst. Once I started paying attention, I realized that this behavior was universal, and a bit of introspection revealed that the exact same instincts were active in my own mind. Appearances matter! Incidentally, I've found that women tend to be much more understanding as they often have had similar A/B experiences with makeup, while men will often just chalk my observations up to confidence, reversing cause and effect.

nurettin 4y ago
Maybe it isn't the hair, but the hat? Have you tried with a wig?
- jjoonathan 4y ago
  People saw the ugly underside of the baseball cap bill and flipped? Kindly understand that you have probably put at most 1/1000th the thought into this that I have, and that I have 15 more years of first hand corroborating evidence to follow it up with. Even a number of informal RCTs! If you don't trust me, that's certainly your right -- I'll just ask you to keep an open mind, point you in the direction of the "bad hair = bad person" Hollywood trope, and let you go on your way. Wigs boost me into a tier of attractiveness far beyond what I was able to achieve with a hat coverup and, later, with shaving. On one hand wigs yield far better results than people realize, but on the other they demand upkeep, disclosure, and the social stigma is severe if you "get caught." I don't use them because hair systems (wig + glue -- the good ones) get nasty quickly from my workout routine, so I prefer to just go shaved. When you start losing hair, all of your compensating options have steep tradeoffs.
  - corpMaverick 4y ago
    I find your comments distinctly funny. Perhaps it is your hat/wig day ?
    - jjoonathan 4y ago
      Hah, wigs make me so damn attractive that women initiate conversations. Feel the power!
    - smegsicle 4y ago
      on the internet, everyone is wearing a hat/wig
mancerayder 4y ago
There's a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Jeff gets his head shaved by accident due to something Larry said to a doctor who was about to work on Jeff. From then on Jeff experiences loss of a client, being ignored by wait staff, and is made to experience the status Larry tried to tell him about. I think there are a lot of physical things that people judge us over: body type, height, weird quirks like an eye problem or a big mole. Attractiveness of the face is very important in how we're treated. I feel like we'll hyper focus on whatever our weakness is compared to the norm, and it turns into the center of the world for us. The most important is the attitude and vibe you put on. There are inspirational figures in government, industry and entertainment that buck the trend and use whatever personality traits to overcome the physical. I can point to any number of ugly people who are treated as if they weren't.