In praise of bald men

Lots of guys are happy being bald - by choice or by chance

Published: Feb 2005

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA -

Baldness. Mostly, it's a guy thing.

For 40 million North American men, natural baldness may well be a chosen state, even a vanity.

Vicki Nagle wouldn't have it any other way: Her husband, Jim, was bald in his 20s and now - he is 59 - she thinks bald is sexy.

Jim said, "Bald men just have to try harder.

"We don't worry about how we look; we worry about what we are about."

For a variety of reasons, many men choose to shave their heads, go proudly without hats and enjoy the convenience and the freedom.

Champ Hall, a bald barber, got rid of a ponytail to be bald for the convenience of it.

"Bald men are often wealthy," he said. Look at Michael Jordan and LL Cool J, the rapper. Donald Trump. He should go bald.

"Bald seems meaner, somehow," said Hall. "Bruce Willis."

There are several reasons for baldness, said Dr. John Kiley, a board-certified physician with offices in Rockville and Towson, Md.

The predominant form of baldness is called male pattern dominance. It has been defined through 10 stages, beginning at the crown and progressing through the dome-with-fringe state.

Baldness is a normal part of aging, said Kiley, who has performed 10 hair transplants every week for the past 22 years on people up and down the East Coast.

In men, percentages move up by decades: 20 percent of men age 20 are bald, for example, and it increases through the years. Seventy percent of men age 70 are bald, according to Kiley.

"Many men perceive this baldness to be part of their masculinity and are proud of it," said Kiley. When men come to him for transplants, it is most often for one of two reasons.

First, in certain career fields, such as business or entertainment, "good hair" is part of the look of success, he said.

In the second case, financial status may improve as the man gets older but "hair status" declines. These men frequently like to socialize with people who are younger, said Kiley.

"Some men, like Michael Jordan, look good with completely bald heads," said Kiley. "Unfortunately, most mens' heads are too lumpy or oddly shaped to look good with no hair."

Hair transplants are effective. Kiley said that 95 percent of transplanted follicles will produce hair. However, it's a case of moving the hair to a more prominent place on your own head, an environment where hair follicles are already diminishing. Only identical twins can swap hair grafts successfully.

Male pattern baldness is, indeed, a family matter. But whether to blame Mom or Dad for natural baldness is yet to be proven, according to Dr. Carol Hepfer, who teaches human genetics at Millersville University. (And, by chance, her husband is bald.)

Hepfer said that, according to the scientific database Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/), "It appears that more than one gene is responsible and you can inherit baldness from your mother or your father.

"No official investigations indicate that genes for baldness are linked to the sex (X or Y) chromosomes. One theory suggests that if a male carries one gene for baldness, he expresses (shows) it. If a female carries a copy of the gene for baldness, she doesn't usually express it," Hepfer said.

Then, there is a common suggestion that baldness goes along with higher levels of testosterone, the male hormone. Perhaps bald men are sexier?

"Hormone levels can influence the expression of genes," Hepfer admitted. "Males have higher levels of testosterone, and testosterone levels may play a role in hair loss. From there, you would have to make some jumps in logic to prove that point."

Jim Nagle of Lancaster, and Dan Sullivan of Quarryville are 20-percenters. They went bald in their 20s.

Josh Witmer is 38 and a 30-percenter. He gave up and shaved what little hair he had last year. Baldness is new to him so he wears a hat for protection against cold and sunburn.

"In winter I always wear a little cap," said Witmer. "I didn't realize how much insulation is provided by even a tiny bit of hair."

On Feb. 17, the night before the next collegiate championship swim meets, Bob Rueppel, Franklin & Marshall College swim coach, shaved all the hair and one thin layer of skin from the heads of all the men swimmers.

They choose to be bald. They prepare for this important ritual the night before the big meet. They're psyched.

Baldness in swimmers is not what most people think, Rueppel said. The reason heads are shaved has nothing to do with hair creating "drag" when the swimmer is in the water.

The physiology is carefully researched. The hair is shaved to bring the nerve endings closer to the surface, physically enhancing performance and improving output.

"The feeling to the swimmer is numbness, euphoria, exhilaration and a sense of lightness.

"Everything becomes easier," Rueppel said.

Whether baldness improves performance, makes a man sexier, wealthier, or gives a sense of convenience, lightness or freedom, "It's hard to tell anymore," said Cheryl Hartman, "whether a man is bald by nature or bald by choice.

"I prefer baldness," she said, "and, yes, I think my husband is sexy. And what's more ...

"We don't fight over the hair dryer anymore."