Is Baldness Cool?

By Author: Steven Johnson
Total Articles: 490
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Ever since man evolved from monkeys, he has been worried about losing what little is left of his hair. Being jealous of monkeys is not, of course, openly admitted. Although Planet of the Apes did well enough to justify being remade, it's politically uncool to remind people of human ancestry. As you will know, the Intelligent Design brigade prefer the idea that baldness is sent by God to test our faith. However, instead of accepting this trial, people have been using every possible herb, root and various animal droppings to maintain their good looks — vanity has always been a heavy burden to bear. Since loss of hair is not a life-threatening disease, it's alright to try folk remedies. Most of them are perfectly safe — another way of saying they have no obvious effect. All of which does rather beg the question, what is wrong with baldness? People with hair get trapped into spending considerable amounts of time and money on personal grooming. No more time wasted visiting the barber. Major savings on shampoos and conditioners. It is literally cooler without hair to keep your head warm. But, perhaps most importantly ...
... of all, you can wear that baseball cap and take it off with it mussing your hair. Now how cool is that?

Well, the majority of men do not find baldness cool and, even though we can make the odd joke about it, there's a vast market for products to put a stop to hair loss. You would think after centuries of exploitation. men would have got the message. But they continue to spend millions of dollars a year in pursuit of a full head of hair even though almost every over-the-counter solution, cream and lotion are little more than colored water. More sadly, they also spread the blame around. It's usually their parents' fault for not giving them a perfect set of genes. That way, it's never their fault.

So let's exclude the other varieties of hair loss. People who go through chemo- or radiotherapy find their hair grows back. Those whose hair is affected by thyroid disease find the treatment for the disease helps their hair recover. Persistently high levels of anxiety and stress are associated with hair loss. Anecdotal evidence suggests hair does grow back when mood improves. For those with male pattern baldness (and that should be obvious when the shape starts to thin out), there's propecia. So long as you start the treatment early enough, i.e. before the thinning has become too pronounced and too many hairs have been shed, this is an effective drug. Over time, of course, all hair slowly thins and there's little that can be done to prevent aging having its inevitable effect. But clinical trials sufficient to satisfy the FDA have produced solid evidence of safety and effectiveness. On a slightly different point, propecia is also an FDA approved drug for the treatment of growths in the prostate. Again, the evidence from clinical trials is absolutely clear. This drug prevents the development of growths and, when there is some growth, shrinks it. Thus, even though you have no symptoms, using propecia for hair loss can also be reducing the risk of growths in your prostate. Sadly, it does not prevent cancer, but perhaps some prevention does make this drug cool.