On October 14th, the focus will be on the beauty of bare scalps.
Strange holidays are springing up like mushrooms in the USA. For example, October 14th celebrates real sugar and Columbus, and it’s also the day when you’re supposed to give yourself a kick in the ass and let your bald head shine. Under the motto “Be Bald And Be Free Day”, people are called upon to spread their heads on social networks, whether baldness is the result of a medical treatment, DNA or an aesthetic preference. Male pattern baldness, also known as alopecia areata, can lead to a receding hairline and irreversible hair loss, which often undermines the self-image and self-esteem of those affected. Holidays like “Be Bald And Be Free Day” introduced by Thomas Roy and Ruth Roy are intended to send a message of more self-acceptance.
Fashion and courage
In the late 1950s there was a significant change in the perception of baldness. Shaved heads became a fashion statement and bald men were seen as more confident, tough and disciplined. The 1990s marked the peak of the shaved head style, with iconic heads like Michael Jordan and Bruce Willis popularizing the trend. In 1994, tennis star Andre Agassi, known for his artificial mane, also took off his toupee and embraced his bald head. When cancer patients lose their hair due to radiation and chemotherapy, the issue takes on a different dimension. Time and again, people express their solidarity with someone who is sick by shaving their head bald.
Testosteron-Mythos
By the way, testosterone is not to blame for hair loss in men. Scientists at Greifswald University Medical Center systematically examined this myth in one of the largest studies to date and refuted it in 2017. The analysis of the data from 373 male participants in the population study showed no connection between sex hormones or androstenedione and hair loss. The study complemented other results from clinical studies, which, however, were only based on very small numbers of cases.
The actual cause of male hair loss is still not fully understood, which is why there are currently only a few active ingredients for therapy, some of which have significant side effects. In addition to genetic factors, recent findings indicate that both the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a derivative of testosterone, and the tissue hormone prostaglandin D2 are suspected of being responsible for hair loss.
Light at the top
In any case, the probability that a man will become at least partially bald in his life is high: 30 percent of white men are affected by the age of 30, and by the age of 50 the figure is already half. And those who still show no signs of hair loss at the age of 70 are one fifth of the male population, according to a publication by “Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine”. As the “Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology” wrote in 2005, white men are significantly more likely to suffer from hair loss than men of Asian, Indo-American or African descent.
How burdensome the issue is for women was shown in an eye-catching way at the 2022 Oscars. At that time, Will Smith responded to a joke about his then wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair loss – she also suffers from alopecia – with a slap in the face on an open stage. (sh)
