To the unbald and thinning, it poses a terrifying threat and cause for alarm. To the bald [either by nature or choice], especially the long-time bald, it connotes self-acceptance, forthrightness, and friendship. Bosley, HCM, and all the other hair-restoration scams exploit the word mercilessly to garner business. SBG and other members of the bald community use it to suggest shared experience and affirmation in a culture that has conditioned us to believe that a perfectly natural and ubiquitous "condition" or "loss" must be fought at all cost. For those new members teetering on the brink of shaving it all off, consider that the negative power of the word "bald" is not a true reflection on being bald, but a commercial manipulation designed to rob you of your money and capacity to face reality.
Once again, you delve in the psychological collective that is the bald-headed man. Instead of agreeing or disagreeing with your question, allow me to expound on your hypothesis, by providing a social commentary on the world “baldâ€
In the past, the world “bald†was associated more with aging than with the actual development of hair loss. When we were children and were describing a person with no hair, we would say some “bald†guy. Being children, everyone was older than we were, so we all understood that “bald†was something that happened to older people. Therefore, we equated the word “bald†with “old†and used the two interchangeably. The world “bald†therefore started to pick up negative connotations such as elderly, weak and frail.
As the children of 30 or 40 years ago grew up, they kept the negative association of the word bald. Bald was something that happened to a weak, old guy and it was feared that if one were to become bald, they would cease to be “young.†Translating that socially meant that an individual who went bald was no longer cool and did not have the authority nor strength of someone who had hair.
When I stated shaving my head in 1997 I still felt the social pressures of the world “bald.â€Â I made it a point to tell everyone that I had a “shaved head†instead of a bald head. I even corrected women on dates that called me bald to remind them that I shaved my head. So why did I do this?
Bald = weak and out one’s of control
Shaved head = strong by voluntarily choosing to have no hair
Until about the year 2000 the word “bald†still had a negative meaning but then something magical happened. (Well not really but it was great for us)
The military crew cut, which had been so popular, evolved into completely shaving the head. With that, many celebrities, including those who had hair, started to shave it off to be fashionable.
With a slew of media attention, the world “bald†finally started to loose the connotation that a person who has no hair is weak or old or not cool.
That my friends was our liberation!
But my friends, we still have many who adhere to the old ways and we must bring them out of the past and into the future. Those are the ones who want hair restoration. Those are the ones who wear the comb-over. Those are the ones who still think that being “bald†is something bad.
Noner