Who doesn’t love a Michael Jordan, Lamar Odom, or Vin Diesel? Allegedly, the world perceives their look as a sign of masculinity. The Wall Street Journal recently published a report (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443862604578032541863652264.html) detailing a study published online in the Social Psychological and Personality Science Journal by Dr. Albert Mann from the Wharton School. According to the article, men who sport the “Mr. Clean” are perceived as more dominant and powerful. This may aid them in the board room, negotiations, business deals, etc.
A set of three experiments were performed, in order to gauge perceptions of bald individuals. In the first experiment, men with shaved heads were perceived as more dominant than men with ‘McDreamy’-inspired hair. For the second experiment, men’s hair was digitally removed and the bald versions of themselves were considered taller, stronger, and once again more dominant. In the third experiment, they found that men who are actually balding or thinning might improve their status by shaving their heads.
I only had access to the abstract, so I would have liked to critically review this article to see how they arrived at their conclusions. I could imagine that a completely bald individual may appear to be more domineering, more mature, more experienced and maybe even a more difficult negotiator. However, multiple sociological studies have shown that individuals with a full head of hair are considered more attractive, more youthful, and with more vigor. This study did agree with the finding that men who are balding or thinning were perceived as less dominating, powerful and attractive.
Check out the response to the WSJ article by Martin Peers, who thinks the study is nonsensical: http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2012/10/03/is-a-shaved-head-more-powerful-balderdash/
I have to say, I somewhat agree. When I was growing up, the ‘Mr. Clean’ was considered sexy, especially within the African American culture. Men with shorn heads, like R. Kelly, Michael Jordan, Boris Kodjoe (the list goes on forever) were basically sex symbols. Now that I’ve hit the 30 and up crowd, I’ve noticed that men only really shave their heads because they have to. Because as this study may have proven, a nice, shiny BALD head may come off as sexier and more masculine than a BALDING head. Two words: Andre Agassi. He went from balding mullet to a smooth dome.
In summary, if you are balding and don’t feel like treating it with Rogaine, Propecia, hair laser, or hair transplant---> it may be time to pull out the razor.
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