“Only recently has legislation been brought in to protect Black peoples’ right to wear our hair in its natural state,” he says. Guobadia also thinks Black men might also shave their heads to fit in with norms of “professionalism” or “orderliness” in western societies, which are underpinned by white supremacy. So typically, you end up with Black men with very short ‘masculine’ hairstyles.” That's because there are pressures within the community to subscribe to a certain aesthetic of Black masculinity, which often has a tension with longer hair that is perceived as a feminine aesthetic.
“You might notice that a lot of the Black men we see in the media don't typically have hair that is long. “Black men are allowed a much narrower band of aesthetic expression than white guys,” he says. Writer Otamere Guobadia tells GQ that this comes down to the competing ways that Black masculinity is appraised. It seems to be much more common for Black men to shave their heads throughout their lives, a style which presents very little contrast as they get older. I wonder why there isn’t the same stigma surrounding baldness in Black men in particular, who experience it at the second-highest rate. Statistically, male pattern baldness is most common in caucasian men, and least common in Japanese, Chinese and Native American men. But it’s evidence that baldness is considered fair game – and that it’s something even the world’s richest man feels insecure enough to spend one trillionth of a percent of his vast fortune on “fixing”. This might all sound a bit “won’t somebody please think of the Royals and billionaires!”.
And following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, people were tweeting “before” and “after” photographs of his scalp, mocking him for his noticeably enhanced hair. ( The article turned out to be based on some flawed data analysis). Last year, a Google study that “revealed” William as “ the world’s sexiest bald man” went viral, with most people suggesting otherwise in a predictably brutal fashion. Prince William has been dragged for his balding scalp constantly since his royal rift with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle began. But it’s also used as a put-down for famous men who are unpopular or polarising. I think bald men are hot and there’s no shortage of bald Hollywood heartthrobs, from Bruce Willis and Vin Diesel, to Stanley Tucci and Dwayne Johnson – currently the highest paid actor in Hollywood. “I think during the pandemic it got much worse for me because I was staring at myself in Zoom meetings most days.”īaldness is considered attractive on some men, though. I’m always checking my hairline,” he says. “It’s something I’m conscious of at all times. Dr Richard Rogers, a veteran surgeon at the Westminster Clinic in London, told The Guardian that his diary has been “packed” since the pandemic, with a 50 per cent bounce in inquiries.Īdam*, 28, from London, tells GQ that he often considers getting a hair transplant. But during the pandemic, travel restrictions led to a surge in demand in the UK. Transplant tourism has become popular in places such as Turkey, where clinics offer half price package deals including hotels for as little as a grand. In the UK, the British Association of Hair Restoration Surgery (Bahrs) estimates that there are about 100 doctors doing hair transplant surgery in more than 200 clinics – 10 times the number there was a decade ago. Google searches for hair transplants have risen by 44% in the past five years. That’s not to say baldness isn’t something a lot of men feel insecure about.