Sign in to wowOwow

Enter the email address that you used when registering at wowOwow.
The password field is case sensitive. Click here if you have forgotten your password.

Please register for wowOwow

Newsletter subscriptions
Sign up to receive wowOwow's weekly newsletter and get our best picks delivered right to your inbox. Our newsletter content is hand-picked by the wowOwow editorial team and provides the top features, news, and commentary from our site. Subscribing to our newsletter is free and safe. We will never share your email or other information with a third-party without your direct consent.
By registering, you indicate that you have read and agree
with our privacy policy and terms of service.
Home › Style

Question of the Day | 10/06/2009 2:00 am

Wig sales are down ... Do you think the stigma of male baldness has eroded? What do you think about bald (or balding) men?

Wig sales are down — according to the Wall Street Journal — and it’s gotten Liz Smith and Candice Bergen talking about the sex appeal of bald(ing) men. Join the conversation …
© Robin Platzer/Twin Images
Candice Bergen

Candice Bergen | 10/06/2009 12:00 am

Candice Bergen's Advice to Balding Men

Oy. The wig thing. I thought the buzz cut had replaced the dreaded comb-over. And wigs — wigs have come a LONG way. Trust me. They are almost invisible. Well, the insanely expensive ones are. But I always found bald men very attractive. Not ALL bald guys. But my husband, for example, is bald and I think he is the most elegant, handsome guy. What’s harder is the BALDING guys. With patches of not-good hair. Little wispy puffs on their heads. Not a good look. And to them, I suggest a buzz cut!
comments21 Comments
Liz Smith

Liz Smith | 10/06/2009 12:00 am

Liz Smith: 5 Bald Men Who Are Sexy

I have been attracted to so many bald men that I don’t really know what you are talking about. Let me name a few – the food expert Lee Bailey, the Vogue writer Billy Norwich, the tycoon Barry Diller, the architect Charles Gwathmey, the actor Bruce Willis. Losing one’s hair must be mighty traumatic so whatever a guy decides to do about it is OK with me. There is a lot of evidence that balding is a sign of great virility, so I don’t know what you are talking about when you call it "the stigma of male baldness."
comments11 Comments
Julia Reed

Julia Reed | 10/06/2009 1:00 am

Julia Reed's First Love

Well, the first man I ever fell in love with was bald so I never thought about it as a stigma – in fact, afterward I always found it sexy. I was 16 (well, almost 17) and he was 31 (I know, I know – shades of Roman Polanski here), and the first time I laid eyes on him, I couldn’t get past his incredibly steady and slightly amused pale blue eyes. I know it sounds like a romance novel but I felt like those eyes were looking straight inside me and the top of his head could have been on fire for all I knew. Once I did notice the rest of him, I didn’t even think about his baldness – and I was a teenager, for God’s sake – but it just wasn’t an issue. I was too busy taking in those eyes, and his great ass, and his deep, deep voice when he played Hoyt Axton on the guitar.

comments1 Comment
Read more about: Beauty, Hairstyles, Men, Sexy Men, Style, Wall Street Journal

38 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

SURA B

Good for you! Though I had wavy, thick hair when young (a feather cut, it was called in my day), I now have very fine, thin hair which I wear cut close to my head, and it’s salt and pepper, verging on all white. I’m considerably older than you, I’m sure, and frankly, I realize that the present style suits me better than a passe version of my former self.

I also feel sad when I’m standing or walking behind someone who has worshiped her former self, and kept her now lifeless, limp hair trailing on her back. I sometimes wish I could tell her that her neck is lovely if only she showed it more.  

By SURA B on 10/06/2009 11:27 am
Yvonne Faye
The women today wear their hair the same way hair looked when one crawled out of bed after a rough night of drinking when I was young.  It looks terrible. 
By Yvonne Faye on 10/06/2009 12:41 pm
S A

I am 60 in January and my hair now reaches my waist. I have dark brown hair with very little gray in it, but that is not the point. I simply got tired of going to get my hair cut and then working on it to make it bearable. See, my hair is as straight as a board and as fine as child’s hair. I made this decision just 4 years ago when my hair was about 2 inches long and it is the best decision I have made regarding my hair since I was 30 and started cutting it above the shoulder. I can now put my hair up in a chignon in less than 3 minutes and be ready for anything! Best of all I get to wear hair jewellery. It is a fair exchange for having to give up necklaces because I have an ugly neck now. 

I agree with you A R, any woman trying to hang on to youth is fighting a losing battle. But growing old with class is the something worth striving for (and hair length or red toe-nail polish won’t have a thing to do with it).

By S A on 10/06/2009 6:09 pm
E .
I’ve thought for a long time that we have Michael Jordan to thank for men being able to embrace baldness.  Bald can be sexy but that is not the case for all men - so much depends on the other elements that make up the individual man.  To what degree of baldness, grooming and whether full-on baldness is natural or by the razor makes a difference to me.  There are many men who artificially create full-on baldness - too many in my view.  A well-groomed balding head can be so much more sexy than the full-on seemingly desperate "I’ll just shave it all off and appear stylish and not aging!"  Too high maintenance.  My favorite balding man is actor Ed Harris is gorgeous and sexy and so genuine.  Much hotter than the ocean of cleanshaven full-ons out there.
By E . on 10/06/2009 9:30 am
C Hardy
My Dad has been bald since his early 30’s and my hubby has the "buzz" cut due to Military and Law Enforcement - LOVE me a bald man!  There are some really GOOD LOOKING bald headed men!  Then I also loved Demi Moore when she went bald in GI Jane….she was sexy. 
By C Hardy on 10/06/2009 10:04 am
A R

When my husband started thinning at the age of 20, he went ahead and shaved all his hair off. He’s been bald for 18 years now, and the look really suits him! His only wish is that he could get waxed or have a treatment to prevent it from growing back weekly..

I like his look, and so do many others we know (men and women alike).

By A R on 10/06/2009 10:13 am
Belinda Joy
There is something to be said for a thick head of salt and pepper hair on a sexy man, such as the case of actor Sam Elliott.  Yum. But a bald guy can be just as if not even more sexy. I personally prefer men who are balding that make the decision to cut it all off. Especially if they have a nice shaped head. I am turned off by the Benjamin Franklin look of longer hair in the back and baldness in the front.
By Belinda Joy on 10/06/2009 10:32 am
Dana Pulley
My husband has no chance of losing his thick wavy hair, courtesy of the Cherokee blood in his veins. However, I think a bald man can be very sexy indeed. In fact, some men look better without hair then with it. I also knew a woman who shaved her head after dying it the wrong color. She looked so smashing, she decided to keep it that way for a while! 
By Dana Pulley on 10/06/2009 11:46 am
Norma Grooms

I agree Belinda Joy, totally turned off by the bald in front and longer hair in back.

Men who do the comb-over, does anyone ever tell them it looks good?

  I also think women who have extremely thinning hair look better with a shaved head or buzz cut.

 

By Norma Grooms on 10/06/2009 12:01 pm
Kim Horton
HA .. I work with a guy who literally looks like Mr Clean.  He looks great!!  I’ve seen more men with bald heads recently and it’s by far a better look than rocking the come-over or the slice and dice look.  I don’t care if my dh looses his hair he’s going in that direction as is, he doesn’t mind I color mine .. lol .. it’s all good. 
By Kim Horton on 10/06/2009 1:17 pm
Lena B
I love the sexy bald male!  Now that I understand what it’s like to be bald myself, I’m glad that men have stopped hiding behind horid wigs and toupees.  As for my alopecia areata totalis, it’s a day by day struggle with acceptance vs. self-hate.  I really miss my beautiful hair and I ache inside when I see a woman with a gorgeous mane.  But I’m so thankful that I don’t have a catastrophic illness.  Each day that I press through insecurity and go out in public; I’m blessed with affirming words from kind people. And although those nice folks probably think I have cancer, the positivity lowers my anxiety. I hope that one day women can follow the men and embrace their natural beauty.
By Lena B on 10/06/2009 1:38 pm
Laurel Sayler
I love a great head of hair but I also love a bald/balding head. My grandfather started losing his hair at an early age(he said having kids did it) but he never went completely bald. He kept the few hairs left on top of his head long and combed them back over the top of his head because my grandma liked it like that and the fringe around the sides were cut with a #2 clipper. The biggest shocks for me growing up were when my Grandpa grew a mustache when I was little, He sounded like Grandpa but didn’t look like him, and when he shaved it off a few years ago. When I was little I thought my Grandpa was some strange man after he grew that mustache and I couldn’t understand why no one else saw the difference. When he shaved it off I commented on his clean shaven face and he said I was the only one that noticed the missing mustache.
By Laurel Sayler on 10/06/2009 2:25 pm
S A
I have always been attracted to bald men. When I met my husband I was elated to find out not only was he bald but he had a trim full beard and moustache. That was it for me! He is still bald, still has the trim full beard and moustache and I hope he never changes.
By S A on 10/06/2009 2:47 pm
Jeanette Foresta
Wigs are out! They just never look right. Balding is fine if it is kept short. Shaved bald, or bald does nothing for me. Hair replacement these days look really good if it is done well, the ones where they put the follicles into the scalp. However being vane may not be worth an operation unless it is making the man depressed and he is young like twenties, thirties, or forties and it makes him look twenty years older. But, it is the personality, and the heart of the man that really matters. I myself like long styled hair, and neat short hair, but not crew cuts. 
By Jeanette Foresta on 10/06/2009 6:03 pm
M C
In the end, people are who they are. You can buy expensive products to change your appearance, but you can’t buy self confidence. There’s nothing like looking into a pair of eyes that smile to the core.
By M C on 10/06/2009 8:17 pm
« first‹ previous123next ›last »