Hair Loss

Stanley Doble · May 18, 2013

Toupees and hair pieces were mainly for show business. It was about the only area where going bald made a difference. Men wore their hair short, and when they went bald they went bald. Some tried the comb over. A better solution was to just cut your hair short and ignore it.

As one bald man put it "Who needs hair? What did it ever do for you?"

Baldness was one of the signs of middle age, like eye glasses and a thickening mid section. People did not pretend to be teen agers when they weren't.

Feraud · May 18, 2013

herringbonekid said:
look at this guy:

great head of hair... but how old is he ?

28-35? Kidding aside, he looks a lot like David Lynch.

Sloan1874 · May 18, 2013

He looks like David Lynch cast by David Lynch for his own biopic!

Mr. Hallack · May 20, 2013

Personally I wish I was naturally bald. I go through all my old pictures as a kid, teenager, idiot 20's-30's year old with my nappy hair, mullets, slicked look, etc. I shave my head bald cause I love the look. I would make a lousy toupee salesman

Zombie_61 · May 20, 2013

Apparently, my hairline is afraid of my eyebrows--it's been slowly backing away from them for three decades now, and my forehead has become a fivehead.

And in recent years the hair at the top/back of my head (i.e., the typical "male pattern baldness" area) has begun thinning. *shrug* I'll be 52 years old in a couple of months, so it was bound to happen eventually. If it goes, it goes; just another excuse to buy more hats.

vintageTink · May 25, 2013

Zombie_61 said:
Apparently, my hairline is afraid of my eyebrows--it's been slowly backing away from them for three decades now, and my forehead has become a fivehead.

My son asked me what I was laughing at.
How do you explain this to a five year old?

sheeplady · May 25, 2013

I find this thread interesting. I am nearly bald because of medical treatment. I really don't care if my hair comes back or it is gone permanently, as long as the treatment works. I'm also female (I notice most of the posters are men).

I only cover my head because I am in the weird 9/10s bald state now. Once I am completely bald (a few more weeks) I'm going to run around with a naked head, society be damned. It's summer, it's hot, I have nothing to be ashamed of.

ortega76 · May 26, 2013

For disclosure, I am bald. I have a thinning hairline so I just shave everything. I was curious because I ran across a reproduction of an old ad at some home decor store and it just got me thinking!

tuppence · May 26, 2013

I think the best example of baldness that springs to mind was the Henry Miller character in the 'Henry and June' movie.
You still don't see balding people on Australian television.

Zombie_61 · May 26, 2013

sheeplady said:
I find this thread interesting. I am nearly bald because of medical treatment. I really don't care if my hair comes back or it is gone permanently, as long as the treatment works. I'm also female (I notice most of the posters are men).

I only cover my head because I am in the weird 9/10s bald state now. Once I am completely bald (a few more weeks) I'm going to run around with a naked head, society be damned. It's summer, it's hot, I have nothing to be ashamed of.

Please be sure to use sun protection so that your scalp doesn't get sunburned.

MarkJohn · May 26, 2013

sheeplady said:
I find this thread interesting. I am nearly bald because of medical treatment. I really don't care if my hair comes back or it is gone permanently, as long as the treatment works. I'm also female (I notice most of the posters are men).

I only cover my head because I am in the weird 9/10s bald state now. Once I am completely bald (a few more weeks) I'm going to run around with a naked head, society be damned. It's summer, it's hot, I have nothing to be ashamed of.

Quite right and good for you!... I hope what ever treatment you are having does the job and returns you to full health.

I see quite a lot of women, possibly also due to treatment, or conditions such as Alopecia, embracing their look rather than hiding it... its crazy for anyone to feel ashamed for something they can't control, or is a side effect of a potentially life saving medical intervention.

Widebrim · Aug 1, 2013

Ray Milland had to wear a hair piece later in life; he blamed it on Paramount for having his hair curled for a particular role. Dave "Tex" O'Brien also wore a toupee, and even showed how he applied it in a Pete Smith short (if I remember correctly). If you compare Lon Chaney in The Wolfman, to his appearances in the Inner Sanctum series later on, it's apparent that a small hair piece was applied to the front of his scalp. According to a hair stylist I used to know, several actors today do wear hair pieces, it's just not that noticeable.

Ghost Rider · Aug 1, 2013

green papaya said:
seems like the men back then always wore a hat everyday

Exactly - one of the big advantages of hat wearing.

In true Cockney style: "Better a titfer than a syrup!"

edward_wils · Oct 5, 2013

MarkJohn said:
I see quite a lot of women, possibly also due to treatment, or conditions such as Alopecia, embracing their look rather than hiding it... its crazy for anyone to feel ashamed for something they can't control, or is a side effect of a potentially life saving medical intervention.

I agree. It's so strange to see such womens and difficult to understand why they don't try to hide their problems.

GHT · Oct 5, 2013

sheeplady said:
I find this thread interesting. I am nearly bald because of medical treatment. I really don't care if my hair comes back or it is gone permanently, as long as the treatment works. I'm also female (I notice most of the posters are men).

I only cover my head because I am in the weird 9/10s bald state now. Once I am completely bald (a few more weeks) I'm going to run around with a naked head, society be damned. It's summer, it's hot, I have nothing to be ashamed of.

How did I miss this post? Sheeplady I hope that you are well and that the treatment is having it's desired effect.
Your humour is to be applauded, you have such character. Not wishing to be insensitive, if you get stared at, or inquisitive children ask why you have no hair, you can explain your condition, adding that you had considered having rabbits tattooed on your scalp but decided against it, because you have to stand some considerable distance away, before they look like hares.

GHT · Oct 5, 2013

Cody Pendant said:
View attachment 1314 Comb-over!

If you live outside of our sceptered isle, you may have missed an advert, back in the days when smoking didn't kill you.
It features Gregor Fisher, the hilarious comic who gave us Rab. C. Nesbitt. This has to be the best/worst combover ever.
[video=youtube;rlYMID5qCdE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlYMID5qCdE[/video]

sheeplady · Oct 7, 2013

MarkJohn said:
Quite right and good for you!... I hope what ever treatment you are having does the job and returns you to full health.

Thank you Mark.

GHT said:
How did I miss this post? Sheeplady I hope that you are well and that the treatment is having it's desired effect.
Your humour is to be applauded, you have such character. Not wishing to be insensitive, if you get stared at, or inquisitive children ask why you have no hair, you can explain your condition, adding that you had considered having rabbits tattooed on your scalp but decided against it, because you have to stand some considerable distance away, before they look like hares.

That's a good joke!

Even after 5 months of chemotherapy, I didn't lose all my hair. I lost enough to be almost bald, but didn't keep enough to wear it out. I was disappointed. The one thing that they reassured me (or warned me???) was that I would lose *all* my hair. I was thinking wear some nice lipstick, some nice big earrings, and I would rock the look.

When I started my last 3 months, the nurse practitioner said that my hair wouldn't start growing back during this last drug (she was wrong, it started growing back a month later). I told her I never lost it all- something she has never seen in her life. Figures- the one woman who wouldn't mind going bald and I don't.

edward_wils said:
I agree. It's so strange to see such womens and difficult to understand why they don't try to hide their problems.

Cancer is quite an isolating disease, especially to children and young people. It helps to be able to see other survivors. Although I can reassure you that at times I did want to hide the treatment, even from myself, it was never something I was embarrassed about. I'm quite proud that I managed to survive one of the toughest chemo regimens that exists, care for my infant daughter, and still exercise and provide for my family. There's nothing weak or embarrassing about that- I dare anybody to do what I did and think themselves weak.

Saying that, the only strangers who knew I was undergoing treatment were other survivors. As a survivor you learn to spot others who are going through treatment. This wasn't because I tried to hide it, but because cancer survivors often don't look like in the movies.

Women have an odd relationship with their hair. We're supposed to have hair on some areas of our body, but no hair on others. It's kind of curious.

edward_wils · Jan 3, 2014

sheeplady said:
Women have an odd relationship with their hair. We're supposed to have hair on some areas of our body, but no hair on others. It's kind of curious.

This is very interesting fact for me as well.

Nobert · Jan 3, 2014

Ah, a subject near and dear to my head.

My impression is that baldness was indeed more of a stigma back in the day, a flame fanned by the same bonfire builders of the ad world who made us live in dread fear of halitosis and b.o., from which we could be delivered by the benediction of products like Kreml and Jeris. The only bald guys you seem to see in silver screen movies are bankers, accountants, bumbling and doting old fathers, and other assorted nebbishes.

I know that Groucho wore a rug on You Bet Your Life, under pressure from the producers. If the producers were going to insist, he said, "then there will be the devil toupee."

Zombie_61 · Jan 3, 2014

Nobert said:
I know that Groucho wore a rug on You Bet Your Life, under pressure from the producers. If the producers were going to insist, he said, "then there will be the devil toupee."

I'm convinced he started wearing toupees much earlier (at least while filming), possibly as early as 1939 or 1940; his hair is noticeably thicker in At the Circus (1939) than it was in Room Service (1938).

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