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baldness and hats

Richard

Familiar Face
Messages
72
when I wear my hat, people look at me. I think they think I'm bald. Not that I necessarily care what they think, and Im not saying im a mind reader. I just feel that they're looking at me as if I were bald. I'm not actually bald. I don't really care if I were bald, but i happen not to be bald right now. maybe later. If they are thinking, hey there's a bald guy in a hat, they would happen to be wrong in my case. In other cases, they might be right. Is it true that everyone assumes a guy wearing a hat is bald? the reason it matters I think is that it could be a deterrent to hat wear catchign on. guys with hair will think, I don't want to look like a bald guy, so they wont put ona hat because people will assume they're bald.
 

K.D. Lightner

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,354
Location
Des Moines, IA
I think our culture over the past few decades has become so style-conscious over fancy hair-dos for both men and women, that when someone does wear a hat, many people consider that the hat wearer doesn't have hair to show off, i.e., bald or bad-hair day.

I have sold or given hats to coworkers and friends who won't wear their hats if they just got a new hair style. They wear their hats and caps to "cover up" so to speak, not to look stylish in a hat.

I saw a young guy recently who had a shaved head driving in a convertible in 110 degree heat outside Palm Springs and he did not have a hat on. I thought, oh, lord, is he going to have a heat stroke, or a burned head, what is wrong with that guy? But, the cool style right now for young men is that totally shaved head look and they want to show off their style. A hat covers it up.

Sometimes we women who wear hats and caps everyday are suspect of having either very thin hair or even being on chemotherapy!!

It's all slowly changing, but, yes, I think many people see us in hats and think there must be something wrong or something missing, or why would we be wearing a hat?

karol
 
Hmmm... I never actually thought of this. I suppose I don't care one way or the other but maybe some think of it.
The one thing that has come to my attention is that some think that wearing hats causes baldness. This is ridiculous and totally unproven and I can even rebut it with members of my family as evidence but people will think what they think. It is sort of like the chicken and the egg. Did baldness come first or did the hat cause the baldness? It is probably because the folically challenged wear hats that causes the false causality in people's minds. :p
I really don't care. I am wearing a hat. Having less hair won't kill me but skin cancer just might. :eek:

Regards to all,

J
 

BellyTank

I'll Lock Up
Losing-Receding

People who have their hair pulled back really tight, like in a pony-tail,
men or women, can suffer from a receding hairline-
It strains the hair follicles and they eventually give up.
The hairline at the front can recede-
Have a look at some folks with raked back hair...
True!

B
T
 
BellyTank said:
People who have their hair pulled back really tight, like in a pony-tail,
men or women, can suffer from a receding hairline-
It strains the hair follicles and they eventually give up.
The hairline at the front can recede-
Have a look at some folks with raked back hair...
True!

Yeah but the hat didn't cause that gravity did. :p

Regards to all,

J
 

K.D. Lightner

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,354
Location
Des Moines, IA
My Grandpa wore a hat almost constantly, indoors and out, a big black Stetson I would love to have today, but it got tossed out after he died (I was 13 at the time).

He had a head of beautiful hair, white by the time I was born. He died with a full head of hair.

You're right, James, it's the skin cancer I would worry about, not baldness.

karol
 

MattC

A-List Customer
Messages
424
Location
San Francisco and New York City
Sticky Liners

Hi folks. I haven't posted before, but this thread raises a question I'd like to ask. I have an Akubra Stockman, a great work ourdoors or rainy day hat. The hat sits low, and the back of the crown rests on my head. The liner has a plastic cover over the Akubra name and logo. I am bald, and when I sweat, the top of my head sticks to the liner. It even pulls the liner out of place when I take the hat off. This doesn't happen with hats that do not have a platic cover in the center of the liner. Anyone have a solution?
 
One of two solutions will work. One: have the crown reblocked so it isn't so low in the back and doesn't touch your head. Two: Yank the plastic off the liner. Those are usually just a topper covering that is sewn in place over the liner logo. The come off really easy because most of the time they are cracked and you can go at it from the center of the plastic to the outer edges where it is sewn down.
Just a few suggestions.

regards to all,

J
 

gandydancer

Familiar Face
Messages
95
Location
Blue Ridge Mountains of NC
Hum..?

I wear a hat for two reasons.

1. I think it looks cool.

2. It keeps the weather (sun, rain, or snow) off my glasses and the back of my neck.

Now my hair is thining, but it is pretty much all there. I have worn it highly styled, and a couple of weeks ago I cut it to a crew cut due to laziness. Reguardless most of the time since 1960 I've wore a hat, not a cap, a hat. They are not the same thing.

I think the main reason people don't wear hats is the hassle, and the fact it is not the in thing to do. You would be amazed how much that second point means to most people. If 2/3rds of the people started wearing hats tomorrow you would be hard put to find anyone without a hat.
 

Richard

Familiar Face
Messages
72
contrarian

i for one am glad that people aren't wearing hats, because if everyone was wearing a hat, I defintiely would not.
 

Biltmore Bob

Suspended
Messages
1,721
Location
Spring, Texas... Y'all...
There was a time...

when a man would not be caught outside without a hat/cap. Society is much les formal and polite now. People dress like hoods and trash, and I think that is why they act like hoods and trash.
 

English Bob

New in Town
Messages
26
Location
UK
Its a class thing

Biltmore Bob said:
when a man would not be caught outside without a hat/cap. Society is much les formal and polite now. People dress like hoods and trash, and I think that is why they act like hoods and trash.

You are perfectly right, we are now creating a lowest common denominator society and there is no class any more. A hat sets a man( or woman) apart from the rest. If people stare at you because you are wearing a hat. Let them stare. "Quite frankly dear, I don't give a damn".

_______________________________________________

"He who dies with the most hats wins" original qoute
 

BellyTank

I'll Lock Up
'Trash'- Conservative thinking?

At the same time and maybe at the other end of the spectrum- you/we are maybe trying to say something in a lot of cases, a kind of rebellion, 'look at me', and a lot of it is surely status too- 'what a fine hat!'
In the old days it was custom, a norm to wear a hat- and it isn't nowadays.
People dress like what was earlier termed 'trash' because it is now customary in many 'youth' and fashion circles- it is a contemporary custom, a norm, a 'relaxed style' even.
I don't mind it, it's just that it's become a uniform-
Hanging jeans, hoodie, ball-cap... that's what's marketed to the youth.
Style in 'mass fashion' suffered a death with the 'hip-hop revolution'- the market has changed. When I lived in London, there were a choice of places to buy stylish, retro menswear but, sadly, that market has all but disappeared.
Soon, it will re-emaerge, as a statement against the jeans-hoodie-cap environment.
What people wear is just waht they wear in a lot of ways- not so much a measure of class (like classy)- a class statement.
I wouldn't label people 'trash' because of the way they dress- I think we can surely be a little less superficial and judgemental in our understanding of people. I for one wouldn't presume to judge a person purely by how they dress. I have friends who wear clothes that I don't like and would probably never wear- colleagues of my own age and younger, who are intelligent, articulate talented functioning members of society.
Wearing a hat won't make you superior, not in reality anyway.
But it all depends what you mean when you talk about 'dress like hoods and trash'-

B
T
 

Johnnysan

One Too Many
Messages
1,171
Location
Central Illinois
English Bob said:
You are perfectly right, we are now creating a lowest common denominator society and there is no class any more. A hat sets a man( or woman) apart from the rest. If people stare at you because you are wearing a hat. Let them stare. "Quite frankly dear, I don't give a damn".

Amen! I've always maintained that class is most apparent in its complete absence and sadly, the lack of class in our society is becoming more apparent every day. There seems to be a loss of not only respect for others, but self-respect, as well. Dressing appropriately to the occassion is but one way to demonstrate both of these attributes. Common courtesy and politeness towrad others are two more.

Anyway...sorry for getting off-topic! I AM bald and I also wear hats...not because I'm bald, but rather, because they compliment my personal sense of style and help me present an image of someone who pays attention to the details. I find that among the islands of civility left in our society, hats help me to make a positive impression upon people whose opinions are important to me and whose acceptance I value. Those who don't understand that are those whose opinions don't really make a dent in my life one way or the other.
 

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