Hair Loss

[ortega76]

So, I'm not sure if this belongs here or in a more "grooming" related category, but here goes.

What did people do in the past when they lost hair? How common were toupees? Did a lot of guys just shave it like they seem to do today?

 

[alsendk]

To be without hair today is far less dramatic than before. A lot of young, and younger men shave their head in order to have it short in accordance to high fashion standard. This is what I see in Europe, and among my younger working fellows, friends and comrades.
When I was young - in the 60`ties and 70`ties, the issue about being bald headed apeared to be just another thing. Commercials about toupees, and magic hair tonic overflowed the magazines and tabloid newspapers, and gave shorthaired people a feeling of an unwanted loss this way.
There is not much to do about it really, so the best thing is just to go with the flow :O) Many of my music heroes...Peter Gabriel just to pick one, have graced by age, by adapting the fact that his shoulder lengh hair is no more, and still he is the same fine man and musician, with just a different outlook.
In my family we tend to keep our hair, but I would never go for a toupee, or any trick, to make it look like I still had hair, if this should change some day. There are things in life far more important than this.

 

[Cody Pendant]

cLAsiC hAiR StYle

Comb-over!

 

[The Good]

View attachment 1314 Comb-over!

Whenever combovers are mentioned on other boards, that guy's all over the place. Apparently, he's from the website Slickville, which I found out about through my membership here (via the haircut or pomade threads), it's a weird site though.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

It is a very, very strange site. I went there, looking for suggestions for good pomades and quickly left, after delving a bit too deep into what they were all about. Nothing wrong with it, but not the place for me.

Whenever combovers are mentioned on other boards, that guy's all over the place. Apparently, he's from the website Slickville, which I found out about through my membership here (via the haircut or pomade threads), it's a weird site though.

 

[The Good]

There was an I Love Lucy episode that explored the hair loss dilemma, "Ricky Thinks He's Getting Bald," and a lot of the bald men in that one wear toupees, except for Fred. I think toupees in general were pretty popular, but I'm not sure about how much. Humphrey Bogart had supposedly worn one.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I remember that episode. I wonder if a lot of people then really did. My dad's convinced a lot of men in the seventies did. There also appears, from photos, that a lot of men just dealt with baldness and just worked with what hair they had left.

There was an I Love Lucy episode that explored the hair loss dilemma, "Ricky Thinks He's Getting Bald," and a lot of the bald men in that one wear toupees, except for Fred. I think toupees in general were pretty popular, but I'm not sure about how much. Humphrey Bogart had supposedly worn one.

 

[green papaya]

seems like the men back then always wore a hat everyday

trimming the hair short on the sides and back helps so it doesnt look so bad

http://www.plainolas.com/images/1930 MW Fall-Win p246 men hats, caps 2.jpg

 

[Feraud]

Humphrey Bogart had supposedly worn one.

Bogart admittedly wore one! I've read numerous quotes from Bogey about his hairpiece.

 

[W-D Forties]

When I was a teenager in the 80's I often wore a trilby and my mum told me off, saying it 'will make you go bald'. !

Actually, the bleach and back-combing nearly did that, the hat was blameless!

 

[Dinerman]

 

[Feraud]

haha awesome sweatband! :eusa_clap

 

[MarkJohn]

haha awesome sweatband! :eusa_clap

Ha!... that is a bold [bald ] claim. Reminds me of some of the old cigarette ads, stating "smoking is good for you"

When I was at school, our bus driver had the mother of all comb-overs, and when it was hot he would open his side window causing it to flap around like Medusa's locks... naturally, being grotty kids, we found it hilarious.

If I start going bald, its coming off... excessive greying is my problem.

 

[HudsonHawk]

If I start going bald, its coming off... excessive greying is my problem.

Yours turned grey...mine simply turned loose.

As a younger man, I had a beautiful head of thick, wavy locks. The girls used to love to run their fingers through it. That is no longer the case. But I always promised myself that I would not be one who pretends to have more hair than he really does. I only wax nostalgic about what once was.

And losing my hair is what prompted me to wear a hat regularly, not the other way around. A hat has now become an indepsensible piece of wardrobe functionality to keep my head from either freezing or suffering the most miserable sunburn one can imagine.

 

[MarkJohn]

Loose hair!... great way to describe it [mine is desaturating]. Wearing a hat is clearly the best way for a self conscious man to hide his, er.. issues - you'll not get any derision here for hat wearing, and it prevents burning etc.... Of course there are chemicals, for colour and loss, but I think a hat is safer, long term.

Yours turned grey...mine simply turned loose.

As a younger man, I had a beautiful head of thick, wavy locks. The girls used to love to run their fingers through it. That is no longer the case. But I always promised myself that I would not be one who pretends to have more hair than he really does. I only wax nostalgic about what once was.

And losing my hair is what prompted me to wear a hat regularly, not the other way around. A hat has now become an indepsensible piece of wardrobe functionality to keep my head from either freezing or suffering the most miserable sunburn one can imagine.

 

[herringbonekid]

i must say... it's much harder to find vintage photographs of bald men (and i don't mean just because they're wearing hats to cover it up)... men back then seemed to have fuller hair later in life.
i wonder if baldness is increasing with our modern (stressful) lifestyle and extended life spans ?

 

[HudsonHawk]

i must say... it's much harder to find vintage photographs of bald men (and i don't mean just because they're wearing hats to cover it up)... men back then seemed to have fuller hair later in life.
i wonder if baldness is increasing with our modern (stressful) lifestyle and extended life spans ?

Perhaps it's partly due to stress, though I think you're on to something about extended life spans. It could be just me, but people seemed to look much older back in the day. A man in his forties 100 years ago looks ancient to me. That probably has a lot to do with leading a much harder and more physically demanding lifestyle...or it could be that I'm just not self aware of how old *I* actually look.

 

[herringbonekid]

look at this guy:

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

 

[Guttersnipe]

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

I wouldn't be suprised if he was only in his early 40s, or even late 30s. Folks got a lot more sun and smoked WAAAAY more back then. The is a really famous picture of the country singer Johnny Cash, taken while he was in the Air Force. While he was eighteen at the time, he looks 30 at least.

 

[Sloan1874]

A lot less moisturising going on in those days too...