If we look at how baldness was historically interpreted, we can see baldness can be a neutral experience. Historical baldness representations Historically baldness was depicted as ordinary. Art demonstrates this well. The following examples of balding men are taken from the Met Museum's archives and are open-access. They reveal baldness depicted neutrally and independant of … Continue reading Baldness representations
Hair loss is common in men and women, particularly with age – for example, androgenetic alopecia (or pattern baldness) affects 80% of men and 40% of women. For the most part, it can be physically inconsequential. Yet, modern society has a distaste for hair loss. Look at how news stories have speculated about whether ten-year-old Prince … Continue reading The hidden racist history of hair loss
Met Museum/National Portrait Gallery At least 40% of women experience hair loss or alopecia over their lifetimes. This could be alopecia areata (patchy hair loss), traction alopecia (strained hair loss) or another form. The different ways that women’s hair loss has been depicted across art history demonstrates the many different ways it has been interpreted over … Continue reading Alopecia in art history: the many ways women’s hair loss has been interpreted
Ancient depictions Balding is really common, affecting more than 50% of men. It’s also physically inconsequential (bald men live just as long as haired men). So why, in his memoir Spare, does Prince Harry refer to his brother’s baldness as “alarming”? An Ancient Egyptian depiction of a balding man. John Gardner Wilkinson / British Library As a social psychologist … Continue reading The art of balding: a brief history of hairless men
From our systematic review of the baldness psychosocial impact research (Frith & Jankowski., 2024), we have found a poor range of measures to assess baldness' psychosocial impact. These measures tend to either be unvalidated, overly long or not hair loss specific (instead being dermatologically significant). However a recent alternative measure has been developed from the … Continue reading Assessing baldness’ psychosocial impact
The Balding Buddy 