The Bald Truth

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Ian Marchant investigates hair loss and why so many men (and some women) care so much.

4 Extra Debut. Ian Marchant (head shaved since the 80s) investigates the stigma around hair loss and why we care so much about it. From 2018.

For thousands of years, bald men have been the subject of ridicule. As a result they've felt ashamed and have resorted to desperate measures to hide their condition. 

During the decades when hair style was a cultural battleground between youth and the establishment, the balding man was at the bottom of the heap. No prime minister since Clement Attlee has been bald. 

But increasingly, bald men are coming out of the closet and shaving their heads - and some women too. Research shows that bald men are perceived as less attractive but more dominant. Now that we are more relaxed about hair style, and more willing to tolerate tonsorial diversity, are bald men finally able to shed the stigma? And could the comb-over finally make a come back? 

Ian Marchant, who has shaved his head since the early 1980s, investigates.

Producer: Jolyon Jenkins.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2018.

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