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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3608 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 2, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Good hair is a strong signal of sexual fitness, and baldness is selected against even if it's a largely benign condition.

But the question is why, though? I could be wrong, I don't think there is any evidence for bald men to have poorer health or being generally less capable compared to their unbald counterparts.

I don't think women like fully grey hair, but salt and pepper in an otherwise attractive man is mildly attractive. I don't think a young man can simply dye his hair grey and get anything out of it. Nor do I think that a middle aged man will significantly benefit from it either unless he's already hot.

I think you are right, that fully grey is probably not very attractive. And it might be the case that greying will make an already attractive man more attractive, but do nothing for a less attractive man.

This is not the case, and no end of studies have shown that younger doctors in their 30s-40s are better clinicians than their older counterparts who are ossified in their ways and not as abreast of new updates.

I think this will be true for almost any field, but in the case of clinicians, the confidence a patient has in their doctor is probably hard to account for, but could have a nonnegligible effect. Placebo and all that.

but if I do grey early-ish I won't really complain

I got my first grey hairs at age 20. I thought I would be fully grey before 30 and felt quite down over it for a while. I'm now in my early thirties and haven't gone fully grey, and since I'm blonde it hasn't been very noticeable. It is now at a point where people see it and comment on it, but considering I have multiple friends of the same age, who are balding, I feel lucky, that I have a full head of hair. And comments from women have been compliments, which is what prompted me to wonder about this.

Edit:

I am wrong. There does seem to be evidence that vertex balding is associated with higher risk of CHD and prostate cancer.

Hair is definitely a secondary sexual characteristic that acts as a signal of fitness.

Maintaining hair isn't the most metabolically expensive thing in the world, but it probably does cost something. Poor health often results in hair loss or weak, dry and frizzy hair. Acute or chronic stress can cause hair follicles to stop working and shed their hair, the medical term is telogen effluvium.

Perhaps baldness can be confused with hair loss from poor health and stress as well?

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