by Meghan Rizzo

Created on: July 10, 2009   Last Updated: July 24, 2009

Normally, we associate poor body image and low self esteem with women, and certainly, the images of women portrayed in the media does not help this issue. Society is far more forgiving toward men. T.V. shows and movies often show frumpy, overweight men with poor intellects married to beautiful and successful women.

However, there is one area where men feel such a degree of insecurity concerning their looks that it rivals that of the most self-loathing of women. The feelings of inadequacy that this issue can cause are so potent, in fact, that one might find the affected man spending hours in the bathroom fighting it, or spending days researching expensive "cures" on the internet.

This issue is baldness.

Well, men, throw out your Rogaine and your hair piece and please, please, please do away with that creepy spray on "'hair,'"for the majority of women do not care if you are bald. In fact, some might find your baldness sexy. Baldness, when embraced rather than artificially covered up, promotes an aura of rugged masculinity.

Observe the hordes of women who lust after stars like Bruce Willis and Vin Diesel. Neither of these men is outrageously good looking, so one might wonder: How do they get away with it? The answer is simple. These men are too busy fighting crime and racing cars to be concerned with their appearance.

How this translates to real life is important. If you don't care about being bald, women will not care if you are bald.

Perhaps a better example of a bald man with sex appeal is Larry David. It would be difficult to argue that Larry David is attractive in the classic sense of the word, but women like him simply because he is funny and he has no shame in being bald. Were he cowering behind a toupee, he would no longer be promoting a sense of self assurance and his comedy would likely suffer as people would be laughing at him rather than with him.

There are also those men who have hair, but shave their heads bald on purpose (much to the chagrin of their naturally bald counterparts who do not have that choice). Such men are appealing in that they seem free-spirited and low maintenance.

Confidence is key for any person on the dating scene and wasting time fretting over a perceived flaw is a universal turn off. Also, many women are critical of men who are too vain. While men might feel baldness is emasculating, women are more inclined to think of a man as a wimp if he spends too much time primping in front of the mirror. Most women would probably choose a bald man with self-confidence over an Adonis with self-esteem issues and a tendency to clutter the medicine cabinet with male beauty products.

To the vast majority of women (and there are polls proving this) baldness is a non-issue. However, for those men who are still unconvinced, take heart in the fact that everything balances out. The additional body hair you will accumulate as you age will be more than enough to compensate for what is lacking on your head!

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