by B. B. James

Created on: July 28, 2009   Last Updated: July 30, 2009

When it comes to baldness (and with so much else related to our appearances), beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, while some women will find it almost impossible to be attracted to a bald man or a man with a severely receding hairline, other women will not find much amiss. The secret lies in both the man's presentation and also in the other aspects of his relationship with the woman.

First, women's assessment of physical attraction is heavily influenced by non-physical factors. When a woman has an emotional connection with a man, his physical attributes improve. I'm not suggesting that she ignores the attributes - I'm saying that they actually improve, in her perception. This isn't a pseudo-scientific statement: It's a statement of fact, borne out by decades of research. So, a man who demonstrates some level of personal appeal to a woman is much more likely to be seen as attractive by her, regardless of how she feels about baldness.

The second factor is that a man's other physical attributes can help overcome one attribute that's less appealing. The cliche about men is that they are looking for the reason to reject a woman, and the cliche about women is that they are looking for the good thing in their man. On both sides, it's an exaggeration - but one that carries a grain of truth. So, a man who is in good physical condition, who has good posture, and who dresses well can go a long way towards making his lack of hair a non-issue. It's not that the woman won't notice (duh, he's got no hair!), but she will say to herself that he's in good shape otherwise and cares about his appearance. "I could live with that," she says to herself.

The third factor is that there are different levels of baldness. For many women, a deeply receding hairline is much less attractive than a shaved head. For other women, a small amount of close-cropped hair on the temples is a fairly good look, and certainly more attractive than a ragged bush of hair sprouting all over the place. And for pretty much every woman, a comb-over is a disaster that's worse than baldness. (In fact, I can't imagine why any men think a comb-over is a good idea, either.) So, a man's form of baldness is a factor.

Finally, a man with a good skin tone will actually look very good when much or all of his head is showing. That same man, if his skin is pasty or flaky, wouldn't look nearly as good. For bald men, a healthy scalp is worth a lot more than a few strands of hair.

In summation, there's a lot more to baldness than a lack of hair. Women are capable of judging a man's attractiveness far beyond the first glance of hair/no hair. And, usually, they are willing to suspend their judgment until they get a bit more information than the amount of shine that bounces off a skull.

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