5 Little-Known Benefits Of Losing Your Hair

There’s just something unsettling about watching your hair fade, isn’t there? You’re not alone if you agree. According to some surveys, men rank going bald as one of their greatest fear about growing old. And this isn’t a new development. For centuries, men have been trying to find cures for fading follicles. The condition plagued the Ancient Egyptians, Julius Caesar, and Greek physician Hippocrates, whose proposed hairline-helpers ranged from pigeon droppings to castration.

For a genetic trait that’s seen across every ethnic group, it’s a wonder that evolution hasn’t nixed this terrible plight. But evolution, surprise surprise, may actually know what it’s doing. Because, as it turns out, there are plenty of reasons you should appreciate your chrome dome.

1. You Get More Vitamin D

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men, and one of its leading risk factors is low levels of Vitamin D. This is where baldness comes in handy. While there’s proof that higher levels of DHT increase the likelihood of developing prostate cancer, the immense sun exposure (literally Vitamin D’s largest resource) a bald head allows could counterbalance the excess and actually lessen the risk. So soak in that sun — but with SPF. Skin cancer can occur on any exposed skin.

2. You’re Viewed As More Dominant

Alpha males tend to have a little flare about them. Just look at a lion’s mane. Okay, that’s a bad example with the hair and all. But a sleek, aerodynamic head might be our version of that. Studies regularly show that men are seen as more dominant with a bald head rather than with a full head of hair (read: not a combover). Frank Muscarella, one of the many researchers to have tackled this issue, figures that baldness might have earned this implication of high social status when humans were still cavepersons. He thinks the bald men in his study were perceived as more dominant because “baldness is associated with the next stage of physical maturation, termed senescence.” Booyah.

3. You May Do Better In Business

Would Jeff Bezos still be Jeff Bezos if Jeff Bezos weren’t bald? The answer? Probably. But that magic 8 ball he calls a head probably helped him get people to sign on the line which is dotted. How? A study conducted by the Wharton School of Business showed that in addition to being perceived as more manly and dominant, men with completely bald or shaved heads are often thought to be better leaders. There’s just something about a shorn cue ball that screams confidence.

4. Your Facial Hair May Benefit

Your body has many different follicles (scalp, face, arms, etc.), but they’re all fed by the same hormones. That means that when you go bald, the excess grow-juice is rerouted to other areas, including your face, leaving you primed to grow a majestic cheek carpet. The dominance of a bald head mixed with the manliness of a full beard has become such a successful phenomenon that scientists are actually researching the reason for its rise in millennial aesthetic. It’s gotten to the point that some men are dropping several thousand dollars on beard transplants, so take advantage of your evolutionary gift and grow out that fuzz.

5. You Save Money

Men and women spend an average $59 per month on personal care products. And American men collectively spend an average of $1 million a year fighting male pattern baldness. Own your dome and you won’t have to waste your hard earned cash on hair waxes or barber shop visits (not to mention the in-chair banter). What’s more, that shiny head of yours doesn’t need to be washed as thoroughly. So you can cut some time out of your daily show.