Why are people so insensitive to hairloss?

[Oknow]

Had the following comment directed at me the other day when I asked a family member to assess my hairloss:

"You dont have much hairloss, and even if you did, I would have no sympathy for you unless you were dying from cancer"

My jaw dropped. And it made me realise that A LOT of people don't care about how it affects others unless it affects them. Leading me to think, why is hairloss treated as if it some sort of joke?

 

[Thickandthin]

Because it's a genetic thing. And a lot of people are immune to it. To them it's like making fun of a person with Down's Syndrome. It's genetic and will never affect them, so who cares?

It's just an easy thing to pick on because there's nothing a person can do about it, it's extremely obvious, and it doesn't affect a person's health so it's not seen as being insensitive.. It's about equal to being overweight, except even overweight people have the advantage because they can diet. Bald people are just screwed and just have to live with the fact that people can and will point out their affliction.

 

[s.a.f]

Because it only effects a minority of adult males who should be able to 'handle' it and must be vain to be concerned about their looks. :shakehead:

 

[Petchsky]

Agreed, but I'd add: Because they are not suffering from it!

 

[barcafan]

people are generally going to be insensitive about sh*t they haven't gone through

 

[Nashville Hairline]

I don't think it registers with people as an issue or a problem until it happens to them. At least it didn't for me. Now I notice it all the time, blah blah blah.

 

[karl_h]

I think a lot of people are not happy with their own lives so when they have a chance to say something to someone that they know they are not happy about (i.e. hair loss), they go ahead and do so.

Unfortunately, there are many people out there who are like this.

 

[question7]

Kind of unrelated, but its got to make you wonder sometimes what motivates people to say insensitive, and often hurtful, comments. Is it to try to be funny, or are they just not thinking fully about what they are saying.

If nothing else at least hair loss has made me a bit more considerate, I think.

 

[Nene]

ThickandThin, I would add though, that making fun of a fat person is NOT PC and it's considered insensitive. Whereas making fun of a bald person is just fine and dandy for some reason.

 

[Cassin]

Most people don't care about it...honestly it only affects a very small amount of people emotionally and some people do some ridiculous sh*t to cover up hair loss so it adds humor to it. Health wise...there is nothing wrong with hair loss.

 

[End_Game]

yeah, it's not taken seriously as a problem, despite the fact that so many reports have been written about its negative psychological effects. It's 'fair game' to mock bald people, but not fat ones. If anything, it should be the other way around, because bald men have no control over their situation.

One of my cousin's is seeing a psychologist now about his hair loss, and the guy who is seeing him told him that a large percentage of men who come to see him are either bald or short and have problems dealing with it. The others tend to have sex-related issues.

What's happened, unfortunately, is that the idea of men looking 'good', or wanting to keep up with appearances, is relatively recent. Not to say that men didn't care about their looks in the 'old days', but there was significantly less pressure for them to do so.

I honestly believe that if baldness was more of a woman's problem, there would be a cure on the market now, or at least better wig systems and treatment options.

 

[thetodd]

I think some people are insensitive about hairloss for the same reason they are when it comes to obesity, shortness, the shape of someones nose, etc,. People do it to make up for their own insecurities or just to be jerk offs. Most of us here have been through high school by now and know how mean some kids were to others. That tends to become less prevelant as people age, but that doesn't mean the urge to knock others isn't still there. The bullies just learn to supress their mean qualities because it isn't as accepted among most adults as it is with teenagers and those even younger. That's just a general rule and it doesn't hold true for all supposed grown ups. I find it very ironic that people usually harp on others for things that they have iittle or no control over. Did any of us here do something to bring on our hairloss? What about short people? Did they cause themselves to not grow past a certain height? Have people with big noses somehow chosen it? Even people who have issues with their weight can't be totally blamed for it, even though they can make adjustments to alter their problem easier than those with other issues. Let's face it, not all of us can afford a hair transplant or nose job and I don't know of any treatment that can make you taller (you can put lifts in your shoes to make yourself appear a bit taller, but your back will pay a price for that later in life). To sum it up, some people are just sh*theads. What can we do about it except to endure or kick their asses?

 

[Nene]

I think you make a great point end game. Back in the day men weren't supposed to care about their looks cause it wasn't macho. Feels like now the world is more shallow than ever and men are more pressured to look young like women always have been. Maybe back in the days being bald wasn't as devastating to young men because there was obsession with youthful looks.

 

[thetodd]

I think unattractive guys have always had problems. The good looking guys just weren't expected to take any extra steps to improve themselves. My grandfather was in his thirties when he began losing his hair, and my grandmother said it bothered him a great deal. He died when he was in his late eighties, so that means that hairloss was definitely a problem for guys long before the last couple of decades. I do think that if you were a handsome guy, you could get away with not being as concerned with certain things, like shaving every day, keeping your hair cut just right, or even showering daily. Now that the lines between the sexes is getting blurred, even dudes like Brad Pitt can't just let themselves go. I don't think there was ever a time when men who weren't so good looking could avoid ridicule for it.
It's just that in todays world, more is expected of us.

 

[somone uk]

Why are people so insensitive to hairloss?

because they are pricks

 

[uncomfortable man]

Because it forces people to confront their own vanity and possibly their mortality on a more subconcious level, so their kneejerk reaction is to shun it.

 

[s.a.f]

CCS and UCman back on the same day! Halleluja!!! unk: