Why we Bald and If we did find the cure

[bballer290]

Im a new user 25 yrs old Norwood 4. Ive been thinking about why mammals bald, and I think it is nature's way to keep the population in check. What I mean by that is that when a person bald's it makes them less attractive to the opposite sex, therefore his chances of reproducing is less than a person with a full head of hair. In a way it's purpose is in the same way that nature uses diseases to curb the population. You may agree or not agree with that but I have a question for you out there. If we did find the cure for baldness and every man and woman had a full head of hair, what would be the social implications of this? If mammals were truly meant to go bald and science cures this, would this a good or bad thing in the history of man?

 

[Pyro]

Baldness is definitly not natures way of keeping the population in check. Since when was the population in check? There are certain countries like the philippines for example that is WAY WAY WAY too overpopulated, bald people or not lol. So if this was natures attempt of mantaining the human population, it's a pretty poor way of going about it.

 

[bballer290]

Well i agree that it has not curbed the population in terms of growth, but baldness at its core does make people less attractive to the opposite sex. But what do you think about the question i asked about what the social implications would be on the world if baldness is cured?

 

[Ori83]

it wont be as dramatic as you think, how did boob implantation changed the world?... it didnt, just made some doctors a little richer...

but i dont think that you or me will be around when a cure comes out so dont hold your breath and live now

 

[bballer290]

Yea and when they do find the cure it will probably be extremely expensive and only rich people can pay for it while the poor people have to wait for years and years until the price comes down

 

[powersam]

This place never fails to amuse.

 

[bballer290]

Yea what i wrote about why I think we bald was pretty harsh, i guess i was just venting...

 

[SheSawMyCombover]

Baldness as a sort of Malthusian check? I really have heard it all now. :woot:

 

[s.a.f]

Baldness is definitly not natures way of keeping the population in check. Since when was the population in check? There are certain countries like the philippines for example that is WAY WAY WAY too overpopulated.

Ahaa, but baldness is rare in the philippines! :whistle: (joking) ; )

 

[bigentries]

People were having kids when they were teenagers 100 years ago (and still true in some parts of the developing world)
Teenagers with something more than an NW3 are still extremely rare.
There is no way that baldness evolved as a sexual selection, people used to die in their 20's when humans evolved. It's the same way Alzheimer evolved, by the time the symptoms start, you already have grandchildren

Again, all the armchair biologists fail to explain why baldness is not a burden for black males

 

[bballer290]

well yea obviously the darker the pigment you have the better a shaved head looks on you, so maybe we should all get really deep tans or something lol

 

[John979]

Evidence is quite the opposite. Historically, baldness was viewed as a sign of maturity which was a very attractive trait during our more difficult past.

For whatever reasons, humans have become more "youth" oriented thus anything associated with aging is viewed as unattractive.

A corollary to this are the white wigs that were once worn by statesmen, judges, kings, ... as white hair was viewed as "mature" and attractive.

 

[bballer290]

Well if what you are saying is correct then why would they wear wigs at all if baldness was a sign of maturity. Even back then they still covered up their baldness with hair. Hair is a sign of virility and power, like it or not.

 

[moonbase]

This is a humorous thread... if baldness were really a good thing (which biochemically I believe it's not).. we would all be shaving our heads to look as bald as possible.

 

[bigentries]

This is a humorous thread... if baldness were really a good thing (which biochemically I believe it's not).. we would all be shaving our heads to look as bald as possible.

The majority of black dudes either cut it really short or have no hair at all

Like it or not, it is a cosmetic thing.
Shaving bodyhair is not a good thing also, but we in the West expect women to shave all their hair, there's even dudes who think having body hair is wrong.
Other cultures are different, men are expected to have facial hair in the middle east, there are still places in the world where women are supposed to have pubic hair.

You over think stuff that are basically social expectations. There is no way that baldness evolved in the last 100 years. 100 years ago, you better had a a wife by your early-twenties or you probably ended up dying without kids. Now everyone is waiting to marry after their 30's.
There is no correlation, people started to bald at the same rate, it's just that we are not supposed to marry young anymore, that's why baldness can interfere with finding a romantic partner these days

 

[uncomfortable man]

I think you are trying to superimpose a scientific significance upon something that is really more of a social issue. In this time and place in history, baldness is not popular... but baldness has existed from before the dawn of man (masque monkeys) leaving the scientific reason humans go bald to triviality. Till this day modern science still can't explain the reason that male pattern baldness/FPB exists in the first place.

 

[bigentries]

Till this day modern science still can't explain the reason that male pattern baldness/FPB exists in the first place.

Because said reason probably doesn't exist
There used to be a time when scientist tried to explain everything as a matter of sexual selection.
Look at Alzheimer's Disease. What is the reason for humans to have it? It's just a trait (a bad trait) that was never a priority to get rid from the gene pool, because most people carrying that trait never grew old enough to show signs of it

Why are humans still balding? Because it was never a trait that had any disadvantages in the early human history. Being bald, or having a huge nose, or any other cosmetic problem was never a problem when you only had to be stronger and more intelligent than the other cavemen to survive. Remember that women only started to choose their sexual partners by their own choice in the West a couple of centuries ago.

 

[s.a.f]

Evidence is quite the opposite. Historically, baldness was viewed as a sign of maturity which was a very attractive trait during our more difficult past.

For whatever reasons, humans have become more "youth" oriented thus anything associated with aging is viewed as unattractive.

A corollary to this are the white wigs that were once worn by statesmen, judges, kings, ... as white hair was viewed as "mature" and attractive.

Actually many powdered wigs (17th century) were not actually white. Only the grandest of ones were like that and it was just a style the powder itself was white unless it had a dye added. But these wigs were not really intended to be wigs in the way that we wear them today (ie they were supposed to look obviously fake) they were worn more like hats for occasions.

 

[bballer290]

Good points.... I just hate it when people say that why we bald is because of DHT and genetics. That is not WHY we blad that is WHAT HAPPENS when we bald. No one knows WHY we bald...

 

[HairPieceMan]

asking why people go bald is like asking why people have deformities.

ok its not as bad as that but it's the same idea, it's just a genetic thing, like a lazy eye or being very genetically short like 5 0 or something, or being crazy tall like 8 ft plus then dieing at age 20 becuase of it.