New York: Worried about losing your hair? Take heart from a study that claims that bald men are perceived as more attractive, confident, and dominant.
"Choosing to dispense with one's hair is arguably a form of nonverbal behaviour, a form of expression which communicates information about the self otherwise difficult to observe," researchers from The University of Pennsylvania, were quoted as saying by Britain's Independent
The researchers also suggested that bald men might be more elusive than those with typical mops.
For the study, the team gave three major tests to college students, both men and women, asking them to rate images of men according to attractiveness, confidence and dominance.
In the first study, men with shaved heads were rated as more dominant than similar men with full heads of hair.
In the second study, men whose hair was digitally removed were perceived as more dominant, taller, and stronger than their authentic selves.
This effect was due to a large degree by their higher perceived confidence and masculinity, the researchers noted.
The third study extended these results with nonphotographic stimuli and demonstrates how men experiencing natural hair loss may improve their interpersonal standing by shaving.
Thus, instead of spending billions each year trying to reverse or cure their hair loss, the counter intuitive prescription of this research to men experiencing male pattern baldness is to shave their heads, the researchers emphasised.
Doing so will increase their interpersonal standing on a host of dominance-related traits, including their potential for leadership, they said.