We girls don’t like to be body shamed.
Whether people are commenting on our weight, hair, skin, or any other part of our anatomy, our usual response as woke millennial women is to tell them to go mind their own business.
So why is it that it’s considered OK to body shame guys, especially on very sensitive issues like premature balding?
Hair Scare
Hair matters a lot to most people because it’s a defining part of our look. When balding begins at an early age, it can take a hit on one’s self confidence.
It gets even worse when peers begin to tease the guy by calling him an uncle or grandpa and whatnot.
This is an issue that affects a good number of millennial guys, but isn’t widely spoken about. Kudos to Ayushmann and the team of Bala for picking up this theme.
Watch my opinion on the same here:
Read More: Body Shame This Bengali Actress At Your Own Risk, Trollers!
Causes of Premature Balding
Various causes of premature balding include
- Washing hair with unfamiliar water (usually hard water) in a new place or hostel
- Stressful lifestyle due to a high pressure job or studies
- Eating unhealthy food that takes a toll on overall health, including health of hair
- Using hair products filled with too many harmful chemicals
However, to be honest, the biggest reason for the rapidly falling hair of men could be over-thinking.
And in today’s day and age there are so many issues and worries surrounding them like career problems, not earning enough, settling down, future, social pressure, college, looks and personality.
Many are plagued by the single issue of how to make it in life, something that stresses them out and can lead to hair loss and early age balding.
I’m certain that there would be some study which correlates the amount of stress you put on your brain affecting your hair quality.
Even our elders have often talked about how anybody who overthinks usually have really fine or less hair on their head.
How Millennials Combat Balding
- Some guys use coconut oil (I personally know someone who asks his mom for a steady supply of Parachute)
- Combovers, bangs, and other hairstyles that hide receding hairlines
- Growing a thick beard to balance out the balding
- Wearing caps to deflect attention from the hair
- Shaving off all their hair and rocking the bald on purpose look
These are more on the tamer side, there are also some who take really extreme steps to hide their balding spot.
While some men take up hair weaving at a young age there are others who go through the extremely painful and excruciating process of hair transplant, which is not a simple procedure, not only is it quite expensive but there is a lot of blood loss and other things one has to experience.
The Psychological Impact
All this is not counting the psychological impact that this causes on men who have early age balding.
Considering the emphasis our society puts on looks especially fit body and thick, flowing hair, men loosing their hair and going bald can have extreme effect on them.
Some male acquaintances have talked about how it makes them lose confidence, they start to think that they are not good looking, and feel unattractive.
Some have said how they experience low self-esteem and start to hate their physical appearance. A few even said that it made them not go out of their house much and that they felt unworthy of good matches in dating or marriage.
Society does not help in this at all by using insults like “uncle”; “ganja”; “tackla” and even “aanda” (egg) to name a few. These hurts them and their self-respect leading to men developing an inferiority complex.
However, the truly surprising thing here is that this kind of attack has not been brought into mainstream attention.
Why don’t we know more about the psyche of guys going through balding and why is it still a hidden topic?
This is almost like what women experience when they are body shamed. So if we can speak up for women then we should be doing the same for men too.
What’s your take on this, as a millennial? Also, are there any suggestions or techniques you’d like to share with the guys out there?
If so, mention them in the comments!
Image Credits : Google Images
Sources: Wikipedia, Various Millennial Guys Dealing With Balding
Find the author online at : @samyukthanair_
