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Something I’ve been pondering lately, is the seemingly paradoxical fact that women tend to find balding men quite unattractive while simultaneously finding greying very attractive.
Both are associated with aging and both are largely genetic, I believe, although balding more so, which might be part of the explanation.
The best I’ve been able to come up with, is that balding, since it is associated (and probably caused by) high levels of DHT, it can be an indicator of aggressiveness to the point where it is detrimental to the woman. Not that every balding man is aggressive, but I don’t think it is a coincidence, that some men will shave their head to seem more tough.
Women generally like other traits associated with higher levels of testosterone, but only up to a certain point, e.g. a study (which I can no longer seem to locate) found that especially large traps are found to be less attractive. These along with the deltoids have more androgen receptors, which makes them more susceptible to growth when testosterone is high.
These muscle groups are also good indicators of steroid use. The almost spherical shoulders some bodybuilders have are not achieved by hard work alone.
On the other hand, greying can happen from stress. I don’t think the exact mechanism is known, but I have a theory, that it is caused by the body’s ability to absorb micro nutrients being diminished during stress and the hair follicles not receiving enough of especially zinc and copper (pure speculation on my part). A man with greying hair has endured and survived stressful situations and his ability to do so is attractive.
It just seems strange, that two things that are somewhat closely related are perceived so differently. Also strange how the pattern with which they present are opposite with balding happening on top of the head and greying on the sides.
Edit: I belive this was the study I was thinking of:
Men’s Bodily Attractiveness: Muscles as Fitness Indicators. Notice the womens very low size preference of the trapezius in figure 1.
I don't know if this is simply a just-so story so nobody should weight it too much, but the way I see it:
Good hair is a strong signal of sexual fitness, and baldness is selected against even if it's a largely benign condition. Baldness also typically occurs at ages well before greying, even though most men who go bald end up reproducing before it's an issue so the selection pressure isn't particularly strong.
I don't think women like fully grey hair, but salt and pepper in an otherwise attractive man is mildly attractive. I don't think a young man can simply dye his hair grey and get anything out of it. Nor do I think that a middle aged man will significantly benefit from it either unless he's already hot.
The way I see it, baldness is strictly negative, whereas greying is neutral to very mildly positive, until you're an old greybeard.
Now, on a slight tangent I think one of the best things a male doctor can do is go bald or graying, it immediately makes patients more comfortable since they associate age with experience and performance.
This is not the case, and no end of studies have shown that younger doctors in their 30s-40s are better clinicians than their older counterparts who are ossified in their ways and not as abreast of new updates
This is a moderate to small yet highly robust finding.
Wiki tells me I have an 80% chance of going bald eventually since my dad is, but for now I have a nice head of hair and likely will till I can lockdown some poor unfortunate women through false advertising haha, but if I do grey early-ish I won't really complain. Far easier to hide than balding is of course!
But the question is why, though? I could be wrong, I don't think there is any evidence for bald men to have poorer health or being generally less capable compared to their unbald counterparts.
I think you are right, that fully grey is probably not very attractive. And it might be the case that greying will make an already attractive man more attractive, but do nothing for a less attractive man.
I think this will be true for almost any field, but in the case of clinicians, the confidence a patient has in their doctor is probably hard to account for, but could have a nonnegligible effect. Placebo and all that.
I got my first grey hairs at age 20. I thought I would be fully grey before 30 and felt quite down over it for a while. I'm now in my early thirties and haven't gone fully grey, and since I'm blonde it hasn't been very noticeable. It is now at a point where people see it and comment on it, but considering I have multiple friends of the same age, who are balding, I feel lucky, that I have a full head of hair. And comments from women have been compliments, which is what prompted me to wonder about this.
Edit:
I am wrong. There does seem to be evidence that vertex balding is associated with higher risk of CHD and prostate cancer.
Hair is definitely a secondary sexual characteristic that acts as a signal of fitness.
Maintaining hair isn't the most metabolically expensive thing in the world, but it probably does cost something. Poor health often results in hair loss or weak, dry and frizzy hair. Acute or chronic stress can cause hair follicles to stop working and shed their hair, the medical term is telogen effluvium.
Perhaps baldness can be confused with hair loss from poor health and stress as well?
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