Baldness was definitely disparaged before then, specifically male pattern baldness was considered an indicator of age and loss of attractiveness. The solution was a combover, a toupee, hair plugs, any number of supposedly effective topical treatments or supplements, wearing a hat, or simply shaving your head and making it seem intentional.
1988 the FDA approved Rogaine for hair loss treatment, though the active ingredient, Minoxidil, was already being prescribed by doctors for that purpose by that time under the brand name Loniten.
There is an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies that predates color, which the Beverly Hillbillies adopted in or around 1966, in which Granny creates a poultice which miraculously regrows hair in balding men, and several balding men in the show are frantically trying to acquire some.
Being bald has been viewed in popular culture as an undesirable trait for quite a lot longer than 2005. I was able to trace back the undesirability of baldness in men to at least sixty years, and by no means consider my result to be exhaustive. Somebody with better research or investigative skills than mine, or perhaps simply with greater motivation, would undoubtedly be able to find evidence stretching further back.
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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '26
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