Men are increasingly seeking treatment for thinning hairlines earlier than ever before. 

Where once men could do nothing about going bald, increasingly are determined to keep their flowing locks. 

“I did speak to a guy called Mark O’Sullivan who owns the hair clinic down in Waterford and I think he has a place down in Cork as well,” journalist Jonathan deBurca-Butler told Moncrieff.

“He was saying the one thing that he’s noticed about people with thinning hair is that they’re getting younger now. 

“People in their 20s and 30s are coming in. 

“So, I think the idea of being a little bit vain or being interested in how you look, men are more forthcoming about it these days than maybe they used to be back in the time of [when we were told], ‘Ah sure, don’t be worrying about your looks’.” 

The back of a balding man's head. Picture by: JG Photography / Alamy Stock Photo.

Mr deBurca-Butler said he has a bald friend who has “done alright for himself” with women over the years but did find research that suggest most women prefer a man with a full head of hair. 

“There was one organisation called ‘Get Hair’ - who I think have skin in the game because they do hair transplants and the like,” he said. 

“They found that 59% of the women that they asked find men with hair more attractive and 45% of women said that men lose their attractiveness when they go bald.” 

For anyone who is worried their locks are thinning, the medical advice is to start treatment early if you want to stop yourselves going bald. 

“The main thing is to get in early if you think there’s [thinning],” Mr deBurca-Butler said. 

“In most cases we turn people away because there’s nothing to worry about. 

“If you get in early there’s medication you can use, if you’re a little further along laser treatment and then if there’s patches beginning to show then it’s follicular unit excision - which is a transplant from the back to the front.” 

According to the Belgravia Clinic - a hair loss treatment centre in London - 49% of Irish men under 30 report some form of hair loss.

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Main image: A bald man on a bus. Picture by: Alamy.com