Going bald in your 20s can be “devastating” but as life goes on, you realise that bald can be beautiful, according to an Irish journalist.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning freelance arts writer and film critic Chris Wasser said he was “devastated” when he realised he was going bald in his early 20s.

Years later, however, he no longer views his hair loss as a problem that needs fixing – insisting that shaving his head was the best thing he ever did.

He told the show he first realised his hair was thinning when he spotted photos of himself on a trip out with friends.

“You do think your world has ended,” he said.

“I did everything in my power to kind of hide it.

“It affected my confidence; it affected my stance - I was kind of hunched over all the time because I felt I was trying to hide in my own body.

Writing about the experience in yesterday’s Sunday Independent, Mr Wasser recalled the first time he ventured out without hair and was cruelly taunted by someone who had no idea how much emotional trauma he was going through.

“I went out to a gig that evening and I remember there was a scalper outside the Olympia Theatre and he asked me if I was buying or selling a ticket and he called me ‘baldy’,” Mr Wasser said.  

“I just thought, ‘That’s it, that’s game over now.’”

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

Although he now thinks shaving his head is “the best thing that I’ve ever done”, at the time it was a hugely upsetting thing to happen to him. 

“I know some listeners might think that’s a little dramatic but when you’re 25, you don’t want to lose your hair,” he said. 

“The funniest thing about hair loss is you don’t think it’s going to happen to you. 

“The second thing about hair loss is that you notice one day that it’s happening and it’s too late to do anything about it and it becomes just an obsession.” 

Acceptance

Since then, he has also realised that it is “just not true at all” that bald people cannot be good-looking. 

“It’s been a long time since I considered my baldness a problem that requires fixing,” he said. 

“It was an issue I struggled with. 

“There were temper tantrums and tears and all the rest of it - but it’s definitely something I’m okay with now.”

To anyone worrying about their thinning hairline, Mr Wasser’s message is simply to “embrace your baldness”. 

“It will get better, there’s nothing wrong with being bald,” he said. 

“I’ve heard people say before that bald is beautiful and I definitely think that.” 

According to the Universal Hair Clinic, half of Irishmen experience hair loss by the time they hit 50. 

Main image: A young man on a bus with male pattern baldness. Picture by: Alamy.com