Dear Dr K,
As a girl, for a long time now I have watched with envy as boys in my school shave their heads or cropped their hair close. I long to go bald (I hear it’s terrific for beating the heat), and yet when I bring up the idea my friends look at me like I’m ridiculous and my parents outright forbid it. Why is there so much resistance to girls having the i r heads shaved? Hair is dead cells, the same for boys and girls.
Mott A Thaley
Dear Mott, You are absolutely right that hair is only dead cells. Why then, when it comes to taking it all off, is there this double standard? To get some perspective on this problem, I asked world-renowned hair therapist Dr Flo Ingmane about it.
In her opinion, women are discouraged from shaving their heads because, unlike the male, they cannot grow beards to compensate. It is, she says, in fact nature’s double standard that allows men to have facial hair while women cannot. Many men go bald automatically beyond a certain age, while this is not t rue for women. This is why women must keep the hair on their heads at all costs.
Despite her world renown, I found Dr Ingmane’s explanation unsatisfactory. How does her explanation account for men who are both bald and beardless? What about the fact that, contrary to her reasoning, many women who do have some kind of facial hair go to extraordinary lengths to get rid of it. Her whole logic falls apart when you notice that several women take special effort to get rid of any hair that is not on their heads.
Meanwhile, I wouldn’t be surprised if schoolboys everywhere who have read your question are immediately thinking, “Well, she thinks boys have it so great because we can shave our heads, but what about those of us who want to grow our hair long?” After all, in many schools in our great nation and across the world, if a boy’s hair grows long enough to cover his ears, his teacher is likely to either cut it for him or tie him a ridiculous ponytail on the top of his head with a rubber band (I should know, it’s been done to me). This is a valid question and boys feel that not being able to grow their hair long is just as unfair as girls not being allowed to shave their heads.
That so many people are so bothered by other people’s hair is something that baffles me. Can’t we all live in hairy harmony? I have thought long and hard on the reasons for this double standard, and have come up with no answers.
The ability or inability to grow facial hair, as I have demonstrated, has nothing to do with it.
In such a situation I must refer you to the trusty ageold maxim: if there is no good reason not to do something, go ahead and do it. Is there a good reason not to eat cockroaches? Yes: they carry germs (unless they are cooked properly). Is there a good reason not to jump off a 20 storey building? Yes: you will die (unless you are tied to a bungee cord). Is there a good reason for a girl not to shave her head if she wants to? No. So please just go ahead.
Yours questionably,
Dr K
olfacto.boy@gmail.com