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Thank you to everyone who got me to 250 likes!

Thank you to everyone who got me to 250 likes!

Conversing about Sock Garters 

Watch "The Medical Aspects of Nuclear Radiation: Hair Loss" on YouTube

The caption in the mail-order toupee catalog referred to this unit as The Junior Executive. I ordered two.

August 1, 1984.

It was a good day. It was a scary day. It was a hope-filled day. It was a tearful day. It was was the day I ceased to be just another teenager with a mop of unruly hair to being a young man with an embarrassing secret.

I had spent most of the summer waking up every day with less hair on my crown and more hair on my pillow. This Wednesday was different. I was sitting in the barber's chair finally accepting my future. My barber had convinced me to get a slider. I was about to be fitted with a tiny hairpiece for my crown area. This might be an every-day occurrence for many older men. However, it is extremely frightening for a boy of 15. Here I was about to begin high school, yet I'm having to confront the adult nightmare of going bald.

My barber was a neighbor. He was a friend. He lived two blocks from me. I saw him often. I also knew that I was about to carry the same secret that he gladly carried. He wore a hairpiece. What's more important, he didn't care if anyone knew it. I wasn't that cavalier, yet. That would take another 20 years to achieve. I still have to get through the initiation into this unique group of men who need to cover the reality of being bald. I sat there while Jerry talked to me, instructed me, in what was about to be my fate for the rest of forever. I was scared and happy at the same time. Jerry was telling me that he was going to shave a small area in my crown area so he can attach my new hairpiece. I might have had a slight panic attack. I don't really remember. I only remember seeing the bald spot in the mirror just before Jerry attached my new hairpiece. Of course, in the ensuing 40 years, the bald spot became a bald swath!

My little hairpiece looked great! The color match was nearly perfect. The texture was also a great match. Now, that might have been completely false. I was seeing the image I wanted to project to the public every day.

School began without incident. No one said anything. I think it had more to do with the fact that no one looks at the top of someone's head. Still, I was always wary of something being said.

I even survived my driver's test and subsequent picture for my license. I still think it is funny that I have never had a driver's license where I wasn't wearing a hairpiece for the ID picture.

I managed to get through the tenth grade and part of the eleventh grade wearing a slider. However, I knew that eventually I was going to lose more hair. My barber, Jerry, convinced me to get ahead of it by getting fitted for a full toupee. That transition occurred during Spring Break in 1986.

Jerry had ordered my toupee for me during the Christmas holidays. Jerry shaved me to a Norwood 4 for my new toupee. I probably cried. I mean how many 17 year old kids do you know who are bald? Now, I didn't have any embarrassing rip-offs. That would have been almost impossible with the industrial, medical-grade glue used, which I really hated. I did, however, get tons of second glances and too many snarky comments about wearing a rug. I didn't care because it was far superior to the reality underneath!

My high school graduation was no different from any other high school graduation in America. There was formality. There were wonderfully uplifting speeches. There was great celebrating by families. Mine was unique in that there were three men in that auditorium who were wearing toupees: my barber, myself, and the father of a girl in my graduation class.

After graduation, that girl's father came up to me. He made sure that no one was around. He told me that he was proud of me. He said that my hair looked great. His toupee was very obvious. That was the first time I had ever had a conversation with another man who wore a toupee. It was an awesome encounter. I have had many of them over the past 40 years. Each has been such a joyful experience.

Reliance, 1942

Source details and larger version.

I’ve collected some more weird vintage telephones here.

So much luscious (fake) hair!

Now, there's a way to make a lasting impression at a job interview.

I love this!

I'd like to see that wig on my head every day!

Me every morning adjusting my toupee in the mirror before getting dressed.

Men's Wigs, Photo by Ralston Crawford, c. 1954

RIGHT??!

1965 Men’s Toupee Ad, Samson’s of Fifth Ave Hair Pieces, Featuring Man Smoking Pipe by Classic Film Via Flickr: Vintage 1960s magazine advertisement, Samson’s of Fifth Ave, 1965 Tagline: “Samson’s of Fifth Ave… Wear the Best to Look Your Best - Be a Winner!” Published in Look magazine, November 30, 1965, Vol. 29, No. 24 Fair use/no known copyright. If you use this photo, please provide attribution credit; not for commercial use (see Creative Commons license).