On Baldness: Male Curse….or IS it?

For around 10 years I have experienced anxiety, and for 5 of those the anxiety has been gut wrenching. As is natural, even the mind wrapped in anxiety gets bored once in a while, so its best to spice it up. It started innocently enough with burglars when I was ten years old.
That faded once I grew to a stature where burglars weren’t a reasonable concern and right around the time male pattern baldness was.
My father, my fathers father, my mothers father and one of my uncles are bald and they all have dealt with it in varying ways.
My grandfathers both seemed to be incredibly sensitive over the issue. My maternal grandfather (deceased) wore a comb over and when he wound up in hospital, a lifelong drunk, he was most upset that the nurses cut the lengthy locks off the one side he bore them. It seemed for the first time he had to wear a crome dome with pride. According to my mother he wore a hat as much as possible but, ever a traditional gentleman, would take it off when inside or in the company of women. At which point the come over would take over.
My paternal grandfather has worn a rug as long as I have known him, we used to enjoy putting it on when he wasn’t around or stealing it from his scalp to his frustration; Pappa you devil, no-one knew you wore a rug until we stole it, your secret is OUT.
As for my father, he mentioned nothing of it until one night. When discussing his youth he mentioned his discomfort with haircuts in his 20s, assuming the hairdresser would suspect his thinning and dreading any mention of such.
My own fear of baldness came when I was around 14. My assumption was that no woman would ever find me sexually, or otherwise, attractive and so due to my lack of locks I was bound to be alone. But it faded once more real concerns came, thick and fast.
When your worried about terminal cancer or dementia, a naked scalp SOMEHOW takes a back seat.
But there are those who would look strange any other way…for instance.
I cant imaine Hunter S. Thompson with a thick head of hair, nor Jason Alexander, nor Ron Howard, nor Riff Raff….so its all about owning the look, really.
Some people work it better than I will, that’s for certain. And in those cases its become a case of using it as something to distinguish yourself from the other, boring, throng of mopped gentleman.
NP.