Debate: Challenging Male Beauty Standards with Hairlines

For decades, women have struggled with unattainable beauty ideals. Now, we men have our own equivalent – the hairline, writes the debater.

DEBATE. When I asked my best female friend if I would have been uglier bald, she hesitated, looked me in the eyes, locked her gaze on my receding hairline, and delivered her verdict: "Yes."

Rightly so! For decades, women have had to contend with unattainable thinness, no-makeup makeup looks, fillers and Botox, lash lifts and spray tans, facelifts, and anti-aging creams. Yes, the list goes on, but isn't it fair that we men should also endure appearance fixation on equal terms? If for no other reason than in solidarity with the ideals women have faced all these years?

And now it's finally here. Men's foremost beauty capital: the hairline.

Refusing to Go Bald

A thinning hairline tastes of old age: a young father in a suit taking a Voi to work, an IT guy with a cap superglued to his skull, a forward-combed hairstyle that blows away at the first gust of wind, and, above all, no matches on Tinder.

At least that's what the prejudices look like, so no thanks. I refuse to be one of them. I refuse to go bald!

I want to be compared to Harry Styles, not Vin Diesel. I want to apply sunscreen to my cheeks, not my scalp. I want to meet eyes with my gaze, not my forehead. I want people to see me on the street and take a second look. Glance over their shoulder. Think, damn, what a fresh guy.

Even vanity has become equal.

Joking aside, it was only a matter of time before beauty pressure spilled over to us men. Nowadays, we are expected to be well-groomed, smell good, have a healthy hairline, and thick, full hair. Even vanity has become equal. We can thank social media for that.

And I, who always thought I would refuse baldness at any cost, have started to examine myself. What is the basis of my beauty pressure? Am I afraid of aging? Am I dependent on validation? Is my self-esteem so fragile that it wavers over something as trivial as a thinning hairline?

The only way to find the answer was to try the grass on the other side. So I let the notoriously carefree bald Robert Aschberg shave me.

It may not be greener, but it's certainly much cooler here! Above all, I've learned something. It's not manly to have a good hairline. It's not manly to choose baldness either.

The masculinity lies in owning your choice. Not letting ideals and norms dictate how you should look. Daring to try, daring to challenge, daring to choose for yourself. I decide over my hairline! To be or not to be bald. It's entirely up to me. So think I'm ugly, joke at my expense, offer me a ticket to Turkey. I am now a proud bald man, and no one but me can change that.

Next stop: Dadbod. (On a Voi.)

by Ivo Franz Hagström

poet and influencer, featured in the SVT documentary "I Refuse to Go Bald"