Hats Are a Cheat Code for Bald Men

A friend of mine and the moderator of my forums, Radical, wrote this article I wanted to share with you – it’s something pretty close to my heart. I’m a bald guy myself, and the only way I was able to build an amazing dating life was by wearing hats/beanies; it was my cheat code. Radical found the same cheat code worked for him, so here’s his piece on the concept:

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Style Advice – Hats Are a Cheat Code for Bald Men

For men with noticeable hair loss there are a few options on the table to deal with it that you can put into action.

You can try to regain your hair, either chemically or through surgery.

Or you can try and get a haircut that will hide it. I know Andy had some luck with this and found a creative barber.

These though are at the early, prevention stage of hair loss.

The chemical side of things (minoxidil + finasteride + ketoconazole shampoo) eventually stopped being effective for me and hair transplants are not currently within budget.

Additionally, my hairline and remaining overall thickness does not allow a haircut to solve the issue. I do recommend persisting with the most optimal haircut possible, as I still do, even if that is a buzzcut.

For those of us beyond the pale we would look at other options.

You can openly accept your baldness and shave it off, adapting your entire style around the chrome dome look. The typical way forward here is to favour more of a smart, dressy style. Lots of buttoned shirts and suits etc.

Or you can go the way I advocate and embrace hats.

Hats are a cheat code.

One year ago, I made the drastic decision to accept I wasn’t happy with how my life was going and seek help. I packed up and left Sydney for Melbourne. The purpose of this trip was to meet Andy (KillYourInnerLoser) for coaching in person. Sat in a coffee shop near Melbourne Central we broke down every relevant aspect of my life and formulated an action plan for how to proceed.

We had, for the most part, settled on my goals and the areas of my life to focus on. Near the end of our discussion I felt the need to halt the conversation mid flow. I had to inform him of the one thing that I was most self-conscious about. That insecurity that would always limit my potential with regards to looks.

He stopped me and said: ‘It’s your hair, right?’

He then took of his cap and showed off his own hairline. It was excessively receding into a widow’s peak, with large dead zones in the temple areas back to the middle of his scalp.

‘I’m not going to lie to you and try to make you feel better about something that obviously sucks. Your hair is bad. But just do what I do and wear a cap or beanie’ he said with a shrug.

It is hard to explain how much this helped. And I think to Andy it was just a throwaway line/suggestion.

But from there I immediately took action and bought myself a decent cap.

I literally went shopping straight after for that purpose.

This is the current state of my hair loss at 27:

Hair loss was a huge deal in my life from the start of my adulthood. I was unlucky, genetically speaking, as I began to lose my hair at around 19 and it was noticeable by 22.  I had an obsessive depression about it for years. I would see it in every reflection, I would take numerous pictures every day along with videos from every angle to confirm that yes it was an issue.

I would waste time frustrating myself over a reality that I was not properly confronting. But now I did have a solution. And it was obvious.

This change I went through falls into a period of metamorphosis, where I had to grapple with presenting myself in a new style. I had to embrace the concept of ‘edge’ and research ‘streetwear’ so that I would be wearing up to date and fashionable clothing. It was harder than I like to admit accepting myself as someone who wore these clothes, even someone that just tried to look good wearing decent clothes. But it is a process that is 100% worth it, and in order to progress it is necessary.

Most of you will need to accept your style sucks and you have no idea what you are doing. But you will also need to try the clothes on for a while before they feel like ‘you’.

So why have I come to love and appreciate hat styling so much?

Hats can be easily, and with little expense, incorporated into your style. And there is zero reason not to have this in your arsenal even with good hair. There are several different types of hat and the correct tyle can be found for any occasion. For streetwear you have snap backs and baseball caps (of which there is a near limitless supply of options). Toques and beanies can be accessorised with plenty of different looks. And even with smarter styles such as dress wear you have flat caps as an option.

See for an example one of Andy’s style inspirations: the Instagram model magic_fox. Here he displays how to wear a flat cap in a modern setting.

Credit: @magic_fox

See how he makes it work with:

• Knitwear
• Streetwear
• Smart casual wear
• Even shorts and a t shirt!

Now this guy is in an incredibly high percentile for attractiveness and style awareness. He also has an good head of hair remaining, as evident in the rest of his instagram. And yet he still blends hats in as an accessory for his outfits.

**Flat cap style is a little bit harder to pull off than baseball caps and beanies, but I will write about it in the future.

If you are going to take anything from this article let it be the following: style is fundamentally a matter of presentation.

You are trying to put the best physical version of yourself out there, in your photos and in real life. To this end we work on ourselves in the gym, we diet down, we get tanned, we whiten our teeth etc.

These are all things that take time, some quite a lot of time.

Style though can be fixed immediately. It can and should be the fastest shortcut you take in this journey.

And caps will get those of us with poor hairlines to the best possible presentation fast. Caps can also be an accessory that will add you some ‘edge’ quickly – at least the ones I recommend.

What is Hatfishing?

Hat fishing is a meme that started among girls a couple of years ago. The basic idea is that guys in real life and in dating profiles guys use hats to appear better looking.

I, unironically, think this is a great. This tells us there are clear and obvious presentation gains to be made with this knowledge.  

Its more than just covering up areas of missing hair though.

If you have an irredeemable hairline you have probably noticed that a straight or solid hairline is considered more aesthetic. The reason for this lies, in part, because a good hairline frames your face. It squares off the top of your head and provides extra layers of angle and symmetry to your face, which typically defines how attractive someone’s face is.

That is why I consider hats the cheat code for bald men.

You get squared off symmetrical effect instantly with extraordinarily little effort. The effort comes from working in hat options to your overall style without looking trash in the process. Which is where I can help.

Potentially though this is a recommendation for every guy to see if it helps his presentation, not just us baldies. Guys with overly large foreheads for instance will benefit too.

My Recommendation

I going to recommend the best basic cap that you should have in your wardrobe. You need versatile staples to build your style around, and I believe everyone should own this hat in the way you should also have slim fit jean options, slim fit plain t shirts, tailored dress shirts and white leather sneakers etc.

The Flexfit 5 Panel Cap by Yupoong – Buy it on Amazon (affiliate link).

Unbranded, single colour and comes in two sizes.

I have always preferred Flexfit hats. Compared to the adjustable caps they fit so much easier and there is no fiddling around with the straps when they come loose.

If you prefer adjustable caps you can get the same 5 panel design with a strap on Amazon (affiliate link):

Yupoong – Classics Wool Blend Cap – buy it on Amazon (affiliate link)

What you want to build is a selection of hats that are a good style but also unbranded and in single colour. This allows for maximum versatility and combination with your wardrobe.

This one is similar in design to a baseball cap but importantly it does not look like a sports cap. Leave the sports caps for the gym or hiking…. and leave the golf caps for golf. I see a lot of golf caps day to day.

I have owned this make of cap both and branded and unbranded as per below:

It’s sleek, fitted and stylish.

Which is the combination we are searching for.

Avoid the following:

• Hats that are too bulky and make your head larger or block-y.
• Garish colours.
• Loud oversized branding. You do not want to be a walking billboard.

For reference my typical day to day style is what I would define as casual street style. That is what this hat works best with.

Any questions leave a comment and I will happily answer.

– Radical

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