What is in a bald head?
Some people were brought up to believe every man with a bald head is a tycoon. However, I came to question this myth after seeing many of them doing odd jobs like begging for beer bottles from door-to-door or throwing comic shows for children by the roadside.
By Titus Serunjogi
Some people were brought up to believe every man with a bald head is a tycoon. However, I came to question this myth after seeing many of them doing odd jobs like begging for beer bottles from door-to-door or throwing comic shows for children by the roadside.
Rumour has it that people who often suffer misfortune have a balding patch at the crowns of their heads. However in Buganda and among the Acholi, etiquette still demands that you voluntarily give up your seat to any man with a bald head standing close.
“People with bald heads are wiser than those who are not. Hundreds of years ago in Buganda, men with bald heads were the village consultants,†says Solomon Mpalanyi, who also hosts cultural shows on CBS FM. He also says in Buganda, a man with a bald patch that starts from his forehead and continues backwards, is also considered to be fortunate. “Such a man will attain a position of power and will be wealthy at one time in his life.†Now talk of the Kabaka Mutebi or President Yoweri Museveni or businessman Bonney Katatumba or former President Lukongwa Binaisa.
However, today, some men feel uncomfortable about having a bald head. “There are many men who attempt to disguise their baldness by shaving off their hair,†says a barber at the Lords and Ladies Salon on Jumbo Plaza.
“I feel strange when I’m talking to someone, and they keep glancing at my head. If you feel tired of looking at my eyes, glance away or do something else rather than zooming in on my bald crown,†say a father who has a bald head. Chris Ddamulira, a barber at Le Sasa Salon says:
“My hair started to disappear when I was 19 years old, soon after my father’s death. Some people told me it was my daddy’s spirit that had returned to take away my hair. But I did not mind them. What hurt me most is that I looked rather out of place among my schoolmates and even felt like I appeared much older. I took up all sorts of cures for baldness which were proposed –– from standing on my head to shaving off all my remaining hair, in vain. I have come to accept this as my heritage, since many of my uncles and grandparents have also gone bald.â€
Today, the 24-year-old feels proud to be in the same league with Hollywood movie stars like Vin Diesel and Bruce Willis.
Lately, scientific research says men with bald heads have an extraordinary libido. What is the secret behind a bald head?
Dr. David Basangwa, a consultant psychiatrist says that, “Small-print studies show that some bald men have an excess of the male sexual hormone testosterone. These few thus have a higher libido, are more aggressive and also more competitive than other men. They might also be good at sports and spatial skills like mathematics. However, some scientific studies have shown that bald-headed people are just the same as everybody else.â€
However, looking at the impressive list of bald-headed men makes you feel that African tribes were not entirely wrong in their ideas. Famous baldheaded people include US Vice-President Dick Cheney, Mahatma Gandhi, a major political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement, the former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi (he had a hair transplant recently), wrestlers Hulk Hogan and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, boxers George Foreman and Evander Holyfield, Sean Connery (once the James Bond), singers Kenny Rogers (recently had a transplant) and Phil Collins, the list is endless.
Some people were brought up to believe every man with a bald head is a tycoon. However, I came to question this myth after seeing many of them doing odd jobs like begging for beer bottles from door-to-door or throwing comic shows for children by the roadside.
Rumour has it that people who often suffer misfortune have a balding patch at the crowns of their heads. However in Buganda and among the Acholi, etiquette still demands that you voluntarily give up your seat to any man with a bald head standing close.
“People with bald heads are wiser than those who are not. Hundreds of years ago in Buganda, men with bald heads were the village consultants,†says Solomon Mpalanyi, who also hosts cultural shows on CBS FM. He also says in Buganda, a man with a bald patch that starts from his forehead and continues backwards, is also considered to be fortunate. “Such a man will attain a position of power and will be wealthy at one time in his life.†Now talk of the Kabaka Mutebi or President Yoweri Museveni or businessman Bonney Katatumba or former President Lukongwa Binaisa.
However, today, some men feel uncomfortable about having a bald head. “There are many men who attempt to disguise their baldness by shaving off their hair,†says a barber at the Lords and Ladies Salon on Jumbo Plaza.
“I feel strange when I’m talking to someone, and they keep glancing at my head. If you feel tired of looking at my eyes, glance away or do something else rather than zooming in on my bald crown,†say a father who has a bald head. Chris Ddamulira, a barber at Le Sasa Salon says:
“My hair started to disappear when I was 19 years old, soon after my father’s death. Some people told me it was my daddy’s spirit that had returned to take away my hair. But I did not mind them. What hurt me most is that I looked rather out of place among my schoolmates and even felt like I appeared much older. I took up all sorts of cures for baldness which were proposed –– from standing on my head to shaving off all my remaining hair, in vain. I have come to accept this as my heritage, since many of my uncles and grandparents have also gone bald.â€
Today, the 24-year-old feels proud to be in the same league with Hollywood movie stars like Vin Diesel and Bruce Willis.
Lately, scientific research says men with bald heads have an extraordinary libido. What is the secret behind a bald head?
Dr. David Basangwa, a consultant psychiatrist says that, “Small-print studies show that some bald men have an excess of the male sexual hormone testosterone. These few thus have a higher libido, are more aggressive and also more competitive than other men. They might also be good at sports and spatial skills like mathematics. However, some scientific studies have shown that bald-headed people are just the same as everybody else.â€
However, looking at the impressive list of bald-headed men makes you feel that African tribes were not entirely wrong in their ideas. Famous baldheaded people include US Vice-President Dick Cheney, Mahatma Gandhi, a major political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement, the former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi (he had a hair transplant recently), wrestlers Hulk Hogan and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, boxers George Foreman and Evander Holyfield, Sean Connery (once the James Bond), singers Kenny Rogers (recently had a transplant) and Phil Collins, the list is endless.