Men with hair seen as 'more attractive and successful'

Actor Dwayne Johnson has for a long time been known for his trademark dome. Photo / AP

If you're a bald man, this may make for uncomfortable reading.

A study reported in the Daily Mail has confirmed that hair loss reduces attractiveness, and bald men were also rated as less successful and approachable.

The research, carried out by Johns Hopkins University in the US, involved asking a group of 122 participants to rate 13 pairs of images.

The photos included 'before and after' pictures of seven men who had undergone hair transplants, and another six pairs of images of balding men whose appearance had barely changed between each shot.

The volunteer group, made up of roughly half men, were then asked to give marks out of 100 for a range of percieved traits, such as attractiveness, successfulness, and approachability.

When to came to the hair transplant group, the men were rated as 3.6 years younger after they had the hair-restoring procedure.

The same group were also judged significantly higher for attractiveness, approachability and level of success.

In an article in the journal Jama Facial Plastic Surgery, the researchers wrote, "Men were perceived as being younger and more attractive by casual observers after undergoing a hair transplant.

"Participants also rated post-transplant faces as appearing more successful and approachable relative to their pre-transplant counterparts.'

"These aspects have been shown to play a substantial role in both workplace and social success."

Previous studies have also suggested that men who experience hair loss at a young age are less fertile than their thicker-haired counterparts.

However, it's not all bad for baldies. According to research from the University of Pennsylvania, having a shaved head makes adult men appear taller and stronger.

And there may even be health benefits to going bald.

Researchers from the University of Washington found that men who started balding at a young age were less likely to develop prostate cancer later in life.

-nzherald.co.nz