This event is exclusive to Friends of Tortoise
This is a digital-only ThinkIn. For most men, that moment where they become aware of hair loss is the first time they feel betrayed by their own body. That moment of realisation that you’re losing your hair is a moment of crisis with no end, remedy or support in sight.
It shouldn’t be a problem. Hair loss affects 6.5 million men in the UK, with most experiencing some pattern baldness by the time they reach their sixties, and many showing signs of hair loss from their 20s.
It is a problem; baldness can lead to anxiety, severe depression and social phobia, and it’s fuelled by a $13bn global industry selling everything from tablets and lotions to laser therapy and surgical procedures, with each one promising to ‘cure’ baldness. At the lower end of the market, desperate men turn to dangerous cut-price procedures.
Socially and culturally, it’s acceptable to joke about a man (but not a woman) losing their hair. It’s even more acceptable to poke fun if he tries to treat, beat or disguise it. But what is it really like for men losing their hair, or those who live in fear of the moment they spot a thinning scalp in the mirror?
Join us for a special ThinkIn where we talk candidly about baldness and its relationship to masculinity, status and society.
editor and invited experts
Mark St Andrew
Head of Programming, Tortoise
Dr Stephen Blumenthal
Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Psychoanalyst
Martin MacDonald
Nutritionist, speaker and podcaster