If your hair is thinning, shaving it off may change how people see you.

In experiments led by Albert Mannes, then at the University of Pennsylvania, the same man was rated more dominant, confident and stronger with a shaved head than with thinning hair. Observers even guessed he could bench-press about 205 pounds (93 kg) instead of 187 (85 kg). Only his hair had changed.

But looking dominant isn’t the same as getting ahead.

A shaved head made the same man look more dominant

Across three studies, Mannes tested whether shaving a man’s head changes first impressions.

In one, photos of men with hair were digitally altered so the same men appeared shaved. The shaved versions were rated more dominant. Observers also saw them as taller and physically stronger, though the faces and bodies were identical.

Another experiment came closer to the decision you would actually face. Participants read about an otherwise identical man whose hair was thick, thinning or shaved. Compared with the thinning version, the shaved man came across as:

  • more dominant
  • more confident
  • more masculine
  • physically stronger
  • higher in leadership potential

Mannes concluded that men with natural hair loss might improve their “interpersonal standing” by shaving their heads.

A later study found the dominance effect again

A 2020 study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology photographed 31 men and digitally created three versions of each face: full hair, male-pattern baldness and shaved.

Shaved heads were rated more dominant than male-pattern baldness. Shaving also took away some of the age signal that comes with natural balding.

A balding head and a shaved head don’t send the same signal.

The researchers describe male-pattern baldness as a biological cue linked to age. A deliberately shaved head can work as a cultural signal linked to dominance. They stress that such signals depend on culture and aren’t universal.

People didn’t prefer shaved men as leaders

Dominance sounds useful at work. So the 2020 team tested whether shaved men would be preferred as leaders, especially where dominance might help, such as in a conflict.

They weren’t.

Across two further studies, people showed no extra preference for shaved men, or for men with male-pattern baldness, as leaders in the settings tested. When the job was keeping the peace between groups, they particularly disliked shaved-headed leaders.

That doesn’t fit neatly with the leadership-potential result in Mannes’s experiment. Looking dominant and looking like someone people want to follow are two different things.

These studies measured impressions, not careers

Every result here is about what strangers think. None shows that shaved men are actually more confident, stronger or better leaders, and intelligence wasn’t a clear advantage.

Hair shapes other judgments, too. In a 2016 study, 122 observers rated photos of men before and after hair transplants. After treatment, the men looked younger, more attractive, more approachable and more successful.

Looked. The study didn’t measure whether they became more successful.

No study shows that shaved men earn more

Here the evidence stops. These studies don’t show that comparable men with shaved heads earn more, get promoted more often or move up faster than men with thinning hair. Lab studies of appearance measure first impressions, not long-term outcomes.

That leaves an open question. Compare men of similar age, education, job and seniority, some who keep their balding hair visible and some who shave. Would the dominance gap show up in pay or promotions? Nobody knows yet.

What the research can’t tell you

  • It measures how strangers rate photos or written descriptions, not how colleagues treat you over years.
  • Some samples were small: 31 men photographed in the 2020 study and 122 observers in the transplant study.
  • Signals depend on culture. What reads as dominant in one place may not in another.
  • Dominance can work against you. Shaved leaders were disliked when the task was keeping the peace.
  • Nothing here shows that shaving makes you smarter, a better leader, more promotable or better paid.
  • The advice below is a reasonable inference, not something the studies tested.

Shave for the signal, not the salary

Shaving changes the signal your head sends.

If thinning hair bothers you, a shaved head is a reasonable bet for first impressions. Just don’t expect it to do your job for you.