What do I have in common with Cillian Murphy? We're both in the smug hair club

A-list actors George Clooney, Daniel Craig and Cillian Murphy are blessed with abundant locks. Jonathan deBurca Butler reflects on being a member of the smug hair club

Cillian Murphy, left, and Jonathan deBurca Butler right. Much has been made recently of the so-called smug hair club

In the week leading up to my recent 30-year school reunion, I was out the door with work and life. Articles to be written, deadlines to be met, stories to be found for radio shows, never mind the lifts to football, tennis, and birthday dos.

With all the stress, you’d think I’d be tearing my hair out, but I can’t because it is strong, thick, and rather curly. That week, it had gone through a growth spurt, and between the jigs and the reels, I hadn’t the time to visit the local barbers. When the night of the reunion arrived, I had a bird’s nest perched on my noggin in full Eamon Dunphy 1990s chic.

The night itself was fantastic. It was great to catch up with people who I still know well and others who I haven’t seen since we celebrated our Leaving Cert results in 1994.

Naturally enough, many opening gambits centred on appearance, and my locks came in for some appraisal. I was, according to some, “looking young” with my “fine head of hair”, until I pointed out that hormones, or whatever takes care of this stuff, had failed to send the maintenance brief to my belly — a seemingly unshiftable middle-aged totem.

Much has been made recently of the so-called smug hair club — a select crew of men for whom baldness isn’t (yet) a problem. In a recent campaign for Loewe, Daniel Craig sent fans wild with a new haircut that saw him sporting longer locks than his usual tightly cropped Bond barnet. At 56, Craig and other middle-aged stars such as Cillian Murphy, Brad Pitt, and George Clooney are fortunate to have a fairly full head of hair to play around with.

Daniel Craig for Loewe. Photo: David Sims

The number of bald men varies worldwide. A recent study conducted by Medihair discovered that Spain, at 44.5%, was the baldest country in the world. It was followed closely by neighbouring Italy and France. Ireland, at 38.65%, was placed 16th. Countries at the lower end of the table were mainly in Asia, with Indonesia ranking lowest at 26.96%.

Fortune seems to favour men with enduring locks. The trend was noted as far back as the Old Testament, with Samson’s strength coming through his long hair. Greek and Roman art depicted heroes with flowing manes and mullets, and this was later taken up in the Renaissance by the likes of Michelangelo, who sculpted his famous David with a fine head of bushy hair.

Research seems to back this admiration for men with abundant hair. A recent British survey conducted by Get-Hair found that 59% of the 2,000 women surveyed find men with hair more attractive than those who are bald. In addition, almost half of the women (45%) said men lose some of their attractiveness when they lose their hair. That said, another organisation called Skull Shaver found that 87.5% of women of different ages and nationalities surveyed find bald men attractive, compared to only 12.5% of women who gave a negative answer.

Whatever the science, and I use the term loosely, men experience and deal with baldness differently.

“If it bothers you, speak with a partner or trusted other about how you genuinely feel about your hair or your look,” says psychologist Peadar Maxwell. “Start by looking into what can be done so that you know the costs, the risks and the effort you will have to consider.”

He adds we need to be tactful when interacting with a man who has hair loss.“If you know someone who is trying to groom departing hair or has decided to have a hair transplant, be kind and considerate or say nothing. Don’t draw attention to an already sensitive issue and certainly don’t make bald or transplant jokes. Your acquaintance may already feel everyone is looking at their head and critiquing it.”

The bald truth

Jason Statham. Picture: PA Photo/Amazon Studios

Trichologist Mark O’Sullivan of The Hair Clinic believes a receding hairline can suit some men. “Look at actors like Jason Statham or Bruce Willis and it suits them. I think it’s about face shape. If you’ve got a longer face, I don’t think it works, but if you have a good physique and round face, it can look good.”

Since opening his first clinic in Waterford in 2005, O’Sullivan has seen an increase in the number of men coming to him for treatment. The demographics, he says, have also changed, with more men in their 20s and 30s coming for a consultation and treatment if required. While he believes male hair treatment is less taboo, he still provides two waiting areas in his clinics to give patients as much privacy as possible.

“It’s important to catch it early,” he says. “ If you get it when it’s starting to thin, there are medications they can take. If they’re a little bit further along, you’ve got laser treatment that stimulates hair growth. But it does not grow hair... If you have a bald patch, you’d be looking at a follicular unit excision (FUE) hair transplant, which involves moving hair from the back of the scalp and redistributing it. But there are limits to that too.”

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Neil Brody, a close friend, has never really considered anything but going with his baldness. When we first met over 20 years ago, two ex-pats in Rome, he was already well on his way, but last week was the first time I ever spoke to him about it.

“I used to have proper long hair, then one summer after the Leaving Cert I got it shaved off,” he says. “Shortly after, I noticed it was a bit lighter in one place than another. Then a friend’s mother mentioned it one day in a pub. We were playing pool and I bent down to hit a shot and she said, ‘Oh look, Neil is losing a bit of hair.’ I was only 19 at that stage.

“At the time I thought, ‘That’s a bit shit,’ and to this day I don’t like the fact that I don’t have a full head of hair. But it’s seldom that I even think about it, to be honest.”

Initially, he flirted with the idea of using the likes of Regaine. But he never did and has never seriously looked at getting his baldness treated. Instead, he bought the razor and embraced it and he hasn’t suffered as a result.

“As the years went on, I shaved it closer and closer,” he says. “It’s just life now, getting something done [about my hair] is not something I’d consider. I think I’d nearly feel more self-conscious at this stage if I did.”

When it comes to romance, has being bald been advantageous?

“I’ve never had a sense that it was for the better, that women love this,” he says. “I have had it said to me that I’m lucky because I have a nice-shaped head. If I had a narrow or pointy head, it might be different.”

I can clarify that he indeed has a lovely-shaped head.

As for my own, I can’t tell, and I hope I never find out.