Tinder Experiment: Bald vs. Hair (2023)

Creator: Matilda H.
Published: 2023-09-17T15:34:21+00:00

Pete Scott, MD

Written by Matilda H. Updated on 23 Sep 2023

Key Statistics

The medihair.com research team investigated the age-old question: Is baldness beautiful? Or is a full head of hair an expression of attractiveness? They initiated a survey among medihair’s 100,000 monthly users, followed by a real-world Tinder experiment to understand if a man with hair loss gets as much attention as a man with hair.

Most Important Findings svg

Theory Survey	Bald or not almost does not matter
Real World Tinder Experiment	Women favor hair; men are less biased

Theory Survey: Bald or not almost does not matter

In the survey (n = 450), 8% of both genders found a bald appearance attractive. Female participants (6%) perceived bald men as more dominant, while 9% of males associated it with wisdom. Interestingly, an overwhelming 75% remained neutral, neither supporting nor denying the appeal of baldness. In summary, based on the survey, baldness is not viewed either favorably or unfavorably.

Medihair’s founder, Kilian, commented, “Our interviews with 450 people facing male pattern baldness revealed a deep-seated insecurity. It’s not just the hair loss; it’s the social narrative that adds to the pressure. Moreover, the social narrative is particularly reinforced by social media.”

Tinder Experiment Insights: Women favor hair; men are less biased.

But as is often the case, real-world behavior differs from theory. So we ran a Tinder experiment with two nearly identical profiles, one with Harry (34) bald and one with hair. Over the course of ten days, we positively rated (swiped to the right) 1,000 people. The results after ten days were fascinating:

Main Takeaways

Bald Harry secured 342 matches, just a little less than his hairy counterpart with 405 matches.
Female participants preferred hairy Harry. Of the 342 matches for bald Harry, only 27 were women. This stark contrast underscores the difference in perceptions between gay men and heterosexual women.
Harry with full hair received more direct messages (97), surpassing his twin with hair loss. Most messages to both versions were from men, but the haired version got more female messages.
In addition, Bald Harry matched with other bald men 18 times. About 74% of the profiles of bald men had at least one photo with a hat or cap.

Press Contact

Journalists and Editorial offices can contact the press office at any time if they want to report on hair transplantation, need information on our topics or are looking for discussion partners. Furthermore, we can provide you with the data sets of our studies and statistics. The medihair editorial team is available for background discussions and interviews. Please contact press@medihair.com.

Methodology

The medihair research team conducted the survey on June 15, 2023 with 450 people, most of whom were active users of medihair.com.

The Tinder experiment ran from June 16 to June 21, 2023. Two identical profiles were created with the following information Name: Harry, Age: 34, Occupation: Real Estate Professional, Location: London, UK, matching radius: 100 kilometers (not visible), sexual orientation: Interested in both men and women (not visible).

Each profile of Harry (with and without hair) was swiped right 100 times a day for ten days. Photo edits altered the hair, but photos with hair were authentic. The study was not endorsed, organized, or sponsored in any way by Tinder.

Sources