As I threatened:
I don’t look like I like it very much. I think it’s because I’m about to go teach a class and a lab.
Also, I compared it to my great-great-grandfather’s hairdo (photo from some time in the mid-1960s), and I can see my future fate.
All I need now is a pair of overalls.
I have to admit I was rooting for the buzz cut of your youth, to see if it still suited you, but you’re choice is probably better!
Looks much better.
I usually go a bit bolder trimming the sides and back with a 3 to 2 guard and scissoring the top to the point before cowlicks kick in or I bald myself. Of course I do it myself so only have me to blame for the results.
You should go all Andrew Weil with the beard, but that may be too much work to keep up.
I have to trim the beard back further. The holiday season is coming up, and I hate it when the kids confuse me with Santa Claus.
I had a pair of overalls just like that in the late 70s, loved them to bits literally.
Oldest Big Bro used to do a Santa Claus gig at a local garden centre after he retired. Mind his beard was waist long.
No, no, just no. The shaggy look is far better for us guys descending into decrepitude. Draws attention away from the ravages inflicted by time (and in my case, bad habits) on our faces.
Maybe go for a Brian Blessed look? The actor is pretty old but still looks impressive.
PZ, just be glad, and proud, that your hair grows on the outside of your head; not like the repugnantcant politicians who obviously have hair growing inside their heads suffocating any brain function.
I used to have a pony tail up til my fifties. Now nearly 72 and the only hair that grows is the hair in my ears and my beard. Not much left on top. Now washing my hair takes two minutes to wash and a minute to dry. Its only hair.
As the price of a haircut has gone up, my desire to get one has gone down.
PZ Myers @3
Well in that case if you ever decide to go full DIY or have Mary help, get some good clippers with an array of guards and maybe trim your beard to match the tightness of your sides and back of head.
That might be too dudebro, but it also might look cool as hell and be easy and cheap to maintain a few times a month or so.
I always promise myself to maintain my hair more frequently but fail to follow through.
Haircuts usually coincide with a six-pack. I oddly have flipped 180 degrees on stout/porter vs IPA. Dark heavy beers have become somewhat offputting and the grapefruit tones less annoying. I have no idea why!
Hemidactylus @10:
Don’t drink and cut!
Isn’t the gene for male pattern baldness inherited from the mother? My uncle is nearly bald at 75, while his dad died at 82 with a glorious thick head of hair.
In any case, overalls are very comfortable and functional garments and I think your haircut is very tidy and professional. I personally like the wild haired professor look too.
Me too PZ, me too.
OshKosh B’gosh was my father’s uniform. I think I was in 6th grade or older when I realized they were not called “overhauls.” But TIL that OshKosh no longer makes clothes for adults! Now I’m sad.
Longer hair, a pair of overalls (Carhartts) and a baseball cap with a feed store logo and you can fit in anywhere and NY Times will rush to interview you at the town diner about the latest accomplishments of the present (Mal) Administration. Cute farm girls will push your wife aside in their rush to jump into your arms ( Instagram told me so ). Whatever rocks your boat Professor!
birger @6
I don’t think PZ could do Blessed’s voice, though.
@Tethys, the genetics of male pattern baldness is more complicated than the simple X-chromosome theory often given.
“Although male pattern baldness is hereditary, it is not passed down exclusively from your mother’s side. While variants like those in the androgen receptor gene play a role, hair loss is influenced by multiple genes inherited from both your mother and father. Studies have shown that male baldness has a complex inheritance pattern and is not simply determined by one gene. So, there is still much we do not know about its inheritance patterns.
…
While the androgen receptor gene on the X chromosome plays a major role, many additional genetic factors affect how sensitive your hair follicles are to DHT and when thinning begins.” https://naturaltransplants.com/blog/does-the-male-pattern-baldness-gene-actually-exist/
I was wondering why PZ parted his hair on the right rather than the left like most men of our generation—then I noticed that the photo was mirrored (unless all his books are mirrored volumes).
NB! -PZ experienced supercooled water recently, here is an application!
.
“Supercooled water enables 3D printing of ice”
But this is probably not relevant for hair (unless you want a wig of ice)
.https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-supercooled-enables-3d-ice.html
The difference between a bad haircut and a good one is three weeks.
Heritability? 4 boys in my family. In our 70s-80s, one is largely bald, one is partially bald, two have full hair. We’re all wrinkled, so it can’t be Mendelian.
Is the OP photo reversed, or do I need to get an eye-doctor appointment?
I actually use my hair as an anecdote in my genetics class. My maternal grandfather went bald in high school, and people claim that baldness is passed down through your mother. It clearly didn’t happen. That should tell you that the genetics of baldness is significantly more complicated than an old wive’s tale, so keep that in mind when someone tries to tell you about some stupid folk genetics rule.
I think my maternal genes were counterbalance by my paternal family, where no one ever seems to experience any baldness. Some thinning as the get older, but not outright hair loss.
Like my father, I started losing my hair (in classic androgenic pattern) very early. My two brothers followed my example somewhat later. My maternal grandfather died at 87 with a full head of hair.
#20: your computer monitor is on backwards. Unplug it and attach it correctly, or go behind the screen and look at it from the other side.