Hair, glorious hair

Why are so many men these days bald? Is it something to do with climate change?

My feelings go out to them as I struggle with frequent trips to the hairdresser to get my grey taken care of. But it seems like an epidemic, especially in Australia.

Nearly all men in Asia seem to have full heads of hair so is it a western thing? There are all sorts of theories about the reasons for it. But it definitely is a worry.

The other night I went to see A Life in Three Acts as part of the Sydney Festival which has English drag queen Bette Bourne relaying his life through an on-stage interview. Fantastic black and white photos of him and others at various times of their life are flashed on screens behind him. In the 1970s he and his fellow queens had thick, curly hair - and I'm not talking about their wigs - and were extremely spunky. Most of the gay men in that night's audience had shaved heads.

Now shaved heads are better than comb-overs or anything like that and these guys were still attractive. But really, what has happened to all that hair, glorious hair? (Memories of the cast of Hair singing about giving themselves a head of hair - could they do that today?) Is there a huge mountain of hair somewhere?

It's not just men - we're all losing hair. Everytime we comb, mounds of it come out.

I read an article this week that said too little protein, red meat, fish, eggs, chicken and so on can affect keratin levels and hair can become weaker and stop growing. Eating those foods and having breakfast is key - the morning meal is the most important of the day for boosting hair follicles.

A lack of dietary iron may also lead to hair loss, as levels of ferritin in your body may drop and disrupt the hair growth cycle and increase hair shedding, according to this article.

None of this has much to do with travel except that I do notice a lot more hair when I go to Asia than here or other western countries.Thick, black, luxuriant hair. So beautiful. So maybe it is to do with their diet. (The man in the photo above was at the Pushkar Camel Fair in India for the moustache competition.)

The worst thing here is when a bald head is accompanied by a bow tie around the neck. Bow ties are never a good look unless they are worn with a dinner suit. Extremely unsexy at any other time.

And then some people shave their heads for charity or for art. Geoffrey Rush and wonderful female actor Yael Stone have shaved theirs for Gogol's The Diary of A Madman playing at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney. What sacrifice for art. And what amazing art too.

In a miracle we managed to get cancelled tickets for the Saturday matinee. What a privilege to see an actor like Rush "in the flesh" - more than 20 years after I saw him in another Neil Armfield-directed play at the same theatre.

Announcing a collection for the flood victims after the performance, he said Toowoomba and Brisbane were his childhaunt haunts. He was wearing white mad man's pants and no shirt at the time. And no bow tie.