 Baldness can cause low self esteem |
British men are more affected by hair loss than most Europeans but are too embarrassed to do anything about it, a survey suggests. Only men in Germany suffered more hair loss, the Gallup poll of 1,500 people showed.
However, while many Germans went for treatment, nine out of ten British men did nothing about it.
Psychologists suggested British men may actually get treatment but refuse to admit to it.
Three-quarters of men who have started losing their hair have self esteem problems and two-thirds of them feel insecure as a result of hair loss, the survey of men in five European countries suggests.
 |  There is the image of the Italian man spending a lot of time on his appearance  |
Half the British men questioned said starting to go bald made them feel old and less attractive. Men in southern Europe were more relaxed about hair loss and more comfortable about getting treatment, the survey suggested.
Half of British men surveyed opted for shaving their heads or keeping their hair very short instead of taking steps to tackle the problem.
Myths
Dr Tim Mitchell, a GP and spokesman for the Primary Care Dermatology Society, said: "There are so many myths and misconceptions about hair loss and a lot of men are understandably wary of so-called miracle cures.
"But we can do a great deal more for men who are losing their hair than even a few years ago."
Male patterned hair loss (MPHL), or androgenetica alopecia, is thought to be the most common form of hair loss in men and affects over half by the age of 50.
Typically, the hairline recedes or hair is lost from the top of the head and replaced by fine, downy hair, which slowly disappears to leave an expanding bald patch.
Many men with MPHL are left with a thin horseshoe shaped line of hair around the back and sides of their head.
Dr Kerri McPherson, a psychologist at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, said British men may actually be getting some treatment in the early stages of going bald.
"I would imagine that it is more to do with them not admitting to having done anything about it," she said.
"Anecdotally, there is the image of the Italian man spending a lot of time on his appearance. But we are seeing a change here in the last few years."
Dr McPherson suggested the interest in fashion and appearance shown by public figures including footballers was having an impact on British men, as was the decline in manual jobs in favour of office-based employment.
But there remained a reluctance to talk about issues of appearance in the UK, she said.
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