Guess Who?
Bald Edition

Androgenetic alopecia, more commonly known as pattern baldness, is a common dermatologic condition characterized by progressive hair loss. It affects up to 80% of men over their lifetime (Aukerman & Jafferany, 2023). Although medically benign and far from being unusual, the process of balding can have damaging psychosocial consequences (Cash, 1999; Zucchelli et al., 2024).

 

Prior research notably established that early balding among men can be experienced as a loss of identity (Hodkinson & Hall, 2025; Ralph, 2025). To cope with this identity loss, some men refuse cosmetic, medication, or surgery treatments and instead decide to embrace baldness by shaving their heads. Such a decision has been analyzed as symbolizing a process of acceptance and identity reconstruction. It is usually accompanied by emotional relief, even though it appears to be driven by hegemonic norms of masculinity (Hodkinson & Hall, 2025; Ralph, 2025).

 

What existing research on the topic does not reveal—yet has been experienced by the author of this piece—is that following the ritual of shaving one’s head to rebuild a strong, assumed, and confident masculine identity, a phenomenon of bald essentialisation occurs. This bald essentialisation constitutes a second loss of identity when the newly shaved “bald bro” realizes that long‑time colleagues fail to recognize him if he wears a cap, or when friends and relatives regularly mistake him for another bald guy. Although this realization can be quite dramatic, as it denies one’s unique identity, it is also a great lesson in self‑derision to see how an initial attempt to emulate masculine icons such as Jason Statham, Kelly Slater, or Yul Brynner ultimately ends up looking like the other bald guy from IT support.

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“Guess Who Bald Edition” is a playful attempt to make visible this process of bald essentialisation and identity re‑loss. The artwork was first conceived for an exhibition, curated by contemporary artist Philippe Marcus. It takes the form of an interactive installation: visitors are invited to play an appropriated version of the classic board game Guess Who? in which every character is a fully shaved bald man (Figure 1). After becoming accidentally viral on social media (Figure 2), the piece turned into a research project for the author and has been developing since June 2025 as an Instagram page that is regularly updated with new editions of the game. By feeding this account, the author aims to build a repertoire of bald icons and to explore the symbolism of the shaved skull in consumer culture. In addition, the Instagram page provides a platform that allows the author to connect with an ecosystem of bald influencers, fetishists, their followers, and cosmetics brands targeting this community—offering a netnography opportunity to analyse discourses and behaviors related to baldness and masculine identities (Kozinet, 2015). Ultimately, this art project could thus turned into a research project connecting with expanding literature on the consumer body (Russel et al., 2024; Thompson & Hirschman, 1998).

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Artwork Location: Conference Hall 1