Sunday, August 5, 2012

Are high hairlines really a masculine trait?

A while ago I saw photos of a Swedish MTF transsexual who had facial feminization surgery by Dr. Yaremchuk in Boston, Massachusetts. (All the photos and YouTube videos have since disappeared though.) I have to say that I have been amazed at his skill and the quality of work, but I believe he was working outside his level of expertise when he took on this patient because the hairline was left too low, among other things.

But in the field of FFS, it seems that patients are routinely expected to get hairline lowering. I've seen hairline lowering that actually left the hairline looking higher than it had been previously. For example if the patient has a widow's peak (not a receding hairline, just a little widow's peak) and that is removed, it makes a difference in the overall look of the forehead.For example:


Vanessa William with her widow's peak, and without it.

But my question is whether high hairlines really look masculine. I once read a statement on a doctor's web site that it's better to go too low than too high. Alexandra, at Virtual FFS doesn't believe that men's hairlines are higher than women's (she explains why here) and I agree with her. She has visual evidence to back her up, after all. Doctors' web sites don't refer to anything. They don't cite sources. So until I see proof otherwise, I will trust the evidence I can see.

But the one thing that doctors don't mention, but I find true, is that short foreheads look weird. For example, the "before" photo is Teresa Giudice's natural forehead. Her scalp hair grows directly on the flat area of her forehead above her eyes. In the "after" photo, I made her hairline too high. 


I think her forehead looks too high in the "after" photo, but it's not especially weird looking, aside from being huge and unnaturally flat. Also, if a doctor lowers a hairline too much, then it's not like one can remove the hair by laser or electrolysis because a massive scar will show.

Ok, enough on hairlines, but I have one more photo. Tyra Banks with a low forehead like Teresa Giudice. (This is young Tyra, before her nose job and the wigs that cover up her naturally high, very high, hairline.)

Would she have made it in modeling with the very low hairline?


19 comments:

rose young-stewart said...

it seems your high forehead interpretations by computer, are extremely too high why is it you did not try it (or at least show us) how these women would appear with a bit lower hair line but not as low as they show us on the pictures here? Does Guidice have any plan to reduce her hairline to not look so apeish? I am sure it is a heredity factor.

Me said...

I only made Guidice's hairline higher, and removed Williams' widow's peak. I didn't try to show normal hairlines because I thought everyone knew they'd look better that way. The real argument out there is whether too low is better or worse than too high. FFS doctors say too low is better, which I disagree with.

I doubt Guidice will fix it because she doesn't seem self-conscious about it. Maybe it's a family trait, like you said, so doesn't seem odd to her. If I were her I'd wear bangs.

Anonymous said...

i think it comes down to race more than anything. if you begin to look for it, you will notice people who are 100% (or a genetic majority) caucasian tend to have higher hairlines and a bit of temple recession is EXTREMELY common, this seems the most true of central europeans.

contrast it with people of african, latino or asian genetics and the difference is astounding. look at a lot of black male athletes, so many of them have very low and even hairlines that look like they were drawn straight across with a pencil (while i know it is somewhat common with black men to have a barber even their hairline, a lot of them do have a natural "cut" to their hairline which i know a lot of white men are jealous of).

i know mentioning any racial differences is a touchy subject, but this is something that i can't simply deny, all races seem to have their own hairline quirks, for better or worse. i think white central european types of people sadly got the worst hand dealt to them in terms of hair, as recession and crown loss is very common in men with these genetics...and the women tend to have very fine/thin hair with higher foreheads and temple recession.

i'm white and i have to admit i am CONSTANTLY staring with envy at the hair of asian girls in particular. all i see with them are perfectly feminine hairlines, backed up with a thick flowing mane of dense hair. i know not every asian woman is like this, but the majority i see are and i would give anything for those genes. i contrast their perfect hair with my paltry baby fine straight hair, which lacks density, lacks volume and gives me a high forehead...my hair has always been this way, it isn't even age related or hormonal, it's just the way the women in my family are. trust me, it sucks.

while Guidice's natural hairline is on the lower end of the spectrum, i'd kill for it, it's way better than what i have now. if she wanted to, she could get some even electrolysis hair removal done to make her hairline a bit higher, but not too high, but sadly hair transplants to LOWER a hairline are FAR more risky, expensive and complicated.

signed,

20 something white girl with the shittiest hair genetics ever

Anonymous said...

... My forehead, my sister obsetved, is like Teresa's and I hate it.

Anonymous said...

omg Theresa should totally get bangs! I did a photoshop picture of her w bangs and wow, what a difference. she would look amazing in a high ponytail w full bangs like zooey deschanel! -kpm

Me said...

YES

Anonymous said...

A high hairline is actually a marker of feminine beauty. Look at the model roster of any major agency. Models tend to have high, broad foreheads. What differentiates a feminine from a masculine forehead is the shape of the forehead, and the shape of the hairline. Receding temples give a masculine appearance. This is what should be addressed in M2F surgery.

The reason a high forehead is considered feminine and beautiful is due to it being a trait associated with youth. You will note that babies and children have large, high foreheads. Many childlike or 'youthful' physical traits are considered beautiful and feminising, like large eyes, lack of body hair and beard, lack of brow bossing, etc.

Most clearly, it is not until adulthood - after puberty - that men look irretrievably 'male'. Childhood features are more feminine by default. Features that mimic youth are often feminising and therefore beautiful. A high forehead is one of these features. Lowering of the forehead is a mistake in many cases of FFS. Instead, the shape (rather than the height) of the hairline, and the underlying bone structure is what needs to be addressed.

The woman you show here has a hairline much like Rita Hayworth had before treatment. If Ms Hayworth hadn't endured painful electrolysis to correct her very low hairline, it is unlikely she would have ever become a Hollywood star.

Habigababi said...

I FEEL YOU!
I have naturally very high temples/ receding hairline (it's in the family) and a high forehead, plus thin, non-dense, fine hair.
But in addition to my shitty caucasian hair (though it's frizzy/ "curly") I have suffered from hair loss over the last few years (became worse and worse) and no cause to be found, means no cure of the hair loss, no solution for me except for cutting it short :/

I've become obsessed with ponytail circumferences :/ Whenever I see a woman/ girl with a ponytail, I HAVE TO look at the circumference of it, compare it to mine/ others and in most cases, envy her for the lots of hair she has and wish mine was like that xD also goes for the hair type/ volume/ hairline and especially how broad/ light the parting is... It's stressful -.-

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Anonymous said...

I find its people with naturally darker hair that have lower "better" and often straighter hairlines, and black men since we have such curly hair, the baby hairs can be cut to make the forehead look smaller and the hairline much straighter than someone with pinstraight blonde hair... Anyways as long as you have any hair you can style it to make yourself look good, just don't obsess about your hairline, you can't change it (naturally) and everybody was made different. Embrace yourself.

-BB