Bald. Beautiful or not?

Betina here. In shock. Okay, maybe more simple surprise. I'm researching my contemporary for Blaze and ran up against a little rule that kind of threw me for a loop.

Blaze doesn't do BALD.

Not even shaved bald.

See, I had planned to have a balding hero-- prematurely balding, of course and a little sensitive about it. But very buff and manly in all other respects. Nope. No baldies in Blaze I was told. Wasn't given an explanation, but my guess is "bald" doesn't play well on covers. And there would be some logic to that if we were talking these guys.





But this is sexy BLAZE, after all. I know the rules and no way I'd be caught with a HOMER hero. . .no matter what Marge says. Sigh. I guess HQ thinks that it's demographic likes to run fingers through hair, not over skin. Sigh again. You suppose they've done focus groups and studies? Still, it seems a little short sighted to me. But I'm going back to the drawing board, because "bald" is not my cause. I'll leave somebody else to fight for that one.

But, I'm thinking about using a baldie in a women's fic book I'm working on. It's a built-in and has to be there to show the transformation in the hero. So. . . whaddya think about bald men?

Guys like:

Or like:

Sexy or not? Just to help you decide, I've pulled in just one more example from the ether-o-sphere:

Okay, now vote. Bald or not bald? And no maybes. I've gotta have an answer so I can get this book moving ahead! Do you think bald can be beautiful and sexy or not? Does a shaved head equate to "whoa, baby" or "ewww, momma"?

And since everyone's being so helpful, I'm adding a couple of additional images. I've seen Shemar Moore here with hair and without. You be the judge.

And to sum up, here's my opinion: