Take my wife, please...

That's what most men would say if given a choice between keeping their spouse or significant other and losing their hair. But let's not get crazy, don't take the T.V.!

Those are just a couple of findings of a national "Hair Aware" study conducted recently among nearly 4,000 men by the Morris Plains-based Rogaine hair growth company.

"Hair loss and the way we perceive it has changed drastically in the last several years - it's now top on the minds of guys," says Danny Weiss, group product director for Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Company. "Men are making grooming and self-improvement a higher priority.

For many, maintaining and regrowing hair is less of a taboo and more like working out or buying new clothes."

The study, released yesterday, found that younger men were the most hair conscious, with one in 4 men between the ages of 18 and 34 concerned about hair loss. According to the makers of Rogaine, they represent a new group of guys that are increasingly taking steps to regrow hair at the earliest signs of hair loss.

Fifty percent of the men would even rather deliver a large public speech than lose their hair, and 5 percent would rather fall off a cliff. Only about 20 percent would give up watching television if it meant keeping a full head of hair but 22 percent said they would give up their vacation. Nearly 10 percent said give up sex!

Roughly 60 percent of the men would rather experience a demoralizing event in pursuit of keeping the hair they have. Twenty percent would rather get dumped than lose their hair and 5 percent were willing to trade in their significant others for flowing locks.

 

Weiss adds, "Clearly, men are thinking about hair loss, and they obviously want to keep what they have."