History Main / BaldnessMeansSickness

* Almost every woman who goes bald, wheter by choice or due to a condition like Alopecia that causes hair loss, has to deal with awkward conversations and assumptions of illness when they are perfectly healthy.

Variations include the sick person wanting to get ahead of their hair loss by shaving their hair off themselves and someone shaving their head in solidarity with a loved one who is suffering from cancer. This can also be {{exploited|trope}} by those willing to take advantage of the assumptions people have about sickly-looking bald people. A very common (and seldom lampshaded) phenomenon is for characters with cancer to be bald only on their scalp, although chemotherapy treatment causes ''all'' of the patient's body hair to fall out (in fact, it's the [radioactive] chemo treatment that ''actually'' causes the hair loss, not the cancer itself), including the eyebrows, which these characters are often shown to still possess.

Because WomenAreDelicate (and are [[LongHairIsFeminine expected to have hair]]) and ChildrenAreInnocent, the IllGirl or LittlestCancerPatient dressed in hospital clothes and hooked up to machines will very often also be bald to hammer in that their illness isn't likely to go away soon. It can also be used as for an ExpositoryHairstyleChange or a SecretlyDying reveal: where a character introduced with a full head of hair [[FakeHairDrama reveals their hair to be a wig]] or is suddenly seen bald and in a hospital, viewers instantly understand they're being treated for cancer or something just as bad. Conversely, HairTodayGoneTomorrow may be used for presently bald patients who have hair in a flashback.

* ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera'': Early on we see Shilo is completely bald, showing her as an IllGirl suffering from a mysterious blood disease that killed her mother; she spends most of the movie wearing a long wig. Subverted when [[spoiler:her mother is revealed to have been murdered and her father has been faking her illness to protect her from the CrapsackWorld outside]].

Compare OminousHairLoss, where hair loss means something is wrong (this trope could be seen as the follow-up to that), PrematurelyBald, for when a character (usually male) starts losing hair early, BaldnessAngst, for when a character mopes about being bald for whatever reason (sickness included), and DiseaseBleach, when stress/illness manifests in a hair color change rather than hair loss. Contrast BaldHeadOfToughness, for when a bald head indicates a tough character rather than one that is frail due to illness. See also TheTopicOfCancer, which treats cancer as one of the worst and most terrifying diseases; the unnaturalness of hair loss may contribute to that fear.

* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': Quill's mother is introduced (and promptly killed off) on her deathbed. She's bald-headed and lacks eyebrows, and the sequel outright confirms she was dying of cancer.

Variations include the sick person wanting to get ahead of their hair loss by shaving their hair off themselves and someone shaving their head in solidarity with a loved one who is suffering from cancer. This can also be {{exploited|trope}} by those willing to take advantage of the assumptions people have about sickly-looking bald people. A very common (and seldom lampshaded) phenomenon is for characters with cancer to be bald only on their scalp, although chemotherapy treatment causes ''all'' of the patient's body hair to fall out (in fact, the chemo treatment is what causes the hair loss, not the cancer itself), including the eyebrows, which these characters are often shown to still possess.

* The gang on ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' tries to pass off Mac as a cancer patient by slapping a fake bald cap on his head. In a major win for reality, the person they were hoping to fool rightly points out that chemotherapy would leave Mac with no body hair at all, and he still clearly has his eyebrows and a ''beard''.

* One of those "Pass It On" public-service ads shows a trio of young men taking a sick teenage girl out on a date, and one of them has shaved his head clean in solidarity with her. Despite the girl presumably being bald from chemo treatment, she clearly has a shaved head and full set of eyebrows, just like he does.

* In ''[[Anime/OjamajoDoremi Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho]]'' a young girl named Nozomi Waku longs to become a witch but suffers from cancer and wears a shamrock green bandanna with teal print over her head due to losing her hair to chemotherapy. [[spoiler: Sadly, she doesn't make it, passing away after becoming an Apprentice Witch for one evening]].

* ''ComicBook/SupermanAndBatmanGenerations'' has an elderly Lois Lane losing her hair to chemo treatments due to her suffering from cancer.

* In ''{{ComicStrip/Zits}}'', Jeremy and Hector assume this has happened to the mother of their friend and bandmate Tim, who reveals that she's been receiving chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. In response, Jeremy and Hector decide to shave their heads in solidarity. However, it's ultimately subverted, as it turns out Tim's mom didn't lose her hair after all. Regardless, she is genuinely touched by Jeremy and Hector's gesture [[ActuallyPrettyFunny and gets a good laugh out of it]].

Variations include the sick person wanting to get ahead of their hair loss by shaving their hair off themselves and someone shaving their head in solidarity with a loved one who is suffering from cancer. This can also be {{exploited|trope}} by those willing to take advantage of the assumptions people have about sickly-looking bald people. A very common (and seldom lampshaded) phenomenon is for characters with cancer to be bald only on their scalp, although chemotherapy treatment causes ''all'' of the patient's body hair to fall out (in fact, chemo treatment ''is'' what causes the hair loss, not the cancer itself), including the eyebrows, which these characters are often shown to still possess.

Variations include the sick person wanting to get ahead of their hair loss by shaving their hair off themselves and someone shaving their head in solidarity with a loved one who is suffering from cancer. This can also be {{exploited|trope}} by those willing to take advantage of the assumptions people have about sickly-looking bald people. A very common (but seldom lampshaded) phenomenon is for characters with cancer to be bald only on their scalp, although chemotherapy treatment causes ''all'' of the patient's body hair to fall out, including the eyebrows, which these characters are often shown to still possess.

** In a later episode, Charlie's mom gets cancer and to raise money for her treatment from a strange medicine man, the gang makes her put on a bald cap and read out a over-the-top sob story so she can get more donations. [[spoiler:The sheer level of exaggeration she has to put up makes her confess to faking her cancer.]]

* ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'': One of the first signs of turning into a [[RevenantZombie Elantrian]] is the loss of all the victim's hair. Elantrians are all damned to slowly decay and fall into madness due to their [[ImmortalityHurts immortality]] and [[WoundThatWillNotHeal inability to heal]].

How do you instantly show that a character is suffering from illness of the potentially deadly kind? Make them bald. The reason this visual shorthand works is because the image of the cancer patient who has lost hair to chemotherapy is very well-known. The disease in question usually ''is'' cancer, but other illnesses count too.

* ''ComicBook/SupermanBatmanGenerations'' has an elderly Lois Lane losing her hair to chemo treatments due to her suffering from cancer.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': Invoked and zig-zagged with BaldHeadOfToughness. When Walt begins losing his hair from chemotherapy, he shaves his head and invokes the typical image of a bald cancer patient. However, in the criminal circles he enters, his baldness comes off as more intimidating and his shaving his head coincides with him [[Taking A Level In Badass]] by adopting the drug kingpin persona, Heisenberg. Even once he goes into remission, he keeps his head shaved more out of habit and as a sign his Heisenberg persona is [[BecomingTheMask becoming his main personality]]. [[spoiler: Ironically, after his remission ends later in the show, he has fully regrown his hair and keeps it that way until he finally dies (and not from the cancer)]].

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': Invoked and zig-zagged. When Walt begins losing his hair from chemotherapy, he shaves his head and invokes the typical image of a bald cancer patient. However, in the criminal circles he enters, his baldness comes off as more intimidating. Even once he goes into remission, he keeps his head shaved more out of habit and as a sign his Heisenberg persona is becoming his main personality. Ironically, after his remission ends later in the show, he has fully regrown his hair and keeps it that way until he finally dies (and not from the cancer).
* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'': Lynette's twins put bubblegum in their brother's hair, so she had to shave it off. People assumed he had cancer, which Lynette used to play on their sympathies.

* Sasha Velour, who won ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' season 10, has said that the reason she does drag bald is to honor her late mother, who lost her hair to and eventually died of cancer.

* The gang on ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' tries to pass of Mac as a cancer patient by slapping a fake bald cap on his head. In a major win for reality, the person they were hoping to fool rightly points out that chemotherapy would leave Mac with no body hair at all, as he still clearly has his eyebrows and a ''beard''.

* In ''[[Anime/OjamajoDoremi Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho]]'' a young girl named Nozomi Waku longs to become a witch but suffers from cancer and wears a shamrock green bandanna with teal print over her head due to losing her hair to chemotherapy. [[spoiler: Sadly, she doesn't make it, passing away after becoming an Apprentice Witch for one evening]]

* ''ComicBook/TheHillsHaveEyes'': Karen is shown bald shortly before her death, due to the effects of radiation poisoning.