Baldiness

The High Price of Baldness

by Bald Man on March 26th, 2006

I thought this story from the New York Daily News was interesting. It’s on “distraction buys,” those things we purchase to cover up more embarressing items. Much of the article deals with condoms and tampons, but check out this bit:

Americans don’t differ that much from their Brit counterparts, according to drugstore.com’s Douglas Mott. The online store’s the perfect solution for easily embarrassed shoppers who want to browse anonymously. It won’t break out exact figures, but Mott offers a snapshot of Americans’ most dreaded purchases. He says that laxatives, enemas and the like make up one of drugstore.com’s biggest categories (up 30% since last year), as do home testing kits, whether for marijuana or cholesterol.

Americans’ oddest embarrassment — one that’s barely a blip for Brits — was hair, thinning or graying. “We sell an abnormal amount of ‘Just for Men.’ Many men tend to think ‘I’m not going to let other folks know I’m going gray,’” Mott says. “Women’s hair loss is also a pretty big thing we cater to, as women with thin hair find that as embarrassing as men who are going gray. You’d be surprised at the number of women who are using products like Rogaine. I’d estimate at least 35% of our sales are for women dealing with baldness.”

Here are some numbers: On average our “distraction buys” add almost $9 to the bill. That’s more than $300 million per year in the US alone. The economic cost of resisting baldness just went up.

By the way, drugstore.com carries the complete line of Bald Guyz products.

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POSTED IN: Facts & Figures