[Sue Jay:] [clapping] [music] Welcome back. All week Elton John made his various entrances and exits from the High Court, where he was honest about his addictions to drink, drugs and binge eating. He left with his head held high, but what did he have on his head? Should men fight nature with wigs and hair-weaves, or is bald best? Well with us we have some gentlemen who believe that bald is not best,
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Sue Jay:] and [clapping]
[speaker002:] We do.
[Sue Jay:] some people who think that maybe they're wrong. Barbara, you wrote an article in the Times about all of this, you've been following Elton John's comings and goings in the court, what did you think
[Barbara:] Ha
[Sue Jay:] of his new appearance?
[Barbara:] I just thought poor guy, I mean he was somebody who thought he'd overcome food addiction, drink addiction, drugs addiction and he looks like a spider.
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Barbara:] I thought it was really very funny, this long straggly black hair, he looked absolutely miserable, he thought he was now spiritually calm and spiritually sane and he's got this peculiar thing on his head that makes him look so daft. Nobody's told him obviously.
[Sue Jay:] Well listen, is it is it just hairpieces that look funny you've got something against, or have you got something against all sorts of things that men put on their heads?
[Barbara:] We er I think I have. I mean it is if they look funny I feel that they're sadder, if you can't tell then that's you know jolly good luck I suppose except that somebody knows. They know.
[speaker002:] Elton Elton looks like Ronnie Corbett in drag in that wig.
[Barbara:] [clapping]
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Barbara:] the funny thing is that if if you know that what you've got on your head is something acrylic, then you can't feel all that good about yourself.
[Sue Jay:] Well listen, let me i let me introduce you to now who shall we pick, Tony, first of all what have you got to say to it, sitting there in your then do I call it a toupee or a wig or
[Tony:] Call it what you like, call it a cat if you want, I mean I don't mind I like pussy on the head.
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Tony:] It probably was I think it's actually it's been made from cubic hair er pubic hair sorry.
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Sue Jay:] Come on.
[Tony:] And er I feel I've been wearing one for about twenty five years and I feel a lot better, I feel I feel as if I look good in a wig. And without one I'd
[speaker002:] [clapping] [clapping] [clapping]
[Tony:] Excuse me, me
[Sue Jay:] Why are you all laughing?
[Tony:] Excuse me, what can you wear to improve your face?
[Vince:] I wore it for one year and that
[Sue Jay:] Come on Alan, Alan
[Vince:] was the worst year of my life.
[Barbara:] Come on come on you said you said it's the worst year of your life the w year you wear a toupee, why?
[Vince:] Why, because I I felt it wasn't me. I was an artificial thing walking around, I was scared, I was scared of I wanted to see the real me, the real me. And that's me without it.
[Sue Jay:] Listen listen
[speaker002:] has he got artificial teeth? [clapping] Have you got your own teeth?
[Vince:] Yes And they're all mine and they're real.
[Sue Jay:] Lance, Lance, Lance, Lance why do you wear yours?
[Lance:] Because I don't like bald heads. If you see for yourself, have a look at 'em.
[Sue Jay:] Alan, alan bald is not er alan bald is not necessarily beautiful, haven't you ever thought of covering it up?
[Alan:] No not really. See this man here, he he thinks he's comfortable with his wig, but he wears the jacket so we don't even get to look at his hair.
[speaker002:] [clapping] [clapping] Actually, actually I like to you don't say much but when you say it it's nothing.
[Alan:] Is there a volume control on that jacket? Turn it down a bit it's a bit loud.
[Sue Jay:] Okay John why why why why do you think it's important that you should be allowed to wear a hairpiece if you want?
[John:] Because I'm emotionally affected by not wearing it. All these people who are applauding, [clapping] half of them have got their own hair.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Yeah
[John:] If they didn't have their own hair they'd kn they'd know the emotional effect of hair loss. Now I I've been selling hairpieces for twenty three years so I'm probably better in a better position than anybody here to explain the emotions of men who're losing their hair. And some of those guys out there, some of them have actually committed suicide.
[Barbara:] Yeah but my argument is
[John:] Right?
[Barbara:] that they shouldn't feel that bad
[John:] Well your argument is that they shouldn't feel that bad, but they do feel that bad.
[Barbara:] Well that's because somebody has told them that bald is ugly, bald isn't ugly, it's.
[John:] I'm sorry my darling, bald is ugly.
[Sue Jay:] Calm down guys I want to ask you is is he better with it or without it? Take it off.
[speaker002:] you might not be better but you're natural. What's the difference Excuse me, excuse me do you wear false teeth? No. How many people in the audience wear false teeth? What's that got to do with it? It's exactly the same thing.
[Sue Jay:] [shouting] Listen this is getting too noisy, one person at a time please. [] Sh sh.
[Barbara:] I will answer if you shut up.
[Sue Jay:] Hush all of you hush, one at a time. Gentleman here
[speaker002:] Can I just make a point. Can I make a point. I've had a bald patch for twenty years. It's part of my character, it's who I am and I'm not gonna hide underneath any wig. My friend, if you didn't have hair at the front
[Sue Jay:] Would you guys like to look at me and ask a answer a question. Why do you bother? Why not live like nature intended you to?
[speaker002:] But nature didn't intend intend it. We was born with hair wasn't we?
[Sue Jay:] You were born with hair.
[Barbara:] We weren't though.
[speaker002:] I was born with this haircut.
[Sue Jay:] Okay what what do you think now you're you're you're you're a hairdresser of some standing in London, why do you think that men get so hung up about all of this kind of hair?
[Deniel:] Because it's a sign of insecurity
[speaker002:] Never
[Deniel:] and if let me finish, if it makes them feel better if you wanna wear a wig or doughnut, you wear one, if you want to stay bald, you stay bald, but whichever way it doesn't interfere with my life, right, so if you want keep a wig on and you feel happy and you feel more of a person, erm then fine.
[Sue Jay:] Why do you think it is that people need to do it?
[Deniel:] Well the thing is that you know erm somebody's got no hair they think, a lot of this the problem revolve round the baldness, and er they haven't come to term with it. So they go and wear one and it makes them feel better for job interview, pulling girls er going to places you know
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Sue Jay:] Is is does does it boil down, does it boil down to a lack of security to the fact that? One at a time.
[speaker002:] Sorry.
[Joshua:] Simply to a need. I mean I've had people who can't get work because they look old, right. Yes, yes, now that group have come into me and two weeks after they've worn the hairpiece they've got a job after two and half years of not finding work, so what do you say to that?
[Sue Jay:] Okay.
[Joshua:] It's not rubbish it's the truth.
[Sue Jay:] Joshua.
[Joshua:] These gentlemen here have got such big mouths it's unbelievable. I wish they'd listen to other people. I've been bald from a very early age, but I happen to be in the hairdressing industry and I travel all over the world teaching. What right does any individual have to tell other people what they should or shouldn't do?
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Joshua:] Excuse me, Excuse me if you if you used your mouth as well as your brain you'd be better off, the thing is this that quite honestly nobody here has the right, do you like the way that gentleman looks? He likes the way he looks, good luck to him, he wants to wants those boots, great. These guys wanna wear wigs, they feel good with it, let 'em do it, who tells you what you gotta eat, where
[Sue Jay:] Talking about talking about life here is someone we all know, here's someone we all know from That's Life. Howard. [clapping] When did you start going bald?
[speaker002:] I started losing mine when I was nineteen, and er I must say in answer to that gentleman's
[Sue Jay:] Yeah
[speaker002:] er comment about erm the chap not getting any any work, erm I think I can attribute most of my work to the fact that I do have a bald head.
[Sue Jay:] [clapping] You're in that nice kind of profession where people
[speaker002:] It c it certainly hasn't been a drawback to me.
[Sue Jay:] It hasn't. Tell me did it give you, did you actually just say, I mean nineteen's young
[speaker002:] Yes.
[Sue Jay:] to I mean did did it ever bother you?
[speaker002:] Well I was a drama student at the time and I suppose erm [clapping]
[Sue Jay:] Yes listen, can you just shut up, one at a time, lady there.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I wanna know, right, why don't you just you know go bald you know normally, why do you have to hide it? Cos I'm happier with a hairpiece on.
[Sue Jay:] Okay listen there's someone over
[speaker002:] people treat me differently. Yeah but you know Women treat me differently. If a women puts her hair hands through your hair Yeah right and it falls off in the soup it doesn't fall off in the soup, it never falls off, it's only the ones you see on the advertisements that fall off.
[Sue Jay:] Can can you can you run your hands
[speaker002:] these never fall off
[Sue Jay:] Can you run your hands through it?
[speaker002:] Yes, like that, how's that, alright, alright?
[Sue Jay:] Listen let me, let me come to David Wilkie. David, David we know you so I'm going
[speaker002:] swim with it, do everything in it.
[Sue Jay:] Ca can you stop talking. [shouting] Wait [].
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Sue Jay:] You tell 'em.
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Sue Jay:] David, why do you want to grow your hair? I I would be happier having hair, there's no doubt about that. Mm. Erm I started losing my hair at twenty nine Mm, mm. I've come to terms with it, it doesn't bother whether I've got it or not, but to be honest I'd rather have more hair than I do now. And I put it down to having a fairly bad circulation and I'm get getting my circulation back, using a product called and going on this er hair programme and my hair is beginning You're doing it for charity does it I mean is that really the bottom line or would you do you er I'm hoping it works? I'm growing hair for charity but in many respects that's probably an excuse. I'd like my hair to grow back Is it working? and it's beginning to grow back a little bit. The little hair is growing back and er that makes me a happy person. Mm. If it doesn't grow back, I've accepted that it might not, but if it grows back I'll be a very happy man. Okay th You you're the inventor of this system, or the bringer of this system to the wider public should I say, er why is it gonna work?
[Barbara:] Because we know why people lose their hair. There are a number of reasons why people lose their hair, stress is a very key factor. Genetics means that one may have a propensity to lose one's hair, but
[Sue Jay:] And why is why is going upside down for two minutes twice a day gonna make it grow again?
[Barbara:] It's it's part of a programme, it helps get blood back to the hair fo We've all got all the hair follicles there, what we haven't got is the capillary network feeding those hair follicles.
[Sue Jay:] Okay, is it is it is it going to is it going to work?
[Barbara:] Well
[Sue Jay:] I mean is is tho though we can see David upside down
[Deniel:] Okay, erm I'm a littl I'm a little bit I'm a little bit worried about er this er exploitation of people and security because they've got no proven record and no medical evidence, if he was that good this guy will be a millionaire and people will be growing hair all the time, to put somebody on the chair, without knowing if that person's got blood pressure or heart problems, they could suffer from a s a stroke erm have er or be partially paralysed, so I I think I like to see this man here maybe in ten fifteen years time with proper proven er medical evidence.
[Sue Jay:] Okay, it's quite a serious point you should answer it.
[Barbara:] Yeah we have a number of doctors who are part of our distribution er set up, we have people like Brian who's busily growing his hair back, there are medical exclusions for people who can't invert so
[Sue Jay:] Okay fine. Do you think it works?
[speaker002:] Well I c I I've seen so many things over the year I just don't believe it until I actually see it and th literally four weeks ago, I'd just got back from Germany, went on a meeting the following morning and it's that gentleman there, Steve, and h he's got some pictures in his pocket which will prove exactly what we're talking about. Because when this guy put his head down, I just did not believe that that was
[Sue Jay:] You've grown your hair doing this?
[speaker002:] am growing my hair that had happened. Proof of the pudding. Seeing's believing.
[Sue Jay:] we we don't happen to have the picture of you before, so I've no way of knowing,
[speaker002:] I do
[Sue Jay:] well I can't put it up, we do?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[Sue Jay:] Okay,
[speaker002:] there you go
[Sue Jay:] We who can see it, who can see this picture?
[speaker002:] You need some glasses as well then.
[Sue Jay:] You got it?
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Sue Jay:] Would you bother, editor of Penthouse here, I mean I don't know why, I don't know why I should think you know what women want, I guess you know what men want?
[Tony:] I spend I spend a lot of time with them so [LAUGHTER] I [] spend a lot talking to them.
[Sue Jay:] Do you do you think that women actually mind whether chaps are bald or not?
[Tony:] I don'think er that women mind at all, I don't think that that people in general really take that much notice of it, I mean I personally er have no objection or would not try and dissuade these gentlemen from wearing these things, but I personally would never wear one, and one of the reasons I would never wear one is apart from maybe two cases there you can always tell, and I think the thing is that when I would feel very uncomfortable [LAUGHTER] walking down the street [] and everyo I'd feel that everyone was there going [mimicking] wig, wig [] and the other thing is, there's a young lady at the back there made a very valid point, er I spend a lot of time with a lot of girls, it's my job, I don't want one of them to run her fingers through my hair and it come away in [LAUGHTER] in her hand [] you know that's
[Sue Jay:] gentleman at the back there.
[speaker002:] It's it's a misconception. People don't know anything about the things that they're not talking about, you've had no experience of it, you don't know, you know of the bad hairpieces and wigs Yeah any form of hair replacement that you see down the hai down the street, this gentleman here is just anti-hair and the story whether it's your hair up there trying to grow it or whatever. Erm people that haven't experienced it don't know what they're talking about. You don't know, you've passed, you've passed you've passed [clapping] thank you, it ain't, it's my own. [clapping] you believe that I'm wearing a hairpiece so you don't know and I I speak for most I wanna answer that because, cos you were sitting over there, I assumed can I finish you were sitting there, I assumed that you did. The fact is that every other gentleman there I can tell it's a hairpiece, yours I couldn't. tell I was wearing a hairpiece? Yes of course, I knew you were wearing The point I really want to make is that if somebody can come up with a hairpiece that really looks real, I think people may consider wearing them
[Lance:] John, the best kept secret in show business.
[Sue Jay:] It is not.
[speaker002:] [clapping].
[Lance:] Twenty five years that man has worn a hairpiece and no one ever knew.
[Sue Jay:] Barbara at the end of the day, at the end of the day Lance let me ask Barbara this question, at the end of the day, everyone's been saying if th if they feel good doing it, and it gives them that much confidence and they feel great about it, whatever it looks like, why object?
[Barbara:] Well you don't object, except you feel really sad for them because everybody's wig.
[Lance:] feel sad for me.
[Barbara:] I'll tell you what it is. You think you look like you've got hair, I think you look like you've got a wig. Now
[Lance:] Look when you get as old as me you'll be I'll be glad to have a head like you.
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Barbara:] It's mine.
[Lance:] I shan't see eighty again.
[Barbara:] I don't mind. I don't mind how
[Lance:] Well I want to stay out of that ruddy
[Barbara:] But Lance if you won't see eighty again, if you won't see eighty again
[Lance:] Look if I take my hair off I'm gonna finish up with an old girl with a bloody Zimmer frame.
[speaker002:] [clapping] [clapping] I'll tell the secret, and he's eighty four. Don't you think that at eight at eighty four you'd be like to be chasing the girls with your wig on. Hours of endless fun for you girls out there. [clapping] His teeth come out, his hair comes off, sex by numbers. [clapping] The trouble is baldness has got the wrong
[Lance:] How old are you now?
[speaker002:] It's got a bad reputation, we associate it with old age, the truth is, man loses his hair because he's got too much male testosterone and he loses it because he's got a sex drive like a rampant rhino. [clapping] The truth is ladies you only have to touch a bald man and you light up like Blackpool Tower. That is the truth. [clapping] Why do you shave your head? Because I was going thin. But why did you shave it? Why did you shave it? Because I didn't want, because I didn't want people laughing at me like everyone's here laughing at you.
[Sue Jay:] Gentleman in the audience who looks as though he hasn't got much on top, what did you wanna say?
[speaker002:] I th I think that's just vanity why they wear it. You know he he's on about, he's on about chasing women, why wear a wig to chase women?
[Sue Jay:] Another gentleman in the audience in the blue T shirt.
[speaker002:] I gotta say that thousands of people wear contact lenses f through vanity and nobody complains about that, and that's more unnatural. [clapping]
[Sue Jay:] Okay. Aren't you aren't you aren't you actually getting bald people a bad name. Isn't he
[speaker002:] Yes.
[Sue Jay:] doing more to get people to be proud of being bald than you are?
[speaker002:] shaved his hair off. Now if he didn't shave his hair off and he was walking around with a rim round the side of his head I'd say maybe you're right. But he's shaved his hair off so he looks better, he thinks he looks like Yul Brynner. Right? And that's why he's done it.
[Barbara:] Can I just ask you a question Sue.
[Sue Jay:] Anyth anything you've heard Barbara change your mind?
[Barbara:] I wanna ask you a question. I want to ask why you thi why you feel better with people knowing you're wearing a wig
[speaker002:] They don't know I'm wearing a wig
[Sue Jay:] Oh gentleman, gentleman up here what do you think?
[speaker002:] If a person
[Sue Jay:] Wait.
[speaker002:] If a person wants to wear a wig and erm you know you should feel comfortable with or without a wig, doesn't really matter does it?
[Sue Jay:] You don't have this problem do you?
[speaker002:] Obviously not no. [clapping] [clapping]
[Sue Jay:] That's great, thank you all very [LAUGHTER] much indeed, thank you []. [clapping]
[speaker002:] [clapping]
[Lance:] Well that's it for this week. Er let's have a look at what we've got here on our cards. The doctor who was advertising himself this is Mr from Northfield, the doctor who was advertising the cure for baldness is going bald himself, so obviously the cure isn't working. from Birmingham says hanging upside down has always been known as a cure in the Far East and it does work. Alan from Derby says, I wonder why wearing a wig is any worse than a woman wearing make-up. And Tony from Telford says, I spent years combing my hair over my bald patch, it stopped four months ago and I'm much much happier. So that's it for this week, sorry we didn't have room for our promised body building item, I've been told to work on my pecs before we get back to it and er it shouldn't take too long. Next Friday, we'll do our level best to keep er our hair on during another live edition of Central Weekend. May I wish you goodnight. Goodnight.
[speaker002:] [clapping] [music]