Do People Pick Presidents Based on Their Hair?

Happy Independence Day to all our readers in the USA! We thought this story about hair loss and presidential candidates would be an appropriate post for the occasion.

According to Dr. Robert Leonard, there is a Hair Factor that comes into play during presidential elections. It seems that of our country’s 43 presidents only 2 were balding when elected, Eisenhower and Zachary Taylor.

He even goes on to explain the recent shifts in polling numbers for Mitt Romney (who has a thick, full head of hair) versus his balding opponents Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. By Dr. Leonard’s estimation Mitt Romney will be going up against John Edwards. He gives no guess of who wins that battle.

Of course, this theory is probably complete BS. Consider that Dr. Leonard specializes in treating balding men and women. And just because there is a correlation between full heads of hair and presidents doesn’t mean that there’s a cause and effect relationship. The folly of this type of logic is described nicely in Nassim Taleb’s book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. This is the same kind of bunk logic that cosmetic industry critics use to scare you about the products you use everyday. Hopefully, you’ll retain your skeptical brain when you read or hear such theories.