Dick Clark's Ten Cent Solution to Hair Loss?

July 21, 2009 9:36 PM

Dick Clark once said on the Late Show with Conan O'Brien that the secret to his great hair was that he tugged on it every morning vigorously for ten minutes. Is this true, and is anyone currently doing this on a daily basis?

I watched this episode of Conan O'Brien ages ago and when it happened I wished that Conan had checked with Dick Clark if he was being sarcastic or if it was something he really did on a daily basis.

Is there any validity to this? Does anyone do this as a way of keeping one's hair growing?

Thanks for any help on this!

posted by fantasticninety to grab bag (16 comments total)

I guess this could technically be a way to stimulate follicular growth, so...maybe?
posted by turgid dahlia at 9:38 PM on July 21

I remember reading somewhere that Christopher Walken did this same thing. Not sure if it works, but they both have great heads of hair.
posted by doh ray mii at 9:42 PM on July 21

Pulling vigorously on your hair isn't really good for it. It's very easy to pull out many follicles \hairs from their root. It definitely won't make your hair grow faster.
posted by zephyr_words at 10:03 PM on July 21

I think this is called a "joke."
posted by nitsuj at 10:08 PM on July 21 [4 favorites]

It's a double entendre, specifically.
posted by BaxterG4 at 10:11 PM on July 21

So the joke is playing on the ambiguity of the "it" that he is tugging on vigorously for ten minutes every morning? As in, it ain't his hair he's tugging on?

I wonder how many poor saps are out there tugging vigorously on their hair based on Dick Clark's silly joke.
posted by jayder at 10:43 PM on July 21

I wish that this were on YouTube so you could see that it wasn't a double entendre. He demonstrated it with his hands. Sigh...
posted by fantasticninety at 10:47 PM on July 21

I also remember reading that Bill Clinton payed someone to do this for him every morning. Can't seem to find any info about it now though.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 12:39 AM on July 22

When my great-aunt came to America - thirties or forties, I can't remember when - she worked in a little salon in Manhattan that offered scalp massages to men who were either losing their hair or afraid of losing their hair. The theory was that it would stimulate the growth of new hair.

When I asked her if this worked, she laughed. "They grew some fuzz!"

(One of her clients was Gene Kelly. He never went bald, did he?)
posted by cmyk at 12:50 AM on July 22 [1 favorite]

Gene Kelly wore a wig for years
posted by A189Nut at 1:48 AM on July 22 [3 favorites]

Suppose the implication is that for ten minutes each day he tugged on his hair to make sure his toupee was well-attached and wouldn't come off to embarrass him?
posted by davejay at 3:26 AM on July 22

He had a hair weave, a very good one. I know the woman who worked on it, and Shatner's. So it was just bullshit. Not a lie.. just ... bullshit.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 4:09 AM on July 22

I'm not an expert on hair loss or anything, but I think that scalp stimulation via vigorous daily brushing is pretty good for the hair.

Really though, the 10 cent solution to hair loss is to live a stress-free life.
posted by satori_movement at 8:15 AM on July 22

Over the course of one year, 10 minutes a day adds up to 1 1/2 40-hour work weeks you'd be spending just tugging on your hair.
posted by davextreme at 9:00 AM on July 22

I am thinking that he wears a toupe and the ten minutes of pulling comment was to make sure it wouldnt come off.
posted by majortom1981 at 9:43 AM on July 22

Thanks for all the answers!
posted by fantasticninety at 9:51 AM on July 22