Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Why Attila the Hun parted his hair on the left.

Yo, Matthew:

Since 1978 I've been parting my hair in the center. I'm sensing this may be a bit passe in 2003. What style of hair part is currently most politically correct: center, left, or right? What percentage of the male population currently parts their hair in each of the three styles? What drives the selection of hair part in the male population? Father? Barber? Cowlick? Is there any correlation between hair part and political party affiliation? Is there a dominant hair part of past U.S. presidents or current Fortune 100 CEOs?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- Hair Challenged in San Diego

Center part passe? Puh-leez. Cher. David Duke. Michael Jackson. Morticia Addams. Steven Tyler. Jerry Springer. Ken Burns. Willie Nelson. Bart Simpson (when Marge combs his hair). No center-part presidents since Taft, though. On the average dome, scalp hair grows in patterns defined by the angle of the hair follicles. On the crown they point straight up; at the nape, they point down. On the left and right sides they point back around the skull, but the left-side pattern ends just behind your left ear, while the right-siders continue around your bean to meet them. Cowlicks are common at the point where the crown and left- and right-side patterns meet. In roughly three-quarters of the population, a cowlick directs hair growth clockwise and causes hair to tend to part naturally on the left. The cosmetology industry is based on the idea that we can strongarm our hair to do weird, unnatural things, so the left part isn't law, just what you'll find most often. Left-parted hair is also easier for right-handers to style.

We figured this would take care of any notions of hair part as the road to success, and we were doing okay until one of the elves discovered the John and Catherine Walter's (trademarked!) "Hair Part Theory" (truemirror.com). Some time in the 1970s, apparently, John Walter moved his hair part from right to left, and his life was transformed, though he seems reluctant to go into detail. With this revelation, the brother-sister team began to collect the names of right- and left-part politicians and other famous folks to prove their trademarked theory that your hair part is a subconscious signal to observers about which of your brain hemispheres is dominant. Right part on a man? For florists and poets. Left part? Captains of industry and invaders of small countries. Their favorite example is Christopher Reeve as Superman. In the movie, the crusader had a left part, Clark Kent a right part. Smells like science to me.

Only eight presidents had right parts, and they were ineffectual or corrupt: Reagan, Clinton, Carter, Harding, Andrew Johnson, Buchanan, Tyler, and Lincoln. Yes, Lincoln. Abe only got good after he switched his part to the left, say the Walters. Gore (right part) was fated to lose to Bush (left part). The Walters say you center-parters, no-parters, and bald people present a "balanced" or "neutral" image. Their web site has 17 pages of just the kind of data you asked for, Challenged, so dial them up and wallow in their insight.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
Next Article

East San Diego County has only one bike lane

So you can get out of town – from Santee to Tierrasanta

Yo, Matthew:

Since 1978 I've been parting my hair in the center. I'm sensing this may be a bit passe in 2003. What style of hair part is currently most politically correct: center, left, or right? What percentage of the male population currently parts their hair in each of the three styles? What drives the selection of hair part in the male population? Father? Barber? Cowlick? Is there any correlation between hair part and political party affiliation? Is there a dominant hair part of past U.S. presidents or current Fortune 100 CEOs?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- Hair Challenged in San Diego

Center part passe? Puh-leez. Cher. David Duke. Michael Jackson. Morticia Addams. Steven Tyler. Jerry Springer. Ken Burns. Willie Nelson. Bart Simpson (when Marge combs his hair). No center-part presidents since Taft, though. On the average dome, scalp hair grows in patterns defined by the angle of the hair follicles. On the crown they point straight up; at the nape, they point down. On the left and right sides they point back around the skull, but the left-side pattern ends just behind your left ear, while the right-siders continue around your bean to meet them. Cowlicks are common at the point where the crown and left- and right-side patterns meet. In roughly three-quarters of the population, a cowlick directs hair growth clockwise and causes hair to tend to part naturally on the left. The cosmetology industry is based on the idea that we can strongarm our hair to do weird, unnatural things, so the left part isn't law, just what you'll find most often. Left-parted hair is also easier for right-handers to style.

We figured this would take care of any notions of hair part as the road to success, and we were doing okay until one of the elves discovered the John and Catherine Walter's (trademarked!) "Hair Part Theory" (truemirror.com). Some time in the 1970s, apparently, John Walter moved his hair part from right to left, and his life was transformed, though he seems reluctant to go into detail. With this revelation, the brother-sister team began to collect the names of right- and left-part politicians and other famous folks to prove their trademarked theory that your hair part is a subconscious signal to observers about which of your brain hemispheres is dominant. Right part on a man? For florists and poets. Left part? Captains of industry and invaders of small countries. Their favorite example is Christopher Reeve as Superman. In the movie, the crusader had a left part, Clark Kent a right part. Smells like science to me.

Only eight presidents had right parts, and they were ineffectual or corrupt: Reagan, Clinton, Carter, Harding, Andrew Johnson, Buchanan, Tyler, and Lincoln. Yes, Lincoln. Abe only got good after he switched his part to the left, say the Walters. Gore (right part) was fated to lose to Bush (left part). The Walters say you center-parters, no-parters, and bald people present a "balanced" or "neutral" image. Their web site has 17 pages of just the kind of data you asked for, Challenged, so dial them up and wallow in their insight.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

At Comedor Nishi a world of cuisines meet for brunch

A Mexican eatery with Japanese and French influences
Next Article

Mary Catherine Swanson wants every San Diego student going to college

Where busing from Southeast San Diego to University City has led
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader