Online dating sites can be an excellent way to meet people with common interests and relationship goals, but we have all heard about or experienced some downsides of online love. One of these is when the person in the profile photo looks significantly different from the person who shows up for the date. Perhaps the photo was taken a few years ago, or maybe accessories, lighting, or makeup obscure the individual’s true appearance.
Is Your Date Hatfishing You?
This phenomenon has spawned yet another internet buzzword: Hatfishing. A play on the term Catfishing (the use of an assumed identity or fake profile pics), hatfishing is when one wears a hat or other head covering in their dating site profile pic to hide the appearance of their hair or to cover up baldness. Recent research indicates that approximately 16 percent of people with thinning hair or baldness wear a hat in dating app and social media photos in order to appear more conventionally attractive.
Your profile pic is the first thing a potential date will see, so of course you want to be sure it makes the best possible impression. While it may seem harmless to avoid fully revealing one’s physical appearance, hatfishing is viewed quite negatively. The person who responds to your ad may feel deceived, and some #hatfishers are even being called out on social media.
That’s not to say that you can’t display any photos with you wearing a hat if you’re into online dating. The problem arises if the only way you are ever seen involves wearing a hat. So, if you are a fan of baseball caps, cowboy hats, fedoras, etc., you can wear them so long as they also see images of you (or meet you) when you are not wearing a hat.
Does Hatfishing Work?
Hatfishing may work in the short term, but the truth tends to be revealed in the harsh light of day. Honesty is the best policy… especially if you are looking to build something more enduring than a single date. If you begin a relationship with a seemingly harmless misrepresentation, your partner may always wonder what else you might be keeping from them.
Instead of posting a misleading pic, confidently rock your current look with a high-quality profile photo, sans chapeau. If you aren’t happy with the quality of your selfies, consider engaging the services of a professional photographer who specializes in dating app headshots and candids. And – perhaps even more importantly – use your profile to express your personality and interests. After all, those are the aspects of you that will make a date stick around.
However, if you truly believe hair loss is impacting your dating life, there are options more effective and permanent than hatfishing. Investing in hair restoration might be the right option for you.
RHRLI Offers Treatments to Restore Your Hair
At RHRLI, we understand that hatfishing and hair loss are sensitive topics, and we are here to help you look and feel your best. We offer a wide variety of both surgical and nonsurgical treatments to optimize your existing hair and to replace lost hair. We specialize in ARTAS® robotically assisted FUE hair restoration, a minimally invasive procedure providing natural looking results with little downtime. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation where we can determine the underlying cause of your hair loss and assist you in creating a hair restoration plan to help you achieve the hairline you desire.