Once, Stuart Heritage’s head was covered in thick, golden, shiny hair. But then, when he was in his early 20s, he noticed a small patch of scalp showing through. At first he tried a hair regrowth treatment, but it didn’t make much difference. As this patch grew, he began brushing his hair over the bald area. Before he knew it, he says, he was horrified to find he was sporting a combover. “Going bald is horrible,” he says ruefully.

Once you have accepted this loss, however, and that it means you are ageing, actually “being bald is fine”. And not just fine – commonplace. He tells Helen Pidd that about 55% of Caucasian men aged over 75 will have experienced some hair loss. Which is why bald heads used to be ubiquitous in popular culture. There were bald footballers, bald movie stars and bald prime ministers. Yet today they seem to be fading from view.

Because today more and more men are turning to hair transplants to swerve baldness. Among them is the Today in Focus sound designer, Rudi Zygadlo. He explains why, despite having older brothers who had been through hair loss, he struggled to accept his own. Instead, he says, he spent almost 10 years wearing hats, and worrying whenever there was a chance he might have to remove them in front of others. After going to Turkey for his surgery, he says his hairline anxiety hasn’t gone away but life no longer feels like an “obstacle course”.

If baldness becomes a thing of the past and bald stars disappear from view, will society feel the loss? Stuart thinks so. “When you see a bald person, you’re seeing someone who’s living their life – maybe not in the way that they’ve envisioned it, and it might only be the smallest inconvenience to them but their life hasn’t turned out 100% the way they wanted it to, but they’re getting on with it and it’s fine.”