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As someone whose locks started thinning when he was about 27 years old, I know how much of a shock it can be to learn that your body has seemingly decided to begin the follicle-retiring process without consulting you first. As nice as it would be to have a thick, flowing mane, though, the fact that pretty much every man on on my mother’s side of the family eventually lost their hair tells me that there’s not much point stressing about it – it’s going to happen, so why lose sleep as well as top turf?

For some, though, going bald can be pretty upsetting. If they’re on the lookout for a partner especially, thinning hair can certainly dent a man’s confidence. And, according to a recent survey, balding men may well be right in thinking that their lack of hair is affecting their chances of finding, or perhaps keeping, a good woman.

In a survey conducted by Japanese research group Digram Labo, 2,586 women from all over Japan were asked whether they would mind if their man started going thin on top. While, thankfully, there were prefectures where plenty woman were fine with the idea of their man using more facewash than shampoo, there were also a number of prefectures where ladies simply couldn’t abide the thought of their man without a full head of hair.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first, shall we?

Here are the bottom five, or “no thank-you”, prefectures, where the least number of women said they’d be OK with their man losing his hair.

43rd place: Niigata Prefecture 12.9%
44th place: Mie Prefecture 12.0%
45th place: Okayama Prefecture 11.7%
46th place: Iwate Prefecture 10.5%
47th place: Kagoshima Prefecture 9.7%

Really, Kagoshima? Just 9.7% of your women could handle their man losing his hair? You guys must make a killing through hair-replacement surgery!

There is, however, some good news for the full of heart and thin on top. At the opposite end of the scale are five prefectures which are home to plenty of women who care not a jot if their gent loses his mane. If you’re thinning and looking for love, you may do well to live in one of these places!

5th place: Kochi Prefecture 36.0%
4th place: Tochigi Prefecture 37.2%
3rd place: Ehime Prefecture 37.8%
2nd place: Okinawa Prefecture 41.8%
1st place: Saga Prefecture 46.0%

Hear that, fellas? If you’ve started sending more hair than shampoo down the drain and are worried about never meeting the love of your life, Saga Prefecture may be the place for you!

If you’re interested in seeing where the rest of Japan’s prefectures ranked in the survey, you can check out the full list here (you’ll need to know the kanji characters for each prefecture, sorry!). Oh, and if you were wondering how the women of Tokyo felt about baldness, we can confirm that Japan’s capital city is a pretty average place to be, ranking 22nd in the survey with 22.4% of its women saying they had no problem with their men thinning; just two ranks lower than Osaka with 26.6%.

Source: Zaeega
Feature image: Datuhagenikki