From the bits and pieces that I can remember from Star Trek, a lot of the common dieases and other malodies of our reality now have cures like the common cold, radiation poisoning, etc....so why are their still male pattern bald men walking around during the Trek era? We have all these cures for "real" and fatal diseases, yet there's no cure for baldness, Kirk and Chekov's toupees aside of course. I've always wondered about that...
Patrick Stewart was asked about why there would still be baldness in the 24th Century, and why it wasn't "cured." His answer was that by the 24th Century, no one would care.
I never said it was a disease. Baldness is a condition called [SIZE=2]androgenic alopecia. It's not a disease so much, but high levels of testosterone in men after puberty is converted to dihydrotestosterone, which has an adverse affect on hair follicles. Now I don't know what all that means, but baldness, in my opinion is more of a non-fatal condition and is not very important, but I would think in the Trek era there would be a "cure" for lack of a better word. [/SIZE]
It's a style choice - Picard and Sisko aren't really bald, they just shave their heads to resemble their idol, the great Captain Robau.
The great Mr. Shishkabob. Personally, I think it can be cured in the future, some folks do it, some like Picard don't, and are just fine with a bald head. It's like the Klingon cranial ridge reconstruction, I am sure there's still a few smooth headed Klingons out there, somewhere.
Kirk explained it in TOS, telling Abraham Lincoln that they've "each learned to be delighted with what [they] are". Kirk also told Alexander that where he comes from size, shape or color makes no difference. So why would hair matter? You could also bring up the issue of, say, boobs and noses. We have the technology today to alter them, so there's no reason any woman should have less than a full bosom and no one should have anything other than an attractive and elegant schnoz. Right? Maybe same thing in ST. They have the technology to "cure" baldness, but some people just don't.
Of course they care. It is absolutely humiliating to lose their ridges and have human foreheads.. because of human DNA! Worf wouldn't even offer an explanation for it, it was so embarrassing.
Well, obviously during TOS, the Klingons did not really seem to care, since there were quite a few. Plus Chang barely had any speed bumps on his mug, either.
Yeah it's already been said, but the general idea is that people in the future just generally don't consider it a big deal. Those who do, probably do something about it and you'd never even know anyway. Some like Picard either don't care, or perhaps just like the look. I know several people today who shave their heads just because they like it, were losing it anyway, or prefer not having to worry about styling their hair or whatever else.