Every time I get online, I always find it interesting the different sorts of unsolicited advertisements that will pop up on my screen. Lately, I have been seeing a lot of Rogaine Web ads, and I have to say that they amuse me to no end.

I have yet to figure out why men get such a bad rap if they are bald or losing their hair. Why is this some sort of emergency that requires the cosmetic and medical industries to rush to their aid? And, while I'm asking questions, what's the deal with combovers? I mean, really. Are you guys for real with those things?

Here's the deal. . . there is nothing, I repeat, nothing wrong with being bald —intentionally or otherwise. In fact, I know plenty of women who even find it attractive.

What's unattractive are people who make desperate attempts to try and "fix" it. News flash: As people age, their bodies change. It doesn't mean that they are different or, by any means, lesser people just because they don't always look like the same youthful characters they remember (or imagine) themselves being.

Now you're saying, "yeah, yeah, we know this. . . she's writing about being bald. . . has she lost it?" Actually, what I am getting at here is yet another of society's strange double standards. The other day, I was doing some work at home and had the television on for background noise. It happened to be tuned to Oprah. She had her favorite tell-it-like-it-is guest, Dr. Phil, on the show. She also had a woman who was upset because her husband had gained about 20 pounds and she found him repulsive. She was frustrated because she felt he wasn't the man she had married. She wanted to figure out how to get him to lose weight, or at least how not to make his weight a condition of her love for him.

Excuse me?! If a man did that to his wife, on national television no less, we women would string him up by his you-know-what, call him a misogynistic pig, and beat him without mercy. Dr Phil asked this woman what she felt she had done to deserve a perfect mate. Indeed! It is probably also worth interjecting here that her husband didn't come close to meeting the definition for obesity and was a handsome doctor to boot. Some people just don't know when they've got it good.

If you want another example, turn your attention to Hollywood and the media. For years, women have been lamenting the fact that older men are considered distinguished while older woman are considered to be past their prime.

We plead to be recognized as vital and attractive human beings, regardless of age or physical "imperfection". We want it to be known that gray hair, wrinkles and any other physical changes are natural parts of life which can add as much character to a woman as to a man. At the risk of sounding juvenile. . . well, duh!

My question is why do we then turn the tables as soon as we have a chance to do so? We watch a movie and drool over the likes of Sean Connery, Harrison Ford or (my personal favorite) Patrick Stewart, and then give the men in our lives grief about receding hairlines and expanding waistlines. Would we stand for that if it was coming in our direction? Not a chance! Here's a clue--if it makes you feel like dirt, chances are it doesn't make anyone else feel good either. Think about it.

To paraphrase Dr. Phil, where do we get off? None of us are perfect. None of us. So I fail to understand why we take it upon ourselves to expect perfection of others or to hold others' imperfections against them. That is a quandary that has perplexed me for most of my life, and I am willing to bet that I won't find the answer anytime soon.

As for the Rogaine, I personally think it is about as essential to our daily lives and our happiness as Chia Pets. If I'm wrong in your case, then it's time for you to take inventory.

Perhaps it is idealistic of me, but I want us someday to reach a point where we can appreciate each other — regardless of age, gender or physical appearance —in a more realistic way. The human body is a masterpiece of nature. Why criticize it?