Don't pretend to shield your eyes from the glare of John Capp's shiny
head. Don't ask him if flies trying to land on his head skid and break
their legs. They're old jokes. Call him Curly if you like, but don't
expect him to laugh.
Do expect him to use a lot of lines on you.
"My philosophy is: If you haven't got it, flaunt it."
"The Lord is just, the Lord is fair, he gave some brains, the others
hair."
"I'm just trying to set a shining example."
John started losing his hair at age fifteen. By twenty, he was bald.
"I'm the fourth generation of baldness in my family," he says.
"I grew up in a family where baldness was accepted, a way of life, so to
speak. It didn't bother me at all."
But he knew it bothered a lot of other people, and that set him to
thinking. In 1974, when he was thirty-three, living in Dunn, John started
Bald-Headed Med of America to promote pride in baldness. It wasn't an idea
that came off the top of his head. He thought about it for a long time.
The organization stirred international attention and attracted nearly 10,000
members, including celebrities such as Yul Brynner, Telly Savalas, and former
President Gerald Ford. Hohn, who became a celebrity himself, constantly in
demand for appearances, moved his organization for Morehead City because he
thought it a more appropriate location.
"More head, less hair." he says.
At the group's headquarters at 3819 Bridges Street, John offers "Bald is
Beautiful" bumper stickers and gag gifts such as toothless combs. On
the second Saturday in September each year, he holds a convention at Mrs.
Willis's Restaurant, where baldies for such titles as sexist, smoothest,
prettiest, and most kissable bald heads.
