Comb over

This variant of the comb over was patented in 1977.

A comb over or combover is a hairstyle worn by bald or balding men in which the hair on one side of the head is grown long and then combed over the bald area to minimize the display of baldness. A comb is used to create this hairstyle.

A variation of the combover (whereby baldness is concealed by long hairs combed in three separate directions) has a U.S. patent 4,022,227 by Donald J. Smith and his father, Frank J. Smith, of Orlando, Florida, who were awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in Engineering for their effort.

Such is the interest in this hairstyle that a one-hour documentary –Comb Over - the Movie – has been made about it

In Japan, they call men with comb-overs "bar code men" （バーコード人）, referring to the striations caused by the comb and how similar it is to the UPC on products. The "barcode style" is called "bākōdo na kamigata" （バーコードな髪型）.

Famous comb overs

• In the UK, three people with comb-overs are former chairman of Call My Bluff, Robert Robinson (known as the "king of the comb over") ; World Cup winner Bobby Charlton; and former leader of the National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill.

• Former University of Illinois basketball coach Lou Henson had his combover style termed the "Lou-do" by ESPN announcer Dick Vitale. Earlier in his career, when Henson was a coach at New Mexico State, he sported a close-cropped hairstyle that did not conceal his baldness.

• Real estate mogul and television reality show host Donald Trump sports a celebrated comb over.

• A more recent combover enthusiast is Kamiel Bouw of the Netherlands.