Forget the plugs, the pills, the serums and the hats. According to new findings, men with thinning hair may fare better if they just shaved it all off.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that bald men were perceived to be tougher, more powerful and better leaders compared to men who had hair.

Men with shaved heads were also seen as taller, stronger and more athletic, according to lead researcher Albert Mannes, an information management lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

Mannes, who is a balding man himself, conducted three experiments to understand how men who shaved their heads were perceived by others.

In the first experiment of nearly 60 participants, Mannes and his team asked participants to look at a series of photographs of men who were similar in age and in attire. The only difference was that some men had shaved heads while other had all their hair.

After analyzing the results, researchers found that shaved men topped the ratings in terms of how powerful, influential and authoritative they looked, Time Magazine reported.

In the second experiment, each man was shown twice, once with hair and once digitally manipulated to look that he was bald. Researchers found that not only were the men who were bald viewed as more dominant, they were also perceived to be nearly an inch taller and 13 percent stronger compared to the pictures of men who had hair.

In the last experiment, participants were given written and verbal descriptions of men. Some of the men were described as having thick hair and other had shaved heads. Once again, people rated bald men highest for masculinity, strength, dominance and leadership potential.

However, Mannes, whose study was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, warned that while men with shaved heads were perceived to be significantly more masculine, men with a full head of hair were still perceived to me more attractive.

"So, whatever a man gains in dominance directly by shaving his full head of hair will be offset to some degree by his diminished attractiveness," he said according to Time Magazine.

"The shaved look is more attractive than the visibly balding look. So men suffering natural hair loss may enhance both their dominance and attractiveness by shaving," he said. "These men might better improve their well-being by finishing what Mother Nature has started."

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