The 2002 DVD Mind Meld - Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime (buy here) features two moments of interest to any student of Bill Shatner's hair.
The first is a brief example of the "Real Hair Reflex" (see here for more on that). In the midst of telling us that he doesn't have an addictive personality (except perhaps concerning toups?), Shats scratches his head. He then shifts into a classic "rear toup smooth over" - except in this case, it is instinctive, a throwback; since 2000, the toup has long gone, replaced with some kind of surgical transplant...In the midst of this maneuver, there is a strange edit in the program, and suddenly Bill Shatner is no longer scratching his head. Some have suggested that this cut may be toup related - we doubt it, it seems more a simple trim to tidy up Leonard Nimoy's talk, but who knows?
Here is the clip:
Secondly, we have a brief Nimoy toup meld, reminiscent of Spock's mind meld with the Horta in the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark".
This moment comes near the very end of Mind Meld. As the two very dear friends engage in a hug, Nimoy suddenly does the unthinkable placing his hand directly on his brother's head. What was he thinking? Was this the ultimate act of friendship - a person so close to Bill that he can even touch the hair? Was it a subtle attempt to mind meld with the hair? What did Nimoy learn and why hasn't he made his findings public?
The full clip is below:
When this Mindmeld video was made, Shatner was still in deep toup denial regarding his time on Star Trek. Here he recounts falsely that nimoy was in makeup for hours while all that Shat had to do was just put on some makeup and he was ready to go in a couple of minutes.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2ObZ-Mxruo
Was Shatner really relying only on a hair transplant in this video? What does he wear now? A combination of transplant and hair weave? I can accept that in 2009 the hair in front and on the sides is his own but the back part of the crown area seems too thick and I wonder if it is being thickened with hair extensions. Also he dies his hair now to help thicken it up some. In some photos I believe I can see some evidence of scarring from previous hair transplants on the front part of his head.
ReplyDeleteThis photo was taken at a convention (something called DragonCon) this past month (9/2009). it shows how bald Shatner is even with the hair transplant. http://tinyurl.com/ybhxc3k
ReplyDeleteThes photos were taken during the summer of 2009 and with a minimum of make-up effects. In pics #13 and #15, there is some scarring on the top of his head, but don't know if its due to hair transplants.
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/ydgcwj3
The video that accompanies the Sept 6 posting at DragonCon reveals Shatner's quick reflexive action to parry the Vlucan Toupee Grab.
ReplyDeletehttp://shatnerstoupee.blogspot.com/2009/09/shatner-at-dragoncon-dont-touch-hair.html
Perhaps the photo above shows just one of many Nimoy attempts to topple the toup.
@ 'summer of 2009 and with a minimum of make-up effects' ...
ReplyDeleteLooking at those pictures, I'm leaning towards the idea that he's had some tranplant work done and that the hair on his head is his now.
On a related note, toupee or not, if I could look that good and be that active (riding a horse) at being 79, I wouldn't care what anyone else thinks.
Notice how, in those summer of 2009 pictures, the front is thin - as is the hair just above the neck. The area just above his neck was likely used as part of the "donor area" which was then grafted to the front and above the temples (where his hairline receeded sharply). The area at the top of his head, where the hair suddenly gets thicker, coincides with his natural hairline. Someone with good photoshop skills should be able to create a version of how Shatner would look without a transplant.
ReplyDeleteSeeing how thin his hair is in front, I have no doubt touching up was done for Boston Legal and other gigs, likely using thickening sprays which also would have made the hair (and scalp) darker.
Still, for 78, he's really got it together.