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 variation of the comb over where baldness is concealed by long hair 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. The Smiths were awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in Engineering for their effort.
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In Japan, men with comb overs are called "bar code men" （バーコード人）, referring to the similarity between the striations caused by the comb and the UPC on products. The "barcode style" is called "bākōdo na kamigata" （バーコードな髪型）.[1]
The Scottish comedian Gregor Fisher lampooned the comb over style with his character The Baldy Man, which featured in a television advertisement before graduating to its own TV show.
Stand-up comedian Heywood Banks sometimes sports a comb over despite having a full head of hair, stating "I'm not going bald, but I like the look!"
On an episode of Room 101, newsreader Lorraine Kelly called comb overs "Pedal Bin Hair".
One of the villains from Cars 2, Professor Zündapp, has a broken roof rack that resembles a comb over.
