He’s the hottest of them all, albeit by a hair — or lack thereof.
Known as “the internet’s boyfriend,” 53-year-old Walton Goggins is an underdog heartthrob in HBO’s “The White Lotus,” where he portrays the troubled and moody Rick Hatchett — and somehow makes hair loss oh-so sexy.
Ahead of the finale on Sunday, fans are drooling over the Hawaiian shirt-wearing vacationer, declaring that he makes receding hairlines hot — Turkey transplant tourism be damned — and the phenomenon has even earned a name: “The Walton Goggins Effect.”
“Receding hairlines now have sex appeal,” a headline from The Telegraph trumpeted.
“I love Walton so much. He’s half forehead, half teeth and yet it all works. The man is hot,” one Redditor unabashedly admitted.
“Walton Goggins somehow balding in the most handsome way possible,” another wrote online.
“Scientifically speaking, Walton Goggins is the hottest weird-looking guy or the weirdest-looking hot guy that ever lived,” someone else posted on X.
“The Walton Goggins propaganda has officially worked on me because I find him so f–king hot it’s crazy,” gushed another user.
One Vogue writer explained why she’s “hot for Walton Goggins’ hairline, while a contributor for Elle pondered if it’s the character’s “bemused spirit,” “distinctive teeth” or “receding hairline” that makes Hatchett so sizzling.
It’s great news for the 85% of men who experience hair loss.
But experts say his sex appeal is more than just his locks — it’s his charisma, or “rizz.”
“It’s a combination of his confidence, his nonchalance and his attitude, as well as his style. Everything works together,” hairstylist Luke Hersherson told The Telegraph.
“The fact that he is embracing it, rather than hiding it, also adds to the attractiveness, as well as the long hair – it gives him this ‘I don’t give a s–t’ attitude. I’m not sure we’d be talking about it if all those things weren’t true.”
The third season of “The White Lotus” has sparked conversation over appearances beyond Goggins’ coiff, like the au natural pearly whites of Amiee Lou Wood and Charlotte Le Bon or Leslie Bibb’s “c–ty little bob.”
While bobs have been trending, Bibb’s blunt “ear lobe bob” teeters between “chic” and “Karen,” veering towards the latter depending on how it’s styled.
“There are no layers in it. There is no texture in it, other than the bottom bluntness of it, which makes it a little more cool and chic. It kind of flicks, not flips,” hairstylist and Bibb’s bob mastermind Chris McMillan told Elle.
“It’s perfect for the character.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
