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Male androgenetic alopecia, or male pattern baldness, affects 30 to 50% of men by the time they reach age 50. Although it’s fairly common, it’s still stigmatized.

The pressure women feel to live up to a certain standard of beauty is frequently discussed, but the struggles men face are usually swept under the rug. Instead of being met with compassion when they go through tough transitions like losing their hair, they’re really just expected to put up with it. Now, one corner of the internet is offering some hope.

For men facing the unfortunate experience of balding, there’s a Reddit forum for that.

If you haven’t spent a lot of time on Reddit, you might be surprised to know that there’s a subreddit for pretty much every topic under the sun. One that feels a bit more novel is the r/bald forum, which was created on April 11, 2011, and boasts 1.8 million weekly visitors.

In the community’s description, Bald Reddit is billed as the place to “lose your hair, not your head.” The description continues, “Our philosophy is simple: embrace bald and strive to make the world a more bald-friendly place … Here we’ll support each other and learn to take pride in our baldness.”

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Posts in the subreddit often consist of men (though there are a few women too) sharing before-and-after pictures. Before photos are made up of receding hairlines, while the afters show smiling, confident guys who shaved their heads completely, or at least buzzed it.

Other popular posts come from men who post pictures of themselves as they look now, with thinning hair, asking if it’s time for them to finally give in to the call to go bald. A few also ask for bald maintenance and upkeep tips.

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This might all sound amusing, or even strange, to some, but this kind of support can be really impactful.

A New York Times article noted that we live in an era of seeing baldness as a problem that needs to be solved, whether it’s through a pricey hair transplant or one of the many medications meant to reduce or even reverse hair loss. This is causing a problem for men.

Psychology professor Glen Jankowski explained that the logical part of men’s brains knows that going bald is just a part of life, but that doesn’t stop them from feeling bad about it. “They’re in this environment that is telling them: This is a problem, this is going to devastate you,” he said.

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CNN reporter Oscar Holland, who has been through the balding process himself, noted, “Balding can be a strangely isolating process … Friends and loved ones may tell us how great we’d look bald but, sadly, we often care more about what strangers (rather than people whose opinions really matter) think of us.”

That’s where the r/bald community comes in. The subreddit has grown to become one of the 2% most popular forums on Reddit over the years. Some of the community’s rules include “no bald-bashing” and “zero advocating for hair-restoration methods,” making it a fully safe space.

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Balding is far from a trivial matter.

In a world full of serious problems and conflicts, it would be easy to think balding is pretty low on the priority list. That would be a disservice to the people experiencing it, though. In a review of several studies published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, researchers said that hair is an indicator of attractiveness in our world, so losing it can be very bad for your mental health.

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“These studies reveal that many of those affected by androgenetic alopecia suffer from feelings of anxiousness, helplessness, and diminished self-esteem,” they said. “Many patients are considerably preoccupied by the fear of progressive hair loss and their peers noticing.”

Men aren’t really encouraged to develop supportive friendships with other men, but they need those connections. Reddit’s bald forum is a simple way for them to incorporate more community into their lives and feel less alone during a hard time.

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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.