A couple of things made me think of this topic: my haircut yesterday and KimKatt’s “turning 30” thread in MPSIMS. While I’m hardly what could be considered “bald,” (not in my opinion, anyway) my hair has been receding gradually since I was about 17, so I figure it’s just a matter of time. Does this bother me? Well, no, not really. I think about it sometimes, especially when I’m getting my hair cut and the stylist (I hate saying “stylist,” but I wouldn’t consider her a “barber” either) combs my hair forward at one point, making my receding spots very apparent and giving me somewhat of a start. Mostly, the most mental effort I put into my hairline is toward making jokes. For example:
Stlyist: We’re raising the price of haircuts.
Me: What!? You should be lowering mine!
Another example (from yesterday):
Stylist: You’re getting kind of sparse along your hairline. Try not to scrub too hard when you wash your hair; that may help somewhat.
Me: Actually, I’ve been using a belt-sander lately. Do you recommend I not do that?
However, I don’t really get bothered by hair loss, mostly for the following reasons:
I’m not bald…yet.
It’s nothing I can control, so why worry about it? Appearance-wise I do obsess about exercising and weight (something I can control), because I was a bit of a chunk about 5 years ago, and I don’t want to look, or feel, like that again.
There are several men on my mom’s side of the family who were bald by the age of 25 (I’m on borrowed time here). Contrary to what the Hair Club for Men infomercials would have you believe (I personally find these infomercials insulting, but only to my intelligence), they have been quite successful in their careers, socially, romantically, etc.
Some women actually find a bald head sexy. Plus, most people don’t notice it once they’re used to it (I think).
The biggest problem I have with a receding hairline is how to style my hair, although I have it pretty well figured out now.
All right, let’s hear what the rest of you chrome domes have to say.
Feynn’s hair is getting thinner, and I imagine he’ll eventually be bald, or at least rather thin up top. I really don’t mind. I think he’s cute no matter what (although I’ll kill him if he ever does the comb over thing).
Hey, Patrick Stewart made TV Guide’s 1992 Sexiest Man of the Year.
Actually, there is Minoxidil. But that’s just vain.
As long as it isn’t the comb-over, you’re OK in my book
But to answer your question: I’ve had a receding hairline since I was about 22. I’ll probably end up with the same “Jack Nicholson Widow’s Peak from Hell” that my father has.
It used to bother me, but last May, I got tired of the same hairstyle I had had whenever I didn’t have long hair. And I had tried almost every style in the book except dyeing it (which I’ve done now), so I decided to see what I looked like bald. I grew a goatee and shaved my head.
OK, I admit, I looked scary as hell (kind of like Anton LeVey), but it looked great.
My hairline started receding at 19, and now at 28 it’s in fully invisibilty mode.
In all honesty, I’m not that perturbed by my hair loss; although I do occasionally look at old pictures of me and sigh wistfully, and I do get jealous of the instant infatuation many women get over guys with long hair, it’s not really that big a deal.
What is annoying as hell to me is the “in-between” stage I’m in right now, where what’s left of the hair on the top of my head is thick enough to be noticeable, but too thin to actually do anything with. If my GF wouldn’t kill me for it, I’d shave it all off and see how that looked (I’m not sure how good it would be; the two ‘good’ bald looks (IMO) are the burly biker guy look and the thin wisp look- I’d be closer to the “portly professor” look).
Oh- the other annoying thing is people (and I’m not singling out lolagranola, nor am I actually perturbed at her) saying, “Oh, don’t worry about it, John- remember, Sean Connery and Patrick Stewart are considered major sex symbols!” Yeah, well, they were considered sex symbols before they went bald. I wasn’t exactly a hunka hunka burnin love before the receding hairline, myself. I also note that most of the women who say such things to me are the women dating men who still have all of their hair.
My hair has been thinning steadily for about the last seven years and is very light on top. I know I will bald soon, my grand father was shining his head since my earliest memory. I don’t worry about it one bit. The less hair I have on top, the shorter I get it cut. No “comb-over” here! To me it’s like height, nose size, breast size, or teeth. You can have surgery to change all of them. Will changing them MAKE you any different from what you really are? For me no, so I don’t worry about it.
I’m 24. My BF, who is 11 yrs older than me, was completely bald on top by the time he was 19. If his baldness bothered him, it would make him less attractive, but he couldn’t care less. This man has so much sex appeal, it knocks me down every time I walk in the house. We are both attractive people and neither of us has ever had trouble in the relationship department. I think it’s more about attitude than anything else. If you’re freaked about losing your hair, you’re freaking other people out by being freaked out. Low self-esteem and vanity are NOT sexy.
blessedwolf, my hair is pretty much at the “Jack Nicholson in ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’” stage. I don’t comb it straight back, though; I part it.
Guinevere, I don’t know if you’d like me too much; I’m not really bald yet (I suppose this would be a matter of opinion). However, if you’re patient, then a few years down the road…
Regarding the comb-over: One time as I was getting dressed in the locker room at the gym, I saw a hair-deficient guy pull out a pocket mirror to help him see the back of his own head in the mirror behind the sink. He then proceded to work on his comb-over for about five minutes. I couldn’t believe it. After he was finished I had to bite my tongue to keep from exclaiming, “Wow! You completely covered your bald spot! I can’t even tell it’s there. Amazing!”
I hate to show what a Trek-head I am, but Patrick Stewart went bald at 19. He used toupees for a while, and also had a comb over until his friends wife cut it off for him.
I’ve been steadily losing my hair for about four or five years now. At first I took it as a sign of growing old, and it made me a little depressed. And it didn’t help that I started noticing people (men and women, but mostly women) describe an ugly person as “short, fat and bald.” I’m not short or especially fat, but it still bothered me. What really pulled me out of this funk were those Hair Club for Men commercials. I found them so insulting in every way that I swore I wouldn’t let it bother me. And it really doesn’t now. I don’t have a “bald spot” yet, although my hair is noticably thin on top. When most of it is gone I think I’ll just shave my whole head really close all the time.
Mine has been leaving since I was about 25 or so, I believe. I’ve now got a nice empty spot on my head,thinning slowly elsewhere and thick as ever around the sides. Doesn’t bother me.
Oh, and my wife LOVES it. I didn’t tell her about it before we met, and she went nuts over it.
I’ll probably be bald one day too. It seems to me that the hair is thinning on top, but then I’ve been thinking that for the past 10 years, so maybe it’s my imagination.
The trick is, as Black12 said, to not care that you’re bald. If you complain about your lack of hair people will only get bored.
On the other hand, for the posters that say “I don’t care if a man is bald”, that might be true, but in general baldness is not considered to be sexy by most people. It’s the same as saying “looks don’t matter to me.” That might be true for a particular individual but in general looks matter to most people. As you can see in movies and television shows were the main characters are almost always chosen to be attractive.
My husband almost choked the first time he saw one of those Propecia ads (for hair loss meds) where the thinning guy is “haunted” by images of full heads of hair and strange things that look like balding heads. He started ranting, doing his TV announcer voice “Are you going bald? Well, how the fuck do you live with yourself?? Get yourself some Propecia and have some self respect for Gods sake!”, then he laughed his head off.
He had a full head of hair when we met, and the subsequent stress of knowing me has rendered him bald enough to now cut it with a #1 level trimmer. He is so damned sexy it’s unbelievable. I can’t keep my hands off him! http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=232296&a=6943382&p=23405815
His self confidence and pride are undeniable, and that is very sexy too. It has nothing to do with hair, it’s about the “beauty” industries trying to do to men what they’ve done to women for so many years. Kill your self esteem. Make you doubt your worth and looks. Make you part with money to fix your “faults”. Don’t fall for it!
Here’s another great “bald guys are beautiful” shot. Is he not sexier then any of those “hair club” guys?
PS- I think he’s much better looking without hair. Just my preference, I guess. Makes him look older and more handsome.
Zette
I have had a receding hairline, expanding bald spot and thinning hair for years. I comb it back and do not, I repeat, do not have the “flap” comb over. I could care less about the balding, it doesn’t bother me.
