From this poll. I sport a buzz because I got used to it in the military and simply came to enjoy a low-maintenance 'doo. The fact that I’m folically challenged has little to do with it. So my vote is, “No, it’s just another hair style.”
Combover equivalent? No, it doesn’t hide the bald spot.
Shaving could be a combover alternative in that it obscures detection of a bald spot, though it obviously does not eschew baldness the way a combover does.
Just another hair style. Like the OP, I favor the low maintenance, no muss no fuss.
To clarify, in the other thread I didn’t mean that the buzzcut is today’s combover, I meant shaving the head.
I do think that buzzcuts are boring, but I don’t think they’re pretentious in the way that a shiny shaved skull is.
I’d much rather see a shaved head than the half hair/half head look, which really ages men.
Same. Never been in the military, but I think it looks decent and lasts a long time. I do, however, prefer a slightly longer buzz cut than normal.
That makes a lot more sense. Both attempt to hide a perceived problem. I don’t believe a buzz is heroic, but at least it doesn’t hide anything.
I’d say it’s a combover in the sense it’s what you do when you realize you’re going to have to do something about that thinning/receding hair.
But, a combover is pathetic, a buzzcut is generally embracing it, and quite often hot looking.
A totally shaved head means you’re fussing over your head now even more than you used to. Sheesh, get over it.
I have a buzzcut because it’s cheap, is quick to do, and because I hate fussing over my hair.
I’ve been getting a buzz cut for about 30 years (I’ve recently gone from a #2 to a #1-1/2). My hair is receding but not bald, and I do look better with a buzz. In fact, even if I had a head of thick hair I’d still get it buzzed. It’s just the style that looks best on me.
I shave my head because it’s easy to do in the shower and requires no care. I still have a full head of hair - I just choose to wear it on the inside is all.
Buzzcuts are hot. Shaved head looks like you’re trying too hard.
Yup. I’ve never been able to be attracted to the cueball look. A little hair’s better than that.
Shaving to bald is trying to hide it. A fuzzy short top is doing what you can with what you have.
I adore a man in a uniform with a military short haircut … rrrowl!
I think combovers are out of style, and at some point a guy feels like he should do something, or else be completely bare on top with a style-less fringe around back. A buzz cut is one of the few things he can do to give the fringe some style.
I voted just another haircut, and here’s why:
Combovers typically happen as a gradual process - starting with a little flick of hair over a thin patch, with imperceptibly small increments until they end up as the absurd and elaborately futile constructions we all know and love, but there’s never a day where what you’re doing to your hair is radically different from the previous day.
I’m pretty sure the number of bald/balding men who woke up one morning and decided “Hey! You know what would be good? If I grew my hair unnaturally long at the sides, then plastered it over the top of my shiny head!” is almost exactly zero.
Whereas the buzz cut as a reaction to the onset of baldness is often the result of a conscious, point decision “this is a losing battle, and would look better if I just cut it short”.
I voted that it’s embracing the bald, not hiding it. I keep mine pretty short, but you can still tell I’m balding.
I’ve been slowly losing my hair since I was about 18. Last December, I realized it had gotten to the point where I had to do something, and the only hairstyle I thought would look okay was a buzzed head.
I invested in a pair of hair clippers and haven’t looked back. Every other week, I give my head a quick once-over before getting in the shower, and I’m good for another 2 weeks.
It’s easy, it’s cheap, my wife likes it… what more can I say?
I sport a buzzcut and always have - by necessity more than desire. I’m 39 years old and not balding; far from it, in fact. My hair is so damn thick and wavy that if it grows beyond an inch or so it gets all bushy and looks awful. It doesn’t lie flat, it doesn’t comb, it doesn’t style, it doesn’t do anything attractive.
I disagree with the assessment that guys who shave their heads are pretentious or hiding something. In almost all cases, I think that throwing in the towel and going completely bald by choice looks better than a hair-horseshoe or crop circle.
I used to have all sorts of hair hangups, but I’m mellowing as I get older. For example, I used to look down on women who colored their hair. My attitude now, even if it’s an obviously fake color, is “So what?” Makeup is obviously fake too, and no one gets bent out of shape about that - no one is expected to think that women are born with rainbows of colors on their faces. Hair coloring is just another way to adorn oneself and exert some control over one’s appearance.
As for black women who straighten/relax/color their hair, I always felt vaguely sorry for them, assuming they’re caving in to pressure to look white. How about taking a little pride in your ethnicity and going with what nature gave you? I’ve come to realize, since I have a similar issue, that there’s simply not much you can do with nappy hair; styling options are extremely limited, so I can see the desire to have a more versatile hair “type.” And brown skin can accommodate a wide variety of hair colors quite nicely.
I say comb-overs are for those in denial, and it’s just another haircut. Some people just like buzzing their hair, regardless of whether or not they’re folically challenged (Heh, I never knew bald men had such comical terminology). I used to buzz my boyfriend’s hair, and he was 24-26 years old at the time with a full head of hair. For some, it is a response to thinning hair that looks better than rocking the shaggy horseshoe.
I’m a black woman who got a chemical relaxer for the first time in high school, kept it up for maybe a year, and never got another relaxer again until 2007, which I still have. I’ve always liked my natural hair texture, and thought my hair looked great if I pulled it into a ponytail, and let the kinky ponytail do its thing in the back. At times I would flat iron my hair straight, but that was only to change up my look every now and again. It was never caving in to pressure to look white; it was just trying a new style. This is the reason I never used a chemical relaxer. I liked being able to wear it natural or straight, whereas with a relaxer, it stays straight until it grows out.
I do concede that most black women aren’t like me in this regard, and I think it’s sad, too. Almost every black woman I know will not allow her hair to be natural, and the ones who do mainly have a finer hair texture than most black women. So why, you ask, did I switch to a chemical relaxer in 2007? I dunno, I think I finally felt the pressure, which might exist in my own mind only. Not about the way it looks - I think my hair looks good either way, but when I finally decided to stop being an oaf and get a grown up job in a professional office, I felt like employers wouldn’t like my hair natural. Like they’d be all, “Nice try, Angie Davis.” You read all these stories black women being told their look is unprofessional, and law suits, and the whole nine yards. So I straightened my hair, bought a suit, and went to work.
My husband’s point of view at the time was that I was being silly, this wasn’t 1980, and that as long as my hair looked neat, nobody would care if it were kinky or straight. But that was three years ago, and by now, I’ve come around to thinking he was right. At the time, it was a Big Freaking Deal, this was my first attempt at being a real adult, and I freaked out about everything. These days, I’m back to going either way on the texture. I keep it straightened now, but because I’ve gotten used to my hair this way, and fell into a hair cut that I really dig, and only looks good straight. When I get sick of it, I could end up doing anything.
Sorry to hijack. Carry on.