Hair, oh hair, wherefore art thou my head of hair?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Ok, this is getting ridiculous!

I have always had a high hairline, even as a boy.

My hairline began receding when I was about 23-24 and has continued to recede.

I have lost about approximately one and a half inch (give or take an eighth or two) of hairline over this period.

Up to recently, receding was the only problem. I can handle the receding part.

However, over the past 6 months, it has begun to thin out at the bangs area.

The way my hairline is, it’s literally is shaped like capital letter “M.” The point of the “M” being my bangs area. The point of my “M” is where it’s thinning, very noticably and rapidly. I can see it change by the week.

Now, I am not going to mess with Rogaine, or carpets, or hairclub or any of that other crap. Nope. Can’t afford it anyways.

I always told myself that receding is not too bad to look at, as opposed to thinning, which I find absolutely revolting.

Now I have receding and thinning combo. AAAAARRRRRGH!

I am becoming revolted by this.

I always told myself one other thing: If my hair begins to thin noticably, I would just shave the whole darn noggin and get it over with. The sight of scalp glaring through wisps of hair is just nasty.

So, I ask (mainly the ladies here) Should I razor-shave my head? Should I get a buzz-cut? Should I just leave it normal?

I did shave my head once about 3 or 4 years ago, just to see what it would look like. It wasn’t as bad as I had imagined, but wasn’t “Michael Jordan” cool-looking, either. It grew back really fast.

I guess a man doesn’t have many options when it comes to this situation. Yeah, I know caps are an option, as well as bandannas. I usually look dorky in caps, and the bandanna thing doesn’t look very good on me either.

All I know is, I am not happy with my hair, and I don’t know what to do, to make it “work” for me. There has to be some hairstyle that would compliment my situation, instead of make it unappealing. If not, then it’s shaving cream and razor time or electric clipper time.

To give a mental image, I am near the “Bruce Willis” stage, circa “The Fifth Element” (I don’t have any recent pics to offer, but I have an older one on the people pages)

Any comments/advice??

2

Dude. What ya have to ask yerself is this: do you have to look at it? I mean besides in the morning mirror…

Other than that, don’t sweat the small stuff…

3

Well, regardless of whether I have to look at it or not, I can feel it too, and that just makes me metally return to the image. Ugh. Damned genes!

4

You do realize that wherefore means why and not where. Right? Just checking.

5

Agreed. I wouldn’t worry about it too much, but if it does get to be a big issue, Bic it. It’ll look good (I’m assuming), and your hair worries will be over. Your razor budget, however, will go through the roof. Oh well. You can’t have everything (Notice the emphasis on you.) :slight_smile:

6

Blast you, hypergirl! I was going to say that!

7

:::sigh::: :rolleyes:

8

I would just like to say, “<infinite expletives deleted>” in light of your and hypergirl’s reply.

No, I didn’t know that wherefore meant “why.”

Somehow, “where” just doesn’t have the same “ring” to it as “wherefore” does.

9

Awwwww… MSK, you poor dear. Don’t be silly. Leave well enough alone, and enjoy it while you can. Then, when it’s gone, just say “God only made so many perfect heads. The rest he covered with hair.” with a perfectly straight face. :wink: :eek:

No, seriously, it’s entirely possible that all of the stress you’re under right now is a factor in the thinning you’re experiencing at the moment. And worrying about the hair thinning isn’t helping either. Try to relax, and worry about the things you can do something about.

{{{{{{{Alan}}}}}}

10

Receding/thinning hairlines are fun! I like to think of my hairline as the front of an ongoing battle between the S Army, whose battle flag sports a mop, and the L army, who has a cue ball on its battle flag. “S” and “L” designate the last name of my father (myself as well) and the maiden name of my mother respectively.

In my late teens and early 20s, the L Army made a strong advance toward the rear on the left and right flanks, with some progress being made up the center also. Through my mid and late 20s, the S Army held the line quite well, with a minimum of casualties. As I enter my 30s, however, I notice that the battle has escalated. There have been heavy losses in the S Army between the right flank and center, and left and center. Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I can see little pillars of smoke rising from my forehead where the most intense fighting is taking place. At night, while I’m trying to sleep, sometimes I’ll hear teeny-tiny explosions and gunfire, with their accompanying shrieks of pain. The S Army has fought valiantly, but I fear the power of the L Army is just too overwhelming. Fortunately, all attempts by the L Army to attack from the rear have been thwarted.

Once the L Army has trampled over the S Army, I’m not sure what I’ll do. I don’t think I’ll shave myself bald, because my ears would just be too obvious then. I’ll either buzz my hair or leave it at its current length, not that there’s a lot of difference.

11

Just one thing. Do not, DO NOT, let the hair you have left grow and then comb it over the places where you’ve gone bald. It looks absolutely freakin’ ridiculous and you aren’t fooling anyone, except maybe yourself!

I don’t think you can go wrong with either a short buzz cut or shaving your head. I’m female and I’ve had many days where I have dearly wanted to do either of those things, just to be free from the hassle of having to mess with my hair, which has a mind of its own.

It can be pretty sexy, by the way, to get your head lathered up and shaved by your SO …

12

No, problem there. I agree 110% that looks HORRIBLE. I used to have a science teacher in high school who did that and it was utterly repulsive. No way am I going to attempt that.

Doesn’t sound bad.

:eek:

:::sigh::: If only I had a S.O.

13

MSK,

I am very encouraged to hear that you do not plan to venture into the Land of the Comb-over! Truly dreadful.

And you never know, you shave that head today, and tomorrow you may just become a Chick Magnet like Sean Connery and Patrick Stewart. :slight_smile:

As far as shaving my own head, I guess you can tell I’m not exactly vain about my looks, though I do think it would be fun to have a lot of different wigs. Whatever mood I happened to be in that day, I’d just pick out an appropriate wig, plop that sucker on and go. :smiley:

14

Just feel the need to interject my opinion here. If you do decide to fully shave your head, give it plenty of thought. A fully bald pate is something that is becoming more popular with black guys. They look good doing it and most pull it off well. However, for some reason, this does not translate well to white guys. Unless you have a look like Stone Cold Steve Austin, it’s hard to pull off. This is just my opinion, YMMV.

On the other hand, I’ve often thought that if my hairline continues to beat a retreat, I would go with a short buzz. It looks good and says “I’m ok with my lack of hair.” I’ve got several friends who have done this and I may do it at some point down the road. Again, this is just my opinion, YMMV.

15

Thought maybe this would help:

My pic from the SD People Pages http://www.geocities.com/sdpeoplepages/magicalsilverkey.html

16

{{MagicalSilverKey}}

I’ll second the buzz cut notion.

I have watched my brother-in-law’s hairline,in the 16 years I’ve known him, progress from “early seventies Jack Nicholson widow’s peak” to today’s “welcome to the monastery”. He keeps it very short and it works for him nicely.

Word of warning though-it seems that when you lose hair on your head, you gain it on your back. It seems to head south for the winter :slight_smile:

17

MSK,

Looked at your pic - I think you could go either way, buzzed or shaved, especially if you keep the facial hair. Whatever you try, if you don’t like it, it’ll grow back!

I’ve often wondered how expensive haircuts would be, and what kind of credentials would be required for stylists if it didn’t grow back …

18

I agree with Tommy and Hardygrrl. Not everyone looks good shaved bald (noggins are shaped differently), but for a balding guy, a short, short look usually is quite flattering. Though none of these looks are permanent, so you can play with it. And for goodness sake, DON’T grow a ponytail to “compensate!”

Me, I just got my hair cut short, in the hopes it would make me look all Kay Kendall-y or Ava Gardner-y. Instead, it made me look like a lesbian elf. I am growing it out again.

19

MSK, perhaps you could write a poem about the pathos of male pattern baldness?

20

Oh, this is a very good thing. Oh yeah. Mmmmmm.

:::drool:::

Oops. Sorry about that.

All the men in my family are in some stage of baldness. My husband the long-haired-musician has more hair than all of them collectively.

Growing up with balding men gave me a definite appreciation for them. But what really counts is what’s under the scalp, not what’s on it.

So don’t sweat it, MSK. You’re the one that kicks butt, not your hair. :smiley: