I think the quality has improved. No one ever complains they look fake anymore.
Close-cropped usually looks better than shaved. It does also look good if a bloke just has a normal short haircut with the receding hairline instead of going for a bald man’s cut.
I’m not a fan of the shaved head on most guys, frankly, balding or not. Shaved only looks good if you have a nicely shaped head/skull, and most people quite honestly don’t.
Personally, I think balding men look best when they keep a normal haircut, whatever a normal haircut for them is. Shaved, short, ponytail (hey, the old hppy dudes at the radio station would look really odd with a shaved head or the business haircut), whatever is normal for you. Just don’t try to hide the bald patch/shifting hairline and it’s all good.
I’d like to add (because i’m bored :D) a comment about option 1 in the poll: adding a beard is almost always terrible.
I do know one bloke who shaves completely and has a goatee and kinda looks like Satan, but pulls it off. I know other blokes who grow facial hair to roughly the same very short length as their remaining head hair. But often it’s more like when I was a kid and my Dad had a ful bread with no head hair and I would point him out to people (if they were asking ‘which one’s your Dad?’ or whatever) as ‘the man with his head upside down.’
Shaving your head is just too damned cliche. It’s too trendy to be cool; it now looks like an obvious gimmick, like wearing a hat.
Frankly it doesn’t look good on most white or Asian men. It looks okay on most black men.
Well, here’s my take on it. If a guy’s head is completely shaved, nobody knows whether he is naturally bald (and to what extent); or maybe he had a full head of hair that he took the blade to.
On the other hand, a guy who is balding - but keeps what hair he has clearly visible and nicely trimmed - really is embracing his baldness. He’s saying, 'lookie here, I’m going bald and I’m being upfront about it".
The very (but not totally) bald dude who becomes a total head shaver is, in his mind, keeping the notion alive that he is capable of sprouting an entire field of hair, but he chooses not to.
mmm
That’s sort of my take on it, too; it says, “Yeah, I’m going bald, but I’m not agonizing over it. It’s just hair, you know.”
I like tats on women but not men. If I had the extra cash I would turn my
can’t-recognize-what-it-is-anymore-tattoo into something else. Must make friends with a good tattoo artist and do a trade, I think. 
Yeah, he definitely doesn’t look his age, does he?\
I still say it’s not about embracing the baldness if you shave it off, though. That’s about hiding it. Assuming Mark is balding, that’s why he looks younger. (Well, that and the physique.)
I actually like comb overs. I think that’s the way to go.
Disclaimers:
- I’m a guy, who is
- not balding, and
- hates competition
Sandals with socks is also a good look.
Yeah, but it really goes like this:
- Good looking men with hair
- Good looking bald men
- Unattractive men with hair
- Unattractive bald men
- Good looking men with ridiculous hair-replacement systems
- Unattractive men with ridiculous hair-replacement systems
So if you’re at stage 4, you’re not going to get any higher no matter what you do with your remaining hair, but at least you haven’t fallen to 6.
My wife assures me I look much better when I buzz it very close to the scalp. I agree.
I was reminded last night that I am of the opinion that Howie Mandel is about fifty times more attractive right now, with zero hair and his little patch, in middle age, than he has ever been in his life previously.
Another vote for the stubble look here. If there are any guys out there considering it but aren’t quite sure, I highly recommend it. Sadly I was one of those guys clinging to scraps for a few years too many. I didn’t have a comb-over but kind of a comb-back. I grew my wavy hair long on top and just combed it straight back. It was kind of a Kramer do with a receeding hairline and a monk spot in the back. Because I only saw myself straight-on in a mirror, I didn’t realize how bad it looked.
I remember being in the electronics department at the store and seeing a security monitor filming from a weird angle. I was trying to figure out where the camera was, so I thought, “I should be easy to determine if I can find where that bald guy is standing”. Spoiler alert, the bald guy was me! It was that moment I decided to cut it all off. Not cue ball, but the shortest setting of an trimmer.
It took me a few months to work up the courage to do it, I was worried it would be super pale underneath or I’d have a lumpy head, but it looked fine. Not only was it just personally liberating, but the compliments were pretty much universally positive too. My favorite was that I look like a “bad-ass”. Trust me, nobody would have ever called me that otherwise.
So if you’re on the fence guys, go for it! My only regret is that I didn’t have the courage to let it go years ago.
I’m a 25 year old male and I started balding when I was 20. At first it really wasn’t noticeable if I grew my hair out and combed it the right way, but by the time I was 22 I was thin on top with a very noticeably receding hairline. Now the hair on my head is extremely thin on top and my hairline is almost gone. I shave my head completely bald, down to the skin, because if I didn’t I would look like I was in my late thirties or older. I’m actually pretty good looking, but I would look like a good looking 45 year old with a youthful face if I didn’t shave my head.
To all the people who say I’m trying to hide my baldness: think of it this way. If I tried to have any other hair style, part of it would be missing. Part of my hairstyle that should be there, wouldn’t be. Because I shave my head down to the skin, there’s nothing missing from my hair style. There’s nothing “incomplete” about it. How does that translate into me trying to hide the fact that I’m losing my hair? How does that make me deceptive?
There are some women out there who simply don’t like the look. I remember once there was a girl who was interested in me, while I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up. When I took the hood off, she said “oh, you’re hair’s missing” and later she proceeded to flirt with a guy with a full head of hair for the rest of the time the group we were in was together. But you don’t really think it would have happened any differently if I grew my hair out so it looked all nasty on top do you?
And here’s the thing: some women may not like it, but there are plenty that do. As long as I can find the ones who think a smooth bald head looks as good as a full head of hair, why should I care what the women who don’t go for that look think? You can’t please everyone.
I will say this though: I take Rogaine and soon I will start taking Propecia. Also, when I can afford it, I will get a hair transplant surgery. That’s where they take hairs that resist the hormone that causes baldness from the sides and backs of your head and surgically plant them on top, where they continue to grow naturally. And why shouldn’t I? To all of those who say “blah, blah blah, guys who try to save or restore their hair are vain or insecure, blah, blah, blah” all I can tell you is that lots of Hollywood actors get them, and they get them for a reason. It’s because restoring their hair helps their careers and makes them LOOK BETTER.
The fact of the matter is, shaving my head helps my sex life, and restoring my hair will help it even more. I’m not insecure, I just want to make the most of life. I would hate to think I was missing out on an amazing potential wife because she prefers guys with full heads of hair and/or she doesn’t want her kids to go bald. If I get a hair restoration, not only will I look better, but it will confirm in her mind that even if our kids get the baldness gene, they’ll still be able to keep their hair and look their best.
Shaved heads are, with rare exceptions, for thugs and supervillains.
You say that like it’s a bad thing…
Well duh? They’re defiling our women!
Hair is so overrated.
Andre Agassi before.
Andre Agassi after.
Speaking as a balding guy, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
My mantra (since I’m pushing 50 now) has been, "Out of short, fat and bald, you can pick any two, but not all three. Since I don’t think I’m going to get any taller and I can’t seem to retain my hair, I’m really working the diet and exercise angle.