Try it and see. Go your barber and explain what you want, or just spend $20 for a Wahl clipper and have at it (with a length guide it’s impossible to make a mistake). If you don’t like it then in a few weeks it’ll be back anyhow. You can always pick a time when you’ll be traveling or on vacation for a couple weeks if you’re nervous about it.
For me, I just decided to do it in my early 20s - I’d noticed a bit of thinning recently, I was home sick one day, looked at myself in the mirror and said “What the heck”. It’s such a common look these days that I don’t think your friends will care after the first time they see it. If you’re pale skinned make sure to keep a ballcap and sunscreen handy.
ETA - ask one of your cute female friends. Tell her you’re thinking of cropping it close, see what she thinks. If you get a much more enthusiastic “Yes, that’d look great” than you do now when you ask how it looks as is, that will increase your comfort factor. Hell, she might want to wield the clipper (I’ve known women who get a kick out of it).
This gets back to when to do it. Mid to late summer is a bad choice, especially if you’ve developed a tan. Then you’ll still have horseshoe head, it’ll just be made out of skin instead of hair.
My point here is that not shaving your head is a valid choice for balding guys. Nobody has to shave their head if they’re losing their hair. It’s not always the best option. It’s fashionable at the moment, that doesn’t mean it won’t look just as dated in 20 or 30 years as 70s or 80s hairstyles do now. Following a fashion because that’s what people think you’re supposed to do doesn’t impress me favourably.
Is it “bizarre” that I dislike the look of a shaved head? Why? This is the opinion forum, and not liking the look of shaved heads is an opinion. Some folks don’t like facial hair, others do. Some folks don’t like certain foods, others do. And so on. Why do you think it’s so bizarre that someone thinks shaved heads often look terrible?
And yes, I personally know guys who have started to go bald and have shaved their heads to “hide” it. They’ve told me that, I didn’t just make up a story out of thin air (or thin hair) to account for the current popularity of head-shaving.
That doesn’t mean I think guys who do that are bad people. I can understand and sympathise with guys who do it, but I’m more impressed with guys who chose not to follow the dictates of conventional opinion.
Really, my major reason for expressing my opinion here is to provide an example of someone who does not agree that shaving is the only valid option for dealing with hair loss. The amount of abuse I’ve got for expressing that opinion here is proof that it needs to be said.
Hmm, who is saying that? Yes, things like hair style and trouser cuts are matters of fashion, whose popularity will be fleeting, but what’s so wrong with people saying they think generally shaved heads look better than the shaggy horseshoe look? No, it’s not the only acceptable option, it just usually looks nicer to most of us. Even so, I don’t think anyone is saying SHAVE YOUR HEAD OR LOOK HORRIBLE AND DIE! But if they were, it’s just fashion, right?
Moreover, who cares about fashion, and what looks right on who. I just think some people think what you posted is weird.
See, that’s the thing. No, it’s not bizarre, or “bizarre” even, that you don’t like it. What’s bizarre is that you think people who choose to shave their heads are doing to as some pretentious face-saving effort to act as though they never really wanted hair in the first place. No one is abusing you, and if they were, it’s not because you don’t like shaved heads; it’s because of the strange take that you have on guys who shave their heads.
Nobody has said that all balding men should shave their hair.
Nobody has said that it’s bizarre that you dislike shaved heads.
Nobody has given you any abuse for expressing that opinion.
What people are giving you shit for is insulting people (the part where you said that you don’t think shaved guys are bad people, you might want to rethink that) for attributes that you are assuming they have without any evidence.
That’s pretty contrary to what you said earlier. You not only attacked the choice that some men made, you attacked our very characters. You accused us of being pretentious and trying to deceive people.
Do you not get how offensive that is? Do you get it that you insulted people?
Whether you really wish you still had hair or not, cropping/shaving what you have left still presents a better appearance than growing the remains long. The only time that you should do that is if you run into a smoking hot chick who’s into crazy wild sex AND has a serious fetish for Larry Fine or Bozo the Clown.