This is hard for me to write, but I think I got myself into a trap, I always used to cut my hair short up until my mid-twenties, even crew cutted it, but then grew it long, and kept it long-ish ever since.
But my hair is thinning at the temples, and I find it virtually impossible to walk outside without a hat or hood on as even a slight breeze will make me look ridiculous, it’s gotten to where even a light sweat will make my bangs look terrible, I have to spend at least ten minutes everyday at work arranging my hair so it looks presentable.
As stupid as it sounds I’m afraid of shaving it off and looking ugly(ier) I’ve had this hair style for nearly 8 years. How do you come to terms with it? How do I be brave about this?
I think you can find apps online that will let you take a pic of yourself and then model new haircuts. Maybe try one of those and see what you think? It will be an approximation, not the real thing but it might do as a way to test the waters.
Shave it. If you don’t like it, it will grow back fast.
I’m too lazy to shave my head every day, so I keep my hair and beard buzzed down to about a #1 guard. Low maintenance and I look just like Jason Statham! Well, ok, that’s a bald faced (heh!) lie, but it does suit me reasonably well.
Anyway, your hair will grow back in a few weeks. Try it. Embrace your pate!
There is nothing wrong with having long(ish) hair with thinning/receding bits. Where it goes wrong is trying to use the existing hair to cover the balding bits, don’t do that.
Try shorter hair. It might look better and not look as noticeable. Thinning long hair looks much worse, IMHO. I made it past 35 without any noticeable loss and thought I was in the clear. But my temples started going. I keep it short and started regrowing some with minoxidil and some diet and lifestyle changes. If you like having longer thinning hair, you might want to keep it. We all have our preferences. Just don’t do any elaborate combovers.
This. I have my wife take the ol’ Wahl with a #1 and buzz my head from crown to chin. I’m like a fuzzy egg-shaped tennis ball. I love it.
Oddly, even with 1/8-inch hair, I wake up with bed head every morning. My wife says “I didn’t know someone with such short hair could look so messy when he wakes up.” What can I say, it’s a gift. I’m a hard, violent sleeper.
This. And I think most men look worse when they cut off their hair. But if it’s but there, just accept it.
(If you do cut it off, don’t expect it to grow back fast. Some people’s does, but others don’t, and if you are losing it, yours likely will grow back slowly.)
I went from long hair to chrome dome as a show of support for my gf’s cancer (then it turned out she didn’t need chemo). For months I’d crack up laughing if I looked in a mirror. I shaved once or twice a day and women loved to rub my smooooth dome.
I’ve since grown hair back. Which is weird in its own way.
Keep it clean; keep it out of your eyes; make it so when you wear glasses or a hat, the sides don’t stick out like Ed Wynn’s. Anything more is just vanity, which is always unseemly.
I was in the exact same situation back in my early 30s. My hair (which had never looked great to be fair) looked weak as hell and being outside in almost any weather resulted in me hating everything.
I knew, for at least a year that I had to shave my head but just couldn’t do it. I finally made an ‘announcement’ to a few close friends that I was going to do it, and that alone finally forced me to do it. I have never been happier. It is very freeing.
Announce to some people close to you that you are going to do it and you will follow through, I promise.
When my gf was fretting over losing her hair due to chemo, I offered to shave as a joke. I was trying to cheer her up. I assumed she’d get it; I’d never, ever shave my head.
But she thought I was sincere. She cried, hugged me, etc.
I had no choice. Then she didn’t need chemo. Her friends all thought I was wonderful, my friends all thought I was nuts.
