First, some background: I’m male and losing my hair. I am at a Zen-like peace with the fact of my ensuing baldness. However, I watched my father spend 30 years going bald, and I am not interested in enduring that kind of slow torture about the whole process.
In short, it is not being bald that I dread, it is the process of going bald. So I am planning to start shaving my head.
Can any Dopers out there give me advice, feedback, or tips regarding head shaving?
(I’m purposely being as open-ended as I possibly can with this question, so as to elicit as much feedback as I can get.)
I’ve shaved my head several times – I’m a member of a right-wing hate group and it’s kind of de rigeur.
First, get your hair as short as possible with electric clippers before you actually shave. This will save you a lot of time and struggle. But be prepared to spend longer at the task than an ordinary face-shaving.
If you’re using a non-electric (acoustic?) razor, expect to change blades at least once. I’ve never shaved my scalp with an electric razor, so I can’t give any advice regarding that.
A hand mirror, I’ve found, is not necessary to do the back of your head, but it’s good to have one to check your work at the end. Or, have someone else shave off the bits in the back that you may have missed.
[sub][sup]Just kidding, by the way, about being a member of a “right-wing hate group”. ;)[/sup][/sub]
I’m also goin prematurely bald…I’m 22 and have a slight bald spot already.
So I cut my hair with the clippers bare blade. Not with a razor. Thats as far as I go. I like this look too. Although ironically it was through a mistake on my part that(leaving u huge patch) I HAD to cut the rest…But hey, I’m happy now:D
[commercial announcer voice]I started losing my hair at 18. I started using minoxodil at 26. My hair fallout has stopped completely, and new hair has begun to grow back.[/commercial announcer voice]
I shaved my head a few times, and I used the clippers with no blade guard to start with, then lathered up with Edge gel and ran my sensor excel all over, just to get it all clean and shiny.
another MPB victime (24) here.
Like Drastic, I’ve been doing the clippers-with-no-guard thing for about 5 years and I like it, and the chicks seem to dig it as well. (Its velvety) Back in my actor days in college I had to SHAVE shave, and I didn’t dig it.
If you must Shave shave, i wouldn’t reccommend using an electric razor to do it. My experience what that you tend to get scalp burns that way, which I found to be dort painful even less sightly than the nicks associated with a blade. Course I could just be bad at it.
I may be one of the few people who don’t object to comb-overs. Older women are forced to do it all the time, so why should men be mocked? That said, bald is fine, as are any of the combinations: deep hairlines, bald back, etc. All fine with me. The only hairstyles that make me shiver are when designs (or words!) are cut into short hair.
Something to remeber for prospective cue balls: make sure you have the right kind of head. I’ve got a very lumpy head (the result of several concussions sustained during my reckless youth), and as I stated earlier, I’ve shaved my head a couple of times, and looked rather ridiculous because my head looked like avacado.
Best value purchase I ever made was my trusty electric clippers, six years ago. Like you, Knead mate, I was getting a thin area. I now do my own hair every fortnight or so. You start with the longest comb (which gives you the longest hair) and then you fiddle around till you find the length you like.
Complete shaving, while it is an exhilarating experience the first time, is pretty demanding to keep up. And you go through so many blades! The close crop is as effective, always neat and you save MUCH TIME AND MONEY!
I haven’t paid for a haircut, or bought shampoo or conditioner for six years. Plus there is no such thing as a bad hair day. And these days you come across as cool/dangerous which isn’t such a bad thing as one otherwise sinks into old codgerdom (“Turn that racket down! Call that music? Drat the pesky thing…”).
I shave my head. I like the look, told I’ve got the head for it. But it’s a bit of a pain. You can’t shave every day due to skin irritation. And the days you don’t shave…well, shaved head stubble is like velcro! So don’t try to wear a wool cap or you’ll look a little funny when it comes off.
One word of advice. Use a new razor every time! Don’t try to get a second shave out of a blade. What you save in razors, you pay for in band-aids!
I’m 35 and began balding at 25. For almost four years now I’ve been shaving my head and I am quite handsome this way, if I do say so myself. I don’t think I’d go back; with my particular balding pattern I never found a haircut that looked very good.
I shave about once a week, with an acoustic razor, during my shower. I don’t refer to a mirror; it’s all done by feel. spooje, maybe my hair is finer than yours, but I can usually shave my head 1.5 times with one razor.
I don’t have, and have never used, electric clippers. What’s the preferred brand? Would they improve my life?
KneadToKnow, as has been said, use electric clippers to cut your hair close the first time, then shave it. When I first decided to shave my head I went to a barbershop. They cut it close with clippers, but would not shave me with a blade because of HIV. So then I went home and finished the job.
Then you obviously haven’t seen my dad’s one when he’s just woken up.
I’ve done the clippers-no-guard thing before. I had to stop because I’m very big, and very white, and well… I looked a bit dodgy.
One weird thing I’ve noticed with it though, is that for the first few days, it’s really hard to pull a T-shirt over one’s head. Woah, those whiskers are like Velcro.
I’m getting many more positive reactions than I was expecting. Maybe my psych teacher had something when he told us about “self-selecting” for polling.
I’m still not ready to make the commitment yet, but I know now that I’m not alone. That makes, as we say here in Naw’Car’lina, a heap o’ difference.
Being “very big, and very white” myself, not to mention of Germanic ethnicity, I will confess that I am concerned about the potential unintended messages I will be sending about my social views once I join the elite corps of the intentionally streamlined.
I’m also a “very big, and very white guy” and I shave my head on a regular basis. I haven’t had any problems with people making assumptions about me at all. I think that most people in the know are going to realize that if you arent walking around in you skintight jeans, combat boots, Fred Perry shirt and suspenders, that you’re probably not a “skinhead”, you’re someone who shaves your head. There’s a big difference.
I’ve been shaving mine for almost six years now and have never has a problem like that.
Back in my actor days in college I had to SHAVE shave, and I didn’t dig it.
