Title says it all. I discovered the Norwood Scale (I am in the neighborhood of 5 or 6), and have been reading that most guys go ahead and shave it all off by the time they reach a 3. So, over the weekend I had the rest of it taken off.
My initial observations:
Man, that skin is pale. I want to protect with sunscreen, but it needs some color.
It hardly feels any different for me, but everyone else sure has a reaction.
My eyebrows are now the longest hairs on my head. My wife just loves that factoid.
I decided to let the beard go stubbly, maybe in compensation. Still not sure I will keep things this way, but what the heck - it will grow back, wont it? Wont it?? :eek:
Fellas, what was it like the first time you shaved your head?
I went from having hair to my waist in a ponytail to being shaved bald by choice in order to show support for my gf when she had cancer. Turned out she did not need chemo, but I kept shaving for a few years.
At first I’d laugh anytime I saw my reflection in a mirror. We actually switched sides of the bed so I wouldn’t sleep near a mirror. I loved the chrome dome feel. Splashing cold water on my head on a hot day was amazing. I’d shave twice a day most days; any stubble would bother me. When I had very long hair and a very long beard, women always wanted to braid me; bald, they wanted to rub my head.
Yes, it grows back. After shaving for a couple of years I skipped two days in a row. My gf suggested letting it grow and now, for the first time in 45 years, I occasionally go to a barber shop. (I previously just cut a few inches off of the ponytail when necessary)
I’m always amazed at how helpful hair is for keeping sweat from dripping down my face. I don’t shave my head; but I like to wear my hair really short whereas my wife likes it longer. When exercising I need to wear a ball cap to keeping from being sweat blinded. I don’t think I can pull off the head sweat band look just yet.
I applaud you! I’m a female and don’t have the issue of male baldness - obviously but I am so glad that guys are shaving their heads nowadays. My dad started losing his hair in his 20’s and eventually went to the famous comb-over! UGH what an awful look. He finally cut off his flap when he was in his 50’s. He looked so much better and younger even though he then sported the old man fringe - a step above the comb-over!
I went from hair to my lower back at 20, thinning hair at 22, to shaved head at 23. In college, I attended a professional seminar and say behind a bunch of men in their mid-forties or older. Half had bad comb-overs and weren’t fooling anybody. Right there, I decided that if I ever went bald, I wouldn’t hide it. My father and grandfather are both bald but not shaved. Neither ever tried to hide it, so I had good examples of baldness with dignity.
My head has been shaved since. I use a Headblade Sport, which I cannot recommend enough. I tried the Headblade Moto, but it does not work well for me.
I found that my face looked too round without hair, so I grew out my beard, which gives is a much less round shape.
Also, I will reiterate the necessity of sunscreen and hats. I have wide brimmed in my car, my wife’s car, and at home. I will not be caught without a wide brimmed hat. Baseball caps won’t do because my ears will burn.
When I first started shaving my head (Over twenty years now. Wow!) I was still married. After I got divorced, I thought my bald head would severely limit my dating pool.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that it didn’t (as far as I can tell). It is interesting to note that the type of women I seem to attract sans hair are way different than the type of women I used to attract with hair.
Not that I’m complaining.
Also, the color (on your head) will come. Just give it time.
I’m not a man but I shaved my head for the first time in December, and I want to participate in this thread. I didn’t shave it completely bald, but the sides were shaved down to a 1.5 and the top part was chopped off to chin-length. (It was about mid-back before the cut.)
Other people’s reactions were varied, and even my own reaction is varied. Sometimes I think it looks awesome, and sometimes I don’t feel like I look girly enough. Sometimes I feel like it doesn’t match my outfit. My husband completely loves the look, and every time I mention growing it out he says I shouldn’t. I’m keeping it shaved at least through the summer, because it feels amazingly cool. But I might grow it out come wintertime. It depends on whether my husband can talk me out of it or not.
Yes!! Which sucks, because when you have long hair the only time you really need to go to the salon is to get a trim every few months, and when it comes right down to it, you can put off a trim for months and months before it really starts to look bad. I did not realize how incredibly frequently you need to re-trim shaved hair to keep it from looking bad.
I would have a hard time holding on past a Norwood 2A. What kind of haircut did you have before?
I used to work for someone marketing shavers (like Skullshaver) made specifically for bald head shaving but I have no idea if they are really good or necessary. I saw a guy the other day who obviously cut his head shaving and it wasn’t pretty.
It’s the middle part of the Norwood scale that’s hard to live with.
Starting at 3v, the bald spot at the top of the head appears. It’s time for a comb over. The 5’s are very unattractive. That’s when many guys get a toupee.
Then 6, 7 looks pretty nice with the fringe on the sides.
My dad was a 6 most of my life. He was a 7 the last 15 years of his life. He always wore his hair short. Never wore a toupee.
My hair is thinning a bit, but so far no bald areas.
