Also, I shave my head but I didn’t start doing so until I started to thin up top.
I let him do this once when he was 8. (He is currently 13) I only agreed to do so because I made a deal with him: If he could learn to read his Dr. Seuss book (Green eggs and ham I think) During the week, when I picked him up from his mothers next weekend; I’d shave his head for him. I felt comfortable making this bet because I didn’t think he would be able to pull it off. But still, in the process, get a lot of practice in.
Well, he sure showed me. My Jaw hit the floor when he read it the following weekend with out mistake. A man of my word, I made good on my bet.
Anyway, my kid is now bugging me to let him shave his head. I don’t know man, I just don’t fell comfortable with this, but I can’t explain why. Part of it is I don’t want the other parents and teachers thinking I’m a freak for letting him do such a thing.
But I don’t know if that in itself is a valid reason.
Never dealt with teenagers from the outside, but here’s what I think I’d do:
Explain my reservations, which would be that people would think he was a skinhead or something.
Make sure he knows what a skinhead is (being willing to be educated if he’s more knowledgeable than me–it’s been decades since I hung out with the SHARPs in front of the post office on Friday nights).
Make sure he’s not wanting to do it out of some oogy motive, like admiring the local NaziSkins or something.
If he was cool about it and not oogy about it and seemed like he’d be confidently able to deal with suspicions from other people, I’d say go for it.
Are there really going to be that many negative reactions? Plenty of kids that age shaved their heads in the summer when I was in school in the 90s. It certainly wasn’t popular, but hey, it’s hot out. I don’t think anyone blinked.
I never even thought of this; skinheads are just totally not on my radar.
The shaved-head look is fairly common and mainstream nowadays (for example, I just happen to have this boxtop sitting nearby) (ETA: and I can think of a number of ballplayers who have, or have had, shaved heads), and my guess is that he’s seen guys he admires with the look (including, quite possibly, Shakes himself!) and wants to be like them. Why not?
Probably it’s not a big concern, but I’d just want to be perfectly clear on the topic, having known several skinheads of all political stripes when I was a teenager myself. Kind of like how if my kid declared herself a witch or a Christian, I’d ask for some details :).
I’d push for a buzz cut over shaving, but if that’s what he wants. I wouldn’t fight him too much on it, there are other battles to be won, this one doesn’t seem that important.
After he gets a sunburn on his scalp mock him for his choice.
Ask him if he would settle for a buzz cut (like a #2 clipper cut). There is just enough hair left to keep a person from being bald, but it is a very clean looking cut that shows your scalp. Here is me with a #2 cut.
I would let him - as Zenbeam, and others have said. It’s harmless and will always grow out if/when he gets bored with the trend. Heck yeah. Of all the things a young teen could want, this is nothing.
I’d let him. You let him before, so precedent is set, and it’d be really difficult to come up with a reasonable reason why it was okay at 8, but it isn’t okay at 13.
Another vote for letting him do it. If we’re truly talking about taking a razor to it, it’ll go from shaved to ‘buzzed’ in a few days. Then you can take him to a barber shop/Great Clips/Fantastic Sams type place and have them clean it up (shorter on the sides) so it doesn’t grow out like a basketball.
I go for a 0# clipper cut. I know a lot of guys that shave their head, but I think it is too much hassle. When he starts asking for tattoos or piercings, then you have a problem.
He earned it, fair and square. You made him a deal, he lived up to his end of the deal, and if you back out now, you’ll be teaching him a terrible lesson. I see no bad consequences to his shaving his head, and it’ll grow in to buzz-cut level in a couple of weeks. Nobody is going to equate a 13-year-old’s shaved head with skinheads - that’s ridiculous. You should be very proud of him, as I bet he is of himself. Don’t take his moment away from him.
I believe the reading bargain was when the kid was 8, and Dad did make good on his promise. This is a second time the kid wants to shave his head, 5 years after the first.
Could his level of autism have something to do with it? I wonder if having hair that moves around, or that he has to wash and comb, might really bother him. Shaving it off or at least to a really short buzz might be a relief to him.
I wouldn’t think anything of a 13-year-old with a shaved head, personally.
As someone who let her son bleach the hell out of his hair at 15 so he could dye it purple I’m going to have to vote -let him. It hair, it grows back and it’s a great medium for self expression.
