# What's the easiest way to shave your head? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2000, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412 "2000-07-30T06:22:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/1 "2000-07-30T06:22:52Z")
Every summer my wife gives me a “buzz” cut with an electric clipper she got at K-mart for $9. This year I said, what the heck, don’t just buzz me, cut it all off, like Kojack. but no matter how short she set the clippers, she couldn’t make me bald. So we ended up using a trac 2 razor, which wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Is this how all guys who shave their head do it. or is there an easier way? I can’t wait to go to work on monday, I look totally freaking evil! ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/2 "2000-07-30T06:27:51Z")
Easiest way I know is to ask someone to do it for you, using whatever you shave your face with. I shaved my head a few years ago, and used my Bic disposable. It was kinda cool 🆒, actually. Watch out for the sun, though. Your scalp can burn easily. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/3 "2000-07-30T06:33:05Z")
Pk… I think there’s a strategy behind this. Whatever kind of clipper she owns, take it down to the closest it can go. Shave the Hell outta your head. Next, use a Norelco type shaver. Anyone of them will work. Buzz it around for awhile. Finally, use a trac 2 or whatever it is razor you use and shave away. The key here is the shaving cream. Keep it on until it begins to sting. Then shave. Repeat a couple of time to get the areas you intially missed. Back in high school, some of the people I knew on the swim team did this. Why, I don’t know. Some kind of bonding thing. But that’s how they did it. ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/4 "2000-07-30T06:34:25Z")
You did it right. Buzz it short and then shave it. I can’t wait until you start using hot-wax. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/5 "2000-07-30T06:38:09Z")
:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/6 "2000-07-30T06:46:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > \*\* > > Back in high school, some of the people I knew on the swim team did this. Why, I don’t know. Some kind of bonding thing. > > \*\* Swimmers will go to great lengths to reduce the drag on their bodies. They will generally shave their legs, armpits, wear speedos and swimcaps. I suspect, though, that bare, round, scalps is even more hydrodynamic then a swimcap covered head. I’ve heard that, depending on the legality of it in the event they are doing, grease may be used as well? I know that it is used as an insulator in cold waters, but I’m not certain whether it helps you slide through the water. ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/7 "2000-07-30T07:05:02Z")
You could just Nair the f’n thing. –Tim ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/8 "2000-07-30T07:09:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homer \* > \*\*You could just Nair the f’n thing. > > –Tim \*\* Do **not** Nair your head. Homer’s mean. 😉 Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/9 "2000-07-30T07:24:54Z")
Take it from me, a guy who’s been doing this for over a year now… Cnote got it mostly right. The trick – for a first timer – is to go down progressively: from hair trimmer, to electric razor, to blade razor. But I have found is that the blade part is optional if you’ve got a good electric razor. (And I think rotaries are best.) I only use a blade where my hair is thinning (top of head) – and puts up the least resistance! On the sides and back, where my folicles are still fighting the good fight, I don’t bother – the blade has too hard a time, and the electric did a good enough job. I used to shave it every day, but found it’s not worth all the trouble of a daily routine. Now I generally take it down to the skin every 2 to 4 days. Recapping: get a good electric razor – let it do the work for you. And be patient when you use it; it takes a lot of time, covering the same ground over and over, to do a good job – much longer than shaving your face. (My trick is to do it while I’m on the… ahem… throne. Kills two birds with one stone, so to speak.) ---
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/10 "2000-07-30T10:24:04Z")
Another voice of experience. I got it buzzed as short as I could then used the same bic safety razor I used on my face. Every two or three days seemd sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/11 "2000-07-30T13:12:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kyberneticist \* > > \*\* Swimmers will go to great lengths to reduce the drag on their bodies. They will generally shave their legs, armpits, wear speedos and swimcaps. I suspect, though, that bare, round, scalps is even more hydrodynamic then a swimcap covered head. I’ve heard that, depending on the legality of it in the event they are doing, grease may be used as well? I know that it is used as an insulator in cold waters, but I’m not certain whether it helps you slide through the water. \*\* [/QUOTE] The swimmers I knew were definetely an odd bunch. But seriously, how much drag can you have from armpit hair? I’ve always assumed it was a swimmer’s bonding ritual. ---
**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/12 "2000-07-30T14:44:56Z")
Every little bit… See below for things that affect your drag. From “Science in the Summer Games” > [@](#): > > wimming Niceties > > ``` > Since the 1950's serious swimmers have religiously shaved the hair from their bodies, sometimes even from their > heads, before an important meet. Yet until very recently there has been no scientific evidence as to the usefulness of > this slavishly observed practice. Some coaches believed that the advantage - if any - was psychological. Now, thanks > to experiments performed by the aptly named Dr. Rick Sharp in 1988 and 1989, it is known that shaving body hair does > in fact give the swimmer an advantage, by reducing drag. How much of an advantage? Nearly as much as that > "resulting from a season of collegiate swimming training." Or, to put a number on it, about a second per 100 meters. > > Another potential source of drag might be easily dispensed with physically but not socially: in Holland in 1975 it was > found that Dutch girls could reduce their drag in the water by 9% - by shedding their swimsuits. Today, however, it is > felt that the form-fitting, very smooth "Speedo"O-type synthetic suits worn by most athletes contribute no appreciable > drag, and may even speed up progress in the water (see Note 45.) Jon Henricks, the Australian champion, was on the > right track when he wore a silk swimsuit in 1952. Nylon and Lycra have replaced silk, but some of the state-of-the-art > coated suits are so delicate that they must be put on wet, and are only good for about 400 meters. > > Part of the surface drag encountered by swimmers is due to rough water: in a word, waves. Obviously, some > wavemaking is inevitable in vigorous swimming, but in modern pools the effect is reduced in two ways: by contoured > "gutters" around the edges of the pool, which damp out wave action, and by dividing the competition lanes with finlike > disks or perforated floating cylinders. The net result is a "faster" pool. Wave-killing devices (and soft water) in the > ultra-modern Schwimmhalle in Munich were "the largely unrecognized reason why nearly every event in the 1972 > Olympics produced a new world's record." > > The viscosity of water goes down about 12% for every 10 Fahrenheit degrees (5.6 Celsius degrees) you go up in > temperature. But before you envision world records set in your hot tub, keep in mind that the only stroke you're likely > to swim in water much above 85°F (29.4°C) is the heatstroke! In any case, competition pools worldwide are now kept > between 78 and 80°F (25.6 and 26.7°C). By contrast, the first Olympic swimming events were held in the sea; the water > temperature was 55°F (12.8°C). The athletes complained, but not of the viscosity. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/13 "2000-07-30T14:49:43Z")
Well, Kyper. some swimmers like the idea of swimming without any hair because it actually _does_ cause drag and not because of any pyscological belief. Hmm. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2000, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-easiest-way-to-shave-your-head/27412/14 "2000-07-30T15:01:38Z")
As I am suffering from pre-mature Kojackulation I have no need of this product, but in life as in song there’s “something for everyone… a comedy tonight”. See link below. There is frightening amount of info on your very question. Head Shaver’s Information and FAQ Dedicated to those that aspire to hairlessness. Want to shave your head? This is the place for information about becoming bald by choice. The menu on the left will get you to all of the major pages. The FAQ – All of my personal experience, condensed into a single document [http://www.geocities.com/FashionAvenue/2945/](http://www.geocities.com/FashionAvenue/2945/)