What made the first guy decide “Hey, I’m just gonna cut all my hair off! That will intimidate people!”
In close-in fighting, it means that your opponent can’t use your hair to pull you off-balance or towards the ground…
http://libcom.org/history/1960-today-skinhead-culture
‘Skinhead’ started in the 60’s in Britain. It was more or less a working class backlash to the hippies. They worked blue-collar jobs and wore their hair short. Shaved heads came in the late 70’s, when punk got big in England. Racism and nationalism were not part of the skinhead scene until the late 70’s.
Not all skinheads are racists. Not all guys who shave their heads are skinheads. Not all skinheads shave their heads.
Well, a shaven head can be often be intimidating - that’s not something skinheads invented, I think that’s a natural human reaction. Why we find shaved heads intimidating I’m not sure, maybe because hair helps us to humanize and distinguish between people, so a group of skinheads becomes a more inhuman, identical mass of aggressive males, which can be frightening.
Another reason is that shaved heads are often mandatory for criminals and soldiers, so it has become associated with physically aggressive young men. Wiki says that ‘rude boys’ (criminals) in Jamaica in the 60’s all had their heads shaved, either because they’d recently been to jail or because they wanted to look like they had. There was a large amount of Jamaican immigration to the UK, where punk rockers adopted the style in the 70’s. Racist skinheads in America probably just picked it up like the punk rockers.
Probably true. But on an individual basis, a shaved head is less than impressive if the owner has a skinny, misshapen skull.
And Mr. Clean still inspires confidence. 
I am aware of the difference and probably should have mentioned it in my OP (heck, my roomie shaves his head and that’s just cause he was balding at 24). It just seems odd that they’d know that people might mistake a non-racist for one of their own or vice versa. But it’s quite likely that I’m overthinking this.
A shaven head is often shorthand for “scary/evil tough guy”, it’s true.
I believe it originally started in Germany, as a way for former Neo-Nazis to show their solidarity with each other, and since they couldn’t don the uniforms and symbols of old, they thought of that new one. This with what the previous posters said, I think it evolved seperately within both England/America and Germany.
This is just speculation, but I think it might also have something to do with showing commitment to the group. If you just wear clothes with racist symbolism, you can take them off, put on normal clothes, and no one will be the wiser. But if you shave your head - that’s going to take a while to grow back. It’s not as permanent as a tattoo, obviously, but it still says: This isn’t a game I play on weekends. This is who I am.
eta: This is part of why prisoners and other people who society wants to shame have at times had their heads shaved. It takes a while to grow back, and meanwhile everyone can see who the outcast is. After World War II, women who had had relationships with German soldiers (or in some cases were merely suspected of it) had their heads shaved in some places, for just this reason.
There is a lot of truth to that. Ernst Blofeld, the James Bond villain sported a chrome dome in the 60’s. Telly Savalas portrayed the sociopath Maggott in The Dirty Dozen, and Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Professional wrestlers have been shaving their heads for a long time and portraying scary villains in films.
I’ve been shaving my head for the last 15 years. I think that a shaved head accentuates whatever physical shape you have; ie, if you’re overweight, a shaved head makes you look like a real fatty, when I’m in shape, I look more buff and when I’m thin, I look really skinny.
because they’re going bald.
I thought they all had lice.