Bald or not?

Crapaud

On radio ATM they're discussing baldness, wigs and hair transplants after James Nesbitt
getting one.

I'm one of life's slapheads, classic male pattern baldness, and I don't give a toss about getting a syrup or a transplant. If baldness is a problem, it's everyone else's - you're the ones who has to look at me (or yourself, in favourable conditions).

All of the usual lines have been trotted out: women prefer men with hair, wigs etc. are a sign of low self-esteem, vanity etc..

Even though my bonce is a bit shiney, I can't say I've noticed any problem in attracting women. On the contrary, I'd say that it's had a positive effect.

What's the consensus of the forum?

rick_chasey

No idea but I'm 22 and definitely balding.

Can't say I'm happy with it.

It'd be ok if I had mediteranean skin, but I don't.

Cleat Eastwood

I'm a slap head. And love it. It was a big shock I remember when I first shaved it all off, a friend said I looked like a russian convict, and the feeling of the wind suddenly about your head....ooh. I'd done the usual try a number two, then a shorter number one and oneday the barber said you'd save a lot of money if you just shaved it off....so I did.

I think people who try ot cover it A) look ridiculous and Have a really high price on themselves.

ANd Rick, get the razors out young man and come and join the gang.

By the way aparently you inherit the same gene pattern from your mothers brothers, so you will have probably look the same as your uncles.

CHRISNOIR

I’m receding quite badly at the moment. So far I’ve been able to hide the worst with a floppy fringe but it’s getting to the point now where I’m looking at the full head-shave in the next 12 months. As a teenager I was convinced that medical science would have sorted male pattern baldness by the time it became an issue for me.

I never had any hang-ups about going grey (on the contrary I spent an afternoon five years ago sanding down some plaster and the dust turned my hair white; I looked quite distinguished) but the idea of balding always terrified me.

In short; gutted about it to be honest but hey-ho what can you do? Surely wigs / transplants draw even more attention to your lack of hair by being exceeding obvious and / or crap.

rick_chasey

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

I'm a slap head. And love it. It was a big shock I remember when I first shaved it all off, a friend said I looked like a russian convict, and the feeling of the wind suddenly about your head....ooh. I'd done the usual try a number two, then a shorter number one and oneday the barber said you'd save a lot of money if you just shaved it off....so I did.

I think people who try ot cover it A) look ridiculous and Have a really high price on themselves.

ANd Rick, get the razors out young man and come and join the gang.

By the way aparently you inherit the same gene pattern from your mothers brothers, so you will have probably look the same as your uncles.

I'm not quite sure I'll be looking like my uncle. The "ashes in an urn" look is not quite the one I'm looking for.

I have enough hair so far that it doesn't look ridiculous, but probably with in a year or so it'll have to go. Problem is, I can't help but associate shaved heads with thugs... It's just a look I find difficult to like. Now obviously that's not the case (see James Richradson), but still... Girlfriend doesn't like it either.

Crapaud

CHRISNOIR wrote:

... In short; gutted about it to be honest but hey-ho what can you do? Surely wigs / transplants draw even more attention to your lack of hair by being exceeding obvious and / or crap.

My thought exactly. It's perfectly natural and normal. I can't see why anyone would find it a problem. Perhaps I just don't care about my appearance enough.

re-cycles

I started to go grey at 15, and by the time I was 22 I had lost about half my hair. At the ripe old age of 36 I've still got a bit around the back of my head, but I'm used to baldness and it saves vital minutes in the morning.

More concerning is the hair growth from every where else... Ears and nostrils should be hair free!

Chip \'oyler

I'm bald. Thing I hate is that people think it's OK to openly joke about guy's baldness - but I bet if I mentioned their big nose, buck teeth or general fatness, they'd be really upset.

Why is baldness an easy target - but other physical attributes that can't be helped are strictly off limits for fear of hurting people's feelings?

MattC59

I'm 38, have a full head of hair and I have to get it thinned when I get my hair cut. Grandad had similar hair, Dad has gone bald-ish, so I guess it could go either way for me !

My issue is grey, the hair from my temples to the tops of my ears, and below is grey, so in photos I look like I have a monks hair cut. Don't really give a sh*t though to be honest..............

Cleat Eastwood

the trouble with shaving your hair off is that when you get a wash you cant tell where your face ends and head begins.....

Stewie Griffin

re-cycles wrote:

I started to go grey at 15, and by the time I was 22 I had lost about half my hair. At the ripe old age of 36 I've still got a bit around the back of my head, but I'm used to baldness and it saves vital minutes in the morning.

More concerning is the hair growth from every where else... Ears and nostrils should be hair free!

I went grey at 16 but am lucky that I have managed to hang on to it. The grey is hereditary too, I have a photo of me, Mum and my Maternal Grandmother sitting on a bench in 1973 and I now have grey hair in exactly the same pattern as they do in the photo.

Warwickshire Whizzer

Not.

I've tonnes of the bloody stuff. I have it thinned out every 2 weeks or I look like wiry bog brush with an afro.

Can't grow a beard though.

cee

i started to recede when i was 18...it started quickly...literally noticed hair in the plughole after a shower...

it slowed down through my early twenties, but since 25 its going going going...

32 now.....mostly classic male pattern baldness....

i clip it with clippers (no guard...just the clipper) and think it looks best that way...never gone down the bic route...

i may have gotten lucky with my mediterranean skin...and am fortunate enough not to have a head shaped like a potato..

I can grow a beard like a champ!

AndyF16

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

the trouble with shaving your hair off is that when you get a wash you cant tell where your face ends and head begins.....

PMSL I'm definitely thinning at the temples but que sera sera - really don't care as long as I'm tidy(ish!)

what I really never understood is people such as Elton John who the whole world knows went bald, spending money on getting a transplant FFS?

Crapaud

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

the trouble with shaving your hair off is that when you get a wash you cant tell where your face ends and head begins.....

Hint: Your face is on your head.

Your head is the round bit above the hair that runs up your back.

plumpy

I'm bald with the remnant trimmed down to a no.1 - a few weeks ago I thought I'd shave the lot off, seems to work for Patrick Stewart etc. So I did, and went down for breakfast - the family sat in stunned silence and then my son said "Jesus, Dad, you look like an elbow with eyes."

So, back to no.1.

shouldbeinbed

I'm half way there and don't give a monkeys. Its the hair on the rest of me I'd be happy to see thinner too. Why is it only top of the head hair that stops. I'd love for my chin to stop sprouting

andy162

My hair was always an curly mop, just did what it wanted & I always hated it. So when the tide went out ( & never came back in) I was more than happy to razor it off. Mrs Andy loved the curly locks but Mr Andy got the final say. Grade 1 once a week keeps things tidy.

NWLondoner

I took the plunge a few years back and shaved it all off and have never looked back. Being bald is a much better look than trying to disguise a balding head. Mind you the first winter I almost passed out as my head got soo cold.

I found woman always like to stroke/rub a bald head

Slapshot

Rapidly attaining slaphead status, not something that bothers me to be honest

pottssteve

As a youth I had a full head of hair and was regularly complimented on it's luxuriousness (though only by elderly ladies, unfortunately).

When I had chemotherapy all my hair (yes, ALL my hair) fell out but the doctor said that it often grows back even stronger than before - lying b@stard, it's been thinning ever since.

Now I hardly ever look at the region above my eyebrows - it takes care of itself. A bottle of shampoo lasts about 6 months. People with weaves, rugs or implants may have very low self-esteem, I reckon.

cjcp

Another slaphead here, too. Am 36. Gave up caring a long time ago. Shave it with clippers to keep it tidy. Went down to the blade initally, but just give it a no. 1 now. Looks good with the beard (IMHO!). But vanity would be a right PITA, too - hair would be the least of my worries: I'd have to spend money on decent clothes rather than bike stuff and make sure I don't get chain oil on my clothes when I'm fettling. I'm fighting a losing battle there.

wheezee

I think those of us with hair loss issues these days, are far more fortunate than those who went before. Shaved heads are a fashion option, even for lads with plenty of hair, and look far better than unshaved/unclipped heads accentuating what's missing.

Still miss mine though.

Pross

Despite leaving tons of the stuff in the bath everytime I wash my hair a still seem to have a full head of very thick hair that tends to grow outwards rather than get longer. However, I have been greying since about 15 although people have only really noticed in the last few years. Like someone else said, I'm more concerned with the amount of hair appearing elsewhere these days!

inkyfingers

I started to go thin on top when I was about twenty but thankfully it has been a slow process and at nearly 30 I am just getting to the point where i'm thinking about shaving my head. It doesn't bother me all that much, probably would have done more if I was at this stage in my early twenties when I was still chasing skirt and looked at myself in the mirror more than once a month!

My dad is bald and told me when I was young that baldness skipped a generation which made me feel quite secure as my grandad has a respectable mop into his 80s...unfortunately not everything your parents tell you about life it true it seems!

PedalPedant

plumpy wrote:

Jesus, Dad, you look like an elbow with eyes.

Brilliant, genuine laugh out loud.

My hairline's been receeding since my late teens, it's so far made it about half way across my skull. I prefer a #1 but Mrs PP objects, she seems to think the tragic Neil Morrissey comb-forward is preferable :shock:




PP

StillGoing

Always had a fine head of hair until I suffered stress and then large clumps of it fell out in typical MPB style. My old man always had either a comb-over or wore a syrup and knowing how ridiculous he looked I vowed I wasn't going to do the same. You see so many blokes who look normal from the front but when they lower their heads or sit down have that tell tale thinning that's being hidden by a long fringe or whatever. I went to a No.2 but I was concious my head looked like a map of the world with a bit of hair their and bit here, so I went down to a No 1. WIfe isn't keen as she thinks I look like a thug and prefers me with a No 2, but I'm sticking with what I'm happy with. I wasn't pleased to lose my hair but all the males on my dad's side of the family had major hair loss so it was inevitable. I save a foirtune on hair cuts as the wife does it all with the clippers, but given the choice, I'd sooner have hair. I go to a lot of black tie functions and end up looking like a door bouncer.

Frank the tank

I'm not thining on top, I'm just growing through my head covering.

But I don't care to be honest, I'm more bothered by my lack of fitness.

Mike Healey

I am not bald, but I have a noble brow

Which can also be seen from behind

Anonymous

Im a slaphead, clipper it with no guard every 3 days or so. Took a bit of getting used to as I started shaving it off when it got too thin, round about the age of 25. 39 now and fine wuth it, doesnt matter. Looks better when I have a tan (I think) I know what rick says about the thug look sometimes, but I temper that with a nice pair osf spectacles. just thank fcuk I dont have a cone head.

I am tempted sometimes by the Roger De Courseylook though...........

jim453

Same as above.

Nothing more tragic than someone who's in denial.

If there's even a hint of a question MTFU and shave it all off with no guard, because you look like a dick.

You all know who you are.