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Personally, I live in Montreal, so for eight months out of the year both suntanning and sweating don't happen often. Then summer arrives and temperatures shoot up to 30C with wicked humidity, and having really short or no hair is actually fantastic as your body can more easily shed heat through your head. As for sunburn, standard sunblock rules apply if you've got less than a couple weeks' worth of hair growth. I did get a sunburn on my scalp once, which certainly wasn't fun, but it wasn't noticeably worse than sunburned neck or shoulders, and it was my own fault for going to an outdoor dance party with no sunblock.
if you live in a dry area, (not that I do, but still do it anyway) put lotion across your head every morning. keeps your scalp from drying mid day and saves $ on dandruff shampoos!
I'm really glad I found this thread. I started losing my hair at around 16, and was feeling pretty sorry for myself about it, but now I think I'm just going to
So... I took a shower this afternoon after my workout, and what do I find floating in the water? A goddamned clump of hair.
Fuck.
Bionic Monkey on
0
The SpecialistHappy FaceHappy PlaceRegistered Userregular
edited November 2009
I gotta recommend buzzing it or even shaving it off with a razor as well. You might as well get an idea of what you look like with no hair, some guys don't have the right shaped head for it. It's not about body shape or height either, it is all about how your head is shaped.
If it looks okay, go with it. A few months of no bed-head, no shampoo/conditioner, no paying a barber will probably convert you anyway. It really is a superior haircut, er... logistically speaking.
T Monkey: Just let it go man, grow old with dignity. :P
The Specialist on
Origin Handle - OminousBulge
XBox Live GT - TheOminousBulge
I'm really glad I found this thread. I started losing my hair at around 16, and was feeling pretty sorry for myself about it, but now I think I'm just going to BIC IT for college and start brand-new. Nobody'll know the difference.
A former coworker of mine in Vancouver does this. He bics his head in the shower every few days. I knew him for something like two years before I realized he had male pattern baldness.
Small Time CrookedPost Malone's Hairdresser Des Plaines, ILRegistered Userregular
edited November 2009
Having worked at a beauty supply shop I might be able to prove useful here.
Besides buzzing your head, which seems to be the general consensus, there's different hair treatments you can get. Hair masques, shampoos, vitamins, etc. From what I can remember the most popular brand for thinning hair was the "Folicure" brand. Pretty much all of their products are made for that purpose. I, personally, don't know how these products fair but after having an influx of customers (all of varying age categories) come in to purchase it I can say it can't be that bad.
There's also this stuff called Toppik, it's a temporary solution. It's basically a stick of "fibers" that you rub into your head. The fibers get caught in your hair an give the illusion of each strand being thicker. No clue how well this product works, it's pretty costly, at about $20-something for a little 8oz dispenser.
Conduct a bit of research if you so wish to do so, or just shear everything off. Your pick. YOUR DESTINY!
EDIT: In the event you go with a shorter haircut, think fades. IMO a fade and good line up will make you look a lot better then running a #2 guide all over your nugget.
I started to go bald in high school. A few years after graduating, I shaved my head and never looked back.
There are no solutions to baldness, other than the preferred Hollywood surgical implant strategy...but that's still cheating.
If you're going bald, DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR. This will only make the defect more pronounced. If I could do it all over again, I would grow my hair out for as long as possible. This is my recommendation to you.
DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR. Do not "bic it." Do not "buzz cut" it.
Consider, for a moment, the limited time this follicly-challenged individual has left. Once your hair is gone, it will never return. You will live every day of the rest of your life without it.
Therefore, I again make the recommendation to grow your hair, because once it is gone you will no longer have that choice.
DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR. Do not "bic it." Do not "buzz cut" it.
Consider, for a moment, the limited time this follicly-challenged individual has left. Once your hair is gone, it will never return. You will live every day of the rest of your life without it.
Therefore, I again make the recommendation to grow your hair, because once it is gone you will no longer have that choice.
Slider does not know how he is talking about. Growing hair out creates bulges that accentuate thinning and bald spots. You don't have to shave it (though I continue to recommend it), but cutting it short will definitely make what you've got left look better, for however long it lasts.
Cutting hair short of shaving it off does not kill the follicle.
DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR. Do not "bic it." Do not "buzz cut" it.
Consider, for a moment, the limited time this follicly-challenged individual has left. Once your hair is gone, it will never return. You will live every day of the rest of your life without it.
Therefore, I again make the recommendation to grow your hair, because once it is gone you will no longer have that choice.
Slider does not know how he is talking about. Growing hair out creates bulges that accentuate thinning and bald spots. You don't have to shave it (though I continue to recommend it), but cutting it short will definitely make what you've got left look better, for however long it lasts.
Cutting hair short of shaving it off does not kill the follicle.
It doesn't matter. Grow it out while you still can. Don't cut it short. If you grow it out and it doesn't look good, then you might as well shave it...but at least you tried.
There are no solutions to baldness, other than the preferred Hollywood surgical implant strategy...but that's still cheating.
If you have a genetic disposition towards baldness, taking iron can stave it off for some time. Iron improves bloodflow and most follicle loss occurs to poor circulation.
If you're going bald, DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR. This will only make the defect more pronounced. If I could do it all over again, I would grow my hair out for as long as possible.
I made it very clear in my post that buzzing your head was more fashionably acceptable option in today's age; NOT a method of blending your bald scalp with the rest of your skull. Yes for anyone that COULD do it over again, we would all yearn to grow out our hair as long as fabio's, but we all made a decision that it would be best (note: FOR US) to let it go, and not pet and cradle it like a dead puppy.
Woody Harrolson managaes to pull it off and is patterning much like yours.
Woody keeps it pretty short and I think that's part of the reason it works for him. OP's hair looks to be a least an inch and a half long, which I think actually reinforces the "wispy" impression.
Hair is like Johnny Cash -- It only exists to let you know you're dyin' - Ray
I started to lose my hair around the tender age of 23. Fortunate by then I was already wearing a short haircut, but it became clear pretty soon that it was the shortest buzz cut, or I was sporting an embarrassingly thin head of hair. Just suck it up and do it. You're not going to get back what you've lost, so stride forward confidently and embrace your new look. Do NOT be self conscious about it. If this thread is any indication to you at all, there's plenty of us who lost their hair as young or younger than you, and we've all made out okay. Just take the plunge and get out the clippers.
Man, all these tales about losing hair at early-twenties and mid-teens, it makes me a hell of a lot more grateful that I'm about to hit 30 and it's only now starting to really become noticeable.
When I was 15 I was rubbing my face and ran my hand up through my hair. My friend sitting next to me pointed out that I had bald spots above my temples and since then I've been pretty self conscious about my hair.
I'll be 18 in a couple of months and I'm wondering how much longer I'll be able to have my hair how I want it before it becomes overly noticeable. I've had my hair like this for the past year (please forgive the goofy photos)
But then if I sweep it across too much or the wind gets a hold of my hair then my bald spot(s) are revealed
The back of my head is thick and full, like, ridiculously so. Sometimes it's hard to get my hands through it because there's so much of it back there. The top and sides are a lot thinner and every day I notice a few more hairs in my hands after my shower.
I guess it's only a matter of time, really. Not entirely sure I could pull off shaving it all, but perhaps a buzz could do nicely.
There are times where I say to myself, "It's just my hair, every other part of me is fine" And other times I'll be silently fuming with rage because other less deserving people (in my opinion) have their full heads of thick hair. It could just be my slight paranoia, but I swear that one friend of mine who pointed out the bald spots in the first place is sort of, well, showing off when he's around me. He'll often look me in the eye and then just pull all his hair back as hard as he can, showing that he doesn't have any bald spots; in kind of like a "Hey, look what I can do" way.
So I guess I haven't fully accepted that I'm losing my hair yet. Probably because I'm so damn young and I haven't really noticed anyone else around me in the same boat as me. Part of me knows it's not the end of the world but the other part is just annoyed at the world.
Giga Gopher on
My friend's band - Go on, have a listen
Oh it's such a nice day, I think I'll go out the window! Whoa!
Giga, you look fine. Don't even stress or worry about it right now.
Yup, you will eventually need to downsize, but I agree, you look just fine right now. Enjoy your hair, exult in it! You'll know when it's time to let go.
Seriously Giga - you'd never even notice. There's a world of difference between feeling it and thinking that it'll happen, and it actually being noticeable. Seriously, enjoy it - and even try new styles if you feel it.
I knew it was happening YEARS before anyone would even notice it - like 10 years...
Giga, you look a lot like a buddy of mine. Are you actually 36 and now living in Arizona?
But beside that, he wound up with the bitchin' Dracula-style widow's peak. Start dying your hair black. With the vampire trend going all, you'll get all the girls.
If you're going bald, DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR. This will only make the defect more pronounced. If I could do it all over again, I would grow my hair out for as long as possible.
I made it very clear in my post that buzzing your head was more fashionably acceptable option in today's age; NOT a method of blending your bald scalp with the rest of your skull. Yes for anyone that COULD do it over again, we would all yearn to grow out our hair as long as fabio's, but we all made a decision that it would be best (note: FOR US) to let it go, and not pet and cradle it like a dead puppy.
...and therein lies the crux. I cut my hair short for socially acceptable/fashionable reasons. I was a fool. If I had known I would never be able to grow my hair out again I never would have resorted to the "buzz cut."
I'm fairly certain Woody has had some sort of treatment or surgery done.
Same with this guy:
Slider on
0
Casually HardcoreOnce an Asshole. Trying to be better.Registered Userregular
edited November 2009
Buzz cut doesn't necessary mean 'cut it down to the stubbles'
Depending on your hair line you may be able to do a lot of things as seen in this gallery.
I think the goal, whatever you do is to avoid the "living in denial" look.
Basically, I've had the same hairstyle for 10 years. And rather than avoid the change as long as possible, or look like I'm trying to retain a style that isn't working, I'd like to make a change.
It's actually been quite cathartic discussing it. It sounds pretty silly, but actually addressing the idea, and accepting that change is happening has allowed me to get over many of my hangups over it.
I had a flair-up of alopecia areata a few years ago when I was working on my thesis and under probably the worst stress I've ever experienced for a sustained period. Bald spots about the size of half-dollar coins started showing up at random areas of my scalp. I got a referral to a dermatologist who gave me some topical* steroid injections which hurt like holy hell but after two sessions my hair grew back. The hair that grew was white at first, but quickly changed back to my natural brown. No problems since.
The research is that once you have it, you'll always have it, and it'll continue to flair up, and there's no stress connection. All of this was counter to my anecdotal experience.
*topical, superficial, or whatever you call the kind of injection that doesn't completely penetrate, but injects right into the skin /edit
I was one of those people who started getting male pattern baldness at 16. Started at the back and made its way forward. For most of my life I kept a ponytail, even after the top was completely gone & bald. I kept the ponytail for years until I just decided to take some sissors to cut the tail, then buzzed and razored the rest. Looking back on it, it was Extremely silly to keep it for so long.
I did not tell anyone that I was going to do this, it was a very spur of the moment thing.
The reactions I got were pretty funny, people I knew were quite shocked to see me remove it all and suddenly. When my dad saw me the following morning, he had to pause to take it in for a sec, then said its Mr Clean!
I was not quite prepared for how drafty everything felt, and learned to like wearing beanies. Been keeping it shaved clean for a few years now, I like it.
Same story as plenty of guys here: I began losing my hair at 16, began getting buzzcuts at 18, and by the time I was 21 my hair was noticeably thinner in the usual places even with the buzz. At that point, I was tired of always wearing a baseball cap and just shaved everything. My friends gave me a bit of shit over it but they're bad people with black hearts. Most people I knew at the time just didn't care.
For me, it wasn't so much trying to hide the loss (and trust me, everyone knows exactly why men do it) as it was me taking back control over something that was beginning to be detrimental. As time goes on, I've basically "forgotten" about the baldness and don't really think about my hair more often than when I shave it every other day.
Basic stuff that I've experienced:
- New people that you meet will not know that you ever had hair. They'll have no idea what you looked like with hair, and to them you will be a guy with a shaved head. You may as well incorporate it into your personality.
- Women, as alluded to above, come in three categories: those that like it, those that hate it, and those that don't really care much either way. Your new job is to learn the signs of each, seek out the first group, ignore the second, and turn as many of the third into the first as is humanly possible.
- Sunblock will be necessary. When in doubt, put some on; nothing is worse than a sunburnt head for multitudes of reasons.
- If you had oily hair, your scalp will still be oily even without it. Wipe your head down with a dry, absorbent towel or paper towel as necessary (wet towels / wipes will not absorb the oil for basic scientific reasons). For me, this is generally once or twice throughout the day to keep the oily sheen down and to keep pillows from getting nasty.
- Generally, other men seem to be less likely to dick around with men with a shaved head. I'm a pretty big guy now, but I wasn't always this big even with the shaved head, and even then nobody really screwed with me. In fact, I don't think I've ever gotten shit in a bar since I started.
Edit: Oh yeah, a lot of bald guys grow facial hair. At first I wasn't too thrilled with the idea because it seemed like they were trying to compensate - but then I grew a horseshoe mustache as a joke and kind of enjoyed it. I've now tried a van dyke and that was pretty swell also. Now I honestly think that a well-groomed mustache or beard can really accentuate the look. If you are under 30, though, there is a good chance it will make you look older - not necessarily a bad thing, just be prepared to fight off the cougars.
I found out my scalp was looking a little bit like a solar panel since January. I went to my physician and he recommended that I take a pill called Propecia. According to him, the pill has a 98% success rate, but the catch was that you have to ingest one pill every 24 hrs; if you happen to halt the recommended prescription, whatever amount of hair you were naturally supposed to lose during the time you were ingesting the pill will fall out. I highly recommend that you talk with your physician about it. It's been working pretty well so far. Just biding my time so I can let my grow into the glorious afro that it once was.
Posts
I'd buzz mine if I wasn't freakishly thin.
Fuck.
If it looks okay, go with it. A few months of no bed-head, no shampoo/conditioner, no paying a barber will probably convert you anyway. It really is a superior haircut, er... logistically speaking.
T Monkey: Just let it go man, grow old with dignity. :P
Origin Handle - OminousBulge
XBox Live GT - TheOminousBulge
Besides buzzing your head, which seems to be the general consensus, there's different hair treatments you can get. Hair masques, shampoos, vitamins, etc. From what I can remember the most popular brand for thinning hair was the "Folicure" brand. Pretty much all of their products are made for that purpose. I, personally, don't know how these products fair but after having an influx of customers (all of varying age categories) come in to purchase it I can say it can't be that bad.
There's also this stuff called Toppik, it's a temporary solution. It's basically a stick of "fibers" that you rub into your head. The fibers get caught in your hair an give the illusion of each strand being thicker. No clue how well this product works, it's pretty costly, at about $20-something for a little 8oz dispenser.
Conduct a bit of research if you so wish to do so, or just shear everything off. Your pick. YOUR DESTINY!
EDIT: In the event you go with a shorter haircut, think fades. IMO a fade and good line up will make you look a lot better then running a #2 guide all over your nugget.
Just shave it. It will be rad. :^:
There are no solutions to baldness, other than the preferred Hollywood surgical implant strategy...but that's still cheating.
If you're going bald, DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR. This will only make the defect more pronounced. If I could do it all over again, I would grow my hair out for as long as possible. This is my recommendation to you.
DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR. Do not "bic it." Do not "buzz cut" it.
Consider, for a moment, the limited time this follicly-challenged individual has left. Once your hair is gone, it will never return. You will live every day of the rest of your life without it.
Therefore, I again make the recommendation to grow your hair, because once it is gone you will no longer have that choice.
Slider does not know how he is talking about. Growing hair out creates bulges that accentuate thinning and bald spots. You don't have to shave it (though I continue to recommend it), but cutting it short will definitely make what you've got left look better, for however long it lasts.
Cutting hair short of shaving it off does not kill the follicle.
It doesn't matter. Grow it out while you still can. Don't cut it short. If you grow it out and it doesn't look good, then you might as well shave it...but at least you tried.
A couple of unflattering crops from recent photos
Anyone with actual experience want to post a few before/afters?
If you have a genetic disposition towards baldness, taking iron can stave it off for some time. Iron improves bloodflow and most follicle loss occurs to poor circulation.
---
I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
Yours isn't so bad.
I've seen people draw out that style for a couple years.
ummmm....here's a great example. Woody Harrolson managaes to pull it off and is patterning much like yours.
I made it very clear in my post that buzzing your head was more fashionably acceptable option in today's age; NOT a method of blending your bald scalp with the rest of your skull. Yes for anyone that COULD do it over again, we would all yearn to grow out our hair as long as fabio's, but we all made a decision that it would be best (note: FOR US) to let it go, and not pet and cradle it like a dead puppy.
I started to lose my hair around the tender age of 23. Fortunate by then I was already wearing a short haircut, but it became clear pretty soon that it was the shortest buzz cut, or I was sporting an embarrassingly thin head of hair. Just suck it up and do it. You're not going to get back what you've lost, so stride forward confidently and embrace your new look. Do NOT be self conscious about it. If this thread is any indication to you at all, there's plenty of us who lost their hair as young or younger than you, and we've all made out okay. Just take the plunge and get out the clippers.
I'll be 18 in a couple of months and I'm wondering how much longer I'll be able to have my hair how I want it before it becomes overly noticeable. I've had my hair like this for the past year (please forgive the goofy photos)
But then if I sweep it across too much or the wind gets a hold of my hair then my bald spot(s) are revealed
The back of my head is thick and full, like, ridiculously so. Sometimes it's hard to get my hands through it because there's so much of it back there. The top and sides are a lot thinner and every day I notice a few more hairs in my hands after my shower.
I guess it's only a matter of time, really. Not entirely sure I could pull off shaving it all, but perhaps a buzz could do nicely.
There are times where I say to myself, "It's just my hair, every other part of me is fine" And other times I'll be silently fuming with rage because other less deserving people (in my opinion) have their full heads of thick hair. It could just be my slight paranoia, but I swear that one friend of mine who pointed out the bald spots in the first place is sort of, well, showing off when he's around me. He'll often look me in the eye and then just pull all his hair back as hard as he can, showing that he doesn't have any bald spots; in kind of like a "Hey, look what I can do" way.
So I guess I haven't fully accepted that I'm losing my hair yet. Probably because I'm so damn young and I haven't really noticed anyone else around me in the same boat as me. Part of me knows it's not the end of the world but the other part is just annoyed at the world.
Oh it's such a nice day, I think I'll go out the window! Whoa!
I knew it was happening YEARS before anyone would even notice it - like 10 years...
But beside that, he wound up with the bitchin' Dracula-style widow's peak. Start dying your hair black. With the vampire trend going all, you'll get all the girls.
...and therein lies the crux. I cut my hair short for socially acceptable/fashionable reasons. I was a fool. If I had known I would never be able to grow my hair out again I never would have resorted to the "buzz cut."
I'm fairly certain Woody has had some sort of treatment or surgery done.
Same with this guy:
Depending on your hair line you may be able to do a lot of things as seen in this gallery.
http://mensfashion.about.com/od/goominghair/ss/buzzcuts.htm
Also, dont forget the power of well groom facial hair.
Basically, the goal is to avoid being this guy:
Basically, I've had the same hairstyle for 10 years. And rather than avoid the change as long as possible, or look like I'm trying to retain a style that isn't working, I'd like to make a change.
It's actually been quite cathartic discussing it. It sounds pretty silly, but actually addressing the idea, and accepting that change is happening has allowed me to get over many of my hangups over it.
The research is that once you have it, you'll always have it, and it'll continue to flair up, and there's no stress connection. All of this was counter to my anecdotal experience.
*topical, superficial, or whatever you call the kind of injection that doesn't completely penetrate, but injects right into the skin /edit
I did not tell anyone that I was going to do this, it was a very spur of the moment thing.
The reactions I got were pretty funny, people I knew were quite shocked to see me remove it all and suddenly. When my dad saw me the following morning, he had to pause to take it in for a sec, then said its Mr Clean!
I was not quite prepared for how drafty everything felt, and learned to like wearing beanies. Been keeping it shaved clean for a few years now, I like it.
For me, it wasn't so much trying to hide the loss (and trust me, everyone knows exactly why men do it) as it was me taking back control over something that was beginning to be detrimental. As time goes on, I've basically "forgotten" about the baldness and don't really think about my hair more often than when I shave it every other day.
Basic stuff that I've experienced:
- New people that you meet will not know that you ever had hair. They'll have no idea what you looked like with hair, and to them you will be a guy with a shaved head. You may as well incorporate it into your personality.
- Women, as alluded to above, come in three categories: those that like it, those that hate it, and those that don't really care much either way. Your new job is to learn the signs of each, seek out the first group, ignore the second, and turn as many of the third into the first as is humanly possible.
- Sunblock will be necessary. When in doubt, put some on; nothing is worse than a sunburnt head for multitudes of reasons.
- If you had oily hair, your scalp will still be oily even without it. Wipe your head down with a dry, absorbent towel or paper towel as necessary (wet towels / wipes will not absorb the oil for basic scientific reasons). For me, this is generally once or twice throughout the day to keep the oily sheen down and to keep pillows from getting nasty.
- Generally, other men seem to be less likely to dick around with men with a shaved head. I'm a pretty big guy now, but I wasn't always this big even with the shaved head, and even then nobody really screwed with me. In fact, I don't think I've ever gotten shit in a bar since I started.
Edit: Oh yeah, a lot of bald guys grow facial hair. At first I wasn't too thrilled with the idea because it seemed like they were trying to compensate - but then I grew a horseshoe mustache as a joke and kind of enjoyed it. I've now tried a van dyke and that was pretty swell also. Now I honestly think that a well-groomed mustache or beard can really accentuate the look. If you are under 30, though, there is a good chance it will make you look older - not necessarily a bad thing, just be prepared to fight off the cougars.
So much so that I've read into research involving follicle regeneration techniques and so forth.
The future is promising.