Balding men (and how they deal with it)

I tried to reverse it (chemically) the first couple of years I noticed, but I soon realized that I had nothing to worry about.

If it's appearing less attractive to the desired sex that's the issue at hand here, well, I've yet to meet a girl that has an issue with balding guys or, at worst, cares at all. For the men-seeking-men crowd, I'm guessing balding may be even more popular(?) (Anyone from the crowd care to comment on this one?)

In any case, trying to hide your balding -- especially via comb overs -- is the equivalent of wearing a t-shirt that says in big letters "I AM INSECURE". If you're losing it, flaunt the loss. If shaving your head and doing the goatee thing makes you look better, you think, then do it.

Me, I just keep it short and bleach it blond.

Also keep in mind, men aren't the only ones who experience hair loss. Society attaches a more cruel stigma to women who lose their hair, unfortunately.

My dad has a sunroof. This other guy I work with has a convertible. While my dad actually has more folicle action, the other guy looks fifty bazillion times better. But, then, sunroofs are only good for letting water leak onto your armrest.

Now, what about those folks that go bald but grow beards? Is that a sign of insecurity, or of heightened aesthetic sensibilities?

Gnome envy.

I aim to pervert.

Gnome envy.

*hides in corner* How *dare* you cuddle my gnome, Brian.

I grew up expecting thoroughgoing baldness by my mid twenties. That I have gone longer than that with something resembling a head of hair is a matter of some pleasure to me. As it gets thinner, so I will cut it progressively shorter, I think, although by the end of that process I will look like a baked bean. If given the choice, I would probably choose to retain my hair, but I am fairly relaxed about balding. Messing about with regaine is out of the question.

I always associated hirsute with body hair and therefore am not impressed with Nick's remark.

Oh well.

Ok, I know this is awful to say, but you asked for it. I would never date a guy who was balding. Sorry. I can't comment if it's a poplular look with other gay guys.

And I'm like Chris in that I have really thick hair on my head and very little body hair, but luckily I like it like that.

The Propetia commercials are frightening. They say "pregnant women should not handle broken tablets." Because why? Does it cause automatic miscarriage or somethi

Edna, I rather like the white in your hair.

My dad was Captain Horseshoe as long as I can remember, and grew the beard when I was about 10 and he was divorcing my mum. Coincidence? I don't think.

People wishing to dye their hair a dark colour should go for L'Oreal Brasilia - if you do not bleach there is little risk of damage. There is also a lovely conditioner which is in the Brasilia box. It is near enough to black to inspire "it's black"/"no, it's dark brown" fights between self and female parent.

i'm worried about losing my hair. i have like the thickest hair ever, but i'm still a guy. i also use this brush that's kind of intense, with bristles, and sometimes i feel a sensitive spot near the back of my hair, where like that middle spot happens? ugh i hope i'm not yanking it out slowly but surely.

i'm gonna be a wreck when this really starts to take hold. my hair is like, part of my personality.

you'd better just get The Haircut right away

the thing is, my features are so intense, that i don't think i could EVER cut it too close. honestly, i did once and i looked like i just survived war. i really don't know.

lol xp

I am bald enough now that there's not much hair left on my head except around the sides and back. The top is mostly bare.

I deal with it by doing nothing much at all. Being vain about my hair is not an option. I keep my hair cut rather short, but it's not much different than what I did before I balded.

I always knew I would become bald. I vowed when I was 16 or so that I would just let it happen and not worry over it, and certainly not do anything to try to disguise it. I've kept that vow and I am glad I chose that approach early on. Works for me.

Sur, i kust looked at your fb photos and i can deduct that 1. you are very pretty 2. you are mad tall (that surprised me) and 3. you will not go bald (and even if you do you will rock it).

anyway, premature baldness almost always makes itself pretty evident in late teens early 20s i thought? if you have a strong head of hair now you will pretty much continue do do so.

my hairline hasn't particularly changed since i started this thread.. and to think i was so paranoid at the time

i grew a beard

Aimless OTM.

I would be more worried about referring to your own features as "intense," than going bald.

premature baldness almost always makes itself pretty evident in late teens early 20s i thought? if you have a strong head of hair now you will pretty much continue do do so.

not really

yeah, I *wish* that were true! was fine till about 30, but a full on battle against genetics now.

Thank you, surmounter, for the screen name I could not think of myself.

I can joke because no men on either side of my family ever went bald. I'm safe. It's a luxury. If it makes you feel any better, I'll go grey as hell, and possibly pretty early. I might have only another ten years or so with my hair pigment.

premature baldness almost always makes itself pretty evident in late teens early 20s i thought? if you have a strong head of hair now you will pretty much continue do do so.

My uncle had a thick head of hair well into his forties. Then it all fell out over a period of a couple of years or so.

I take back what I said about going grey, because it sounds so lame next to going bald. I'm trivializing the hair holocaust. :(

when it became apparent that my hair was on the way out (mid 20s), blade one all over.
best thing ever, as i hated my hair with a passion.
good riddance.

scorched earth strategy

some may suggest thats my strategy for life in general.

Well then.

going both bald, grey and fat since 22 :(

yes, both...

I've been going bald on the front part of my head for the past year or so. Every shampoo is like a little funeral. I also try to avoid bright lights shining straight down on me. Grim times.

I can’t believe people are so bothered by this, it’s not like you’re the only bald person in the world! As soon as I noticed I was thinning, I shaved it; i really couldn’t imagine trying to cover it up. I’ve seen a few young men who are trying to do just that by having big fringes that start at the back of their head,, it looks ridiculous, especially on windy days. If I were the only person I knew, I’d probably have an issue with it, but I’m not. Oh and it’s not affected me with the opposite sex either, some girls actually like it.

http://www.ecorazzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/20061020-larry_david2.jpg

It's boring, you're stuck with the same hairstyle from now till the end of your life, no longer can you say "Oh I feel like growing my hair a bit longer" or whatever. Pseudo re-invention via hairstyle is no longer a possibility.

Shave your pubes into a heart shape instead.

I worry what they'd say on the 271 on the way to work in the morning though

Where does this bus go, exactly?

I started going grey in my early 20s. I guess thats the female equiv - though actually, I did suffer from some minor thinning at one point thanks to a scalp issue but it's fine now. But yeah, I'm a salt & pepper under all this hairdye! Whatevs. I'm growing out silver sideburn thingys. It looks cool.

i've been greying since school and it's increasing at a rate of knotts the past two years. i actually now wish it would all just go silver so i can stop worrying about it. i don't understand why dying your hair to cover grey is such a no-no for a man though. i also don't understand why i just accept that as out of bounds.

Honestly I'd welcome a little bit of grey around the temples. Then maybe I'd stopped getting asked for my ID to buy a pack of cigarettes. Do I look 18 years old to you? REALLY?

don't understand why dying your hair to cover grey is such a no-no for a man though

Because having a horrible old weatherbeaten wrinkly face but hair with no grey in it looks silly?

No it's worse than that. It's because worrying about your looks is for fags.

Tom, i'm not that bad yet.

Well, not you, in general

I feel bad about dropping the f-bomb so casually. I should not do that. I was thinking of traditional gender roles, about men being judged on status and not appearance, and any deviation from that model being threatening to those who still adhere to it. And so forth. So, yeah... men should not be pretty, according to that wisdom.

oh i know. just a few more years of no grey would be good. of course the problem is that you would never be able to stop.

there's something in the wind up bird chronicle about wig production being the surest long-term money maker ever since once a man plonks one on his head he has to wear a wig for life. the longer you have it the more different your real-head gets from your wigged-head so you can basically never stop wearing one.

I don't think it's that men shouldn't be pretty, it's that men shouldn't make an effort, they should be authentic rather than relying on artifice, which is a feminine trait.

xpost

wig production being the surest long-term money maker ever

If you watch 30 Rock, you know that the Sheinhardt Wig Company now owns GE.

xpost Yeah that's a bit closer to it, I think. If you're going to go bald, best to look like Patrick Stewart. And if you're going to go grey, John Forsythe.

i actually think men give in too readily into The Haircut hegemony now. a bit of thinning can look good, it doesn't mean it has to be lopped off.

That's what you might think, until it actually happens

I dunno... receding is ok, even manly in some cases. But thinning is just as virile as it sounds.

best-case scenario:

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/1action-gal-bruce-willis.jpg

True confessions: When I was 13, I went to see Die Hard, and at home alone one night, I tried to shave my hairline back about an inch in an "m" shape, into a sexy widow's peak. Needless to say, this did not turn out as planned.

http://www.stars-portraits.com/images/portraits/stars/j/jason-statham/jason-statham-by-Deberg.jpg

Surely Bruce's spiritual heir/hair?

That’s receding hair though kenan, not thinning, there’s a difference.
receding
http://www.entertainmentwise.com/photos/Image/JUDE0010_200.jpg
thinning
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2007/11/23-End/brenden-fraser-hair-wig-mummy-bald.jpg

Hard to find too much positive to say about thinning hair

kenan and jed <3

That’s receding hair though kenan, not thinning, there’s a difference.

I'm sorry, daddy. You should try reading a couple of posts above before you post, though.

perhaps you meant to use a different word than "virile".

Maybe? I dunno... potent? Strapping? Mantastic? What's your point?

Daddy?
just read the post, i missed it

sorry son x

I may need a spanking.

Just ignore me. I'm going to have some tea.

i'm half laughing and retching kenan.

enjoy your tea, i'm going for a cold shower

Just make sure your receding hair doesn't clog up the drain

i don't know. so you prefer thinning to receeding? i suppose it's just surprising.

Oh I see... no, I said, "But thinning is just as virile as it sounds," all ironic-like.

i'm thinning, hence the shaving it in about 3 mins.
set trimmers to zero and do whole head like a bumblebee, wash rinse and repeat in 1 week.

right k, i got you now!

It's ok, these pre-caffeine posts are often awkward.

some girls might not mind the fully shaved look, but the girl that i currently rely on to warm my feet at night tells me it's a strict no-no. otherwise i'd probably try it.

have to be honest, my wife was a little frosty when i came back after my first blade 1 experience.
thankfully, love conquers all.

xpost
Do it, test her!

"strict no-no", to an irish boyfriend, would be equivalent to a least a warning pass with a dagger from a uk/us perspective. just so we know what we're dealing with here.

From a US perspective, we hardly know wtf a dagger is. We have guns.

(I should have added, "BITCH!")

there's that to be thankful for. she has short arms, but giving her trajectiles would most likely be a fatal error.

Giving anyone anywhere trajectiles is a fatal error. But don't get me started. This thread is about hair.

This thread is about hair.

.. or the lack of it

i'm thinning

Who wants fat hair anyway? Thangyewverymuchladeezangenulmen youvebeenawunnerfulaudience

Pretty bald in front now, never met a girl who disliked it, have met plenty who thought it was even a bonus

Have a v full beard tho (as in coverage, not length), think that helps somehow, girls like masculine stuff shocker

Don't mind me. I'll just sit quietly over here in case anyone posts more dreamy imgs of that one guy.

laurel, you are objectifying us all to a shocking extent and i for one approve greatly.

Do others know who that one guy is, while I'm over here looking foolish? Or are we all guessing together?

chev chelios

I naturally assumed it was The Stath

he's an inspiration to us all

bruce willis looking good in those new aviva ads, imhonohomo

worst email attachment i have ever received:

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f325/caek/IMG_1771.jpg

yeah, yeah, thanks, cute baby, but wtf happened to my hair? this was > 2 years ago, so i dread to think what it looks like now

Pretty bald in front now, never met a girl who disliked it, have met plenty who thought it was even a bonus

― Niles Caulder, Thursday, May 7, 2009 4:59 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Have a v full beard tho (as in coverage, not length), think that helps somehow, girls like masculine stuff shocker

― Niles Caulder, Thursday, May 7, 2009 4:59 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

After reading this, in my mind you now look like the actual Niles Caulder.

Or can you say "actual" about a fictional person?

He had a full head of hair tho! But yeah, I could grow a Caulder pretty easy. I haven't lost the use of my beard.

Oh, you're right. For some reason I remembered him having a receding hairline, but he doesn't.

(x-post)

I know a girl who likes men with a receding hairline, she likes the way it shapes thurr faces. My hair is gradually moving back w/ only very mild thinning on the battlefront. My biggest (hair related) fear tho is that over time it'll start thinning more than receding and I'll be left with a weird tuffty peninsula in front and a bunch of ragged crazy man wisps on top.

My hair is kinda ridiculously thick but I think at best it's only delaying the inevitable.

i don't see what the big problem is with going grey, honestly! grey or white hair can be extremely attractive imho, in varying amounts, and on either sex. if you're concerned about 'looking old' it's your SKIN that you should be worrying about.

gray or receding is fine, thinning sucks

i have started getting these white wiry hairs around my crown, and i secretly wish they would start multiplying. i'm not dark enough to go salt & pepper, but when it happens i'm looking forward to a nice head of tweed, if that's a good descriptor.

i'm pretty confident about retaining my hair re: maternal genetics, though i think it's just beginning to recede at the temples.

i don't believe in the maternal genetics thing. my mom's dad never lost a hair as long as he lived, while my hair looks and behaves exactly like all the male hair on my dad's side.

Errrrrrrrrrrr, maybe your mother has something she hasn't been telling you

Graying AND receding AND thinning here. Triple whammy. That said, my head is still covered, and I could never quite get used to seeing myself in photos with a shaved head. Also, when I changed jobs last year, I started taking the streetcar to work, where I'd see men with FAR more advanced hair loss than myself, and they still grew, cut, and styled it. Obviously there is a point at which you should cut your losses (no pun intended), but it made curious about what I'd look like with just a little more hair. So, I stopped shaving my head down to the stubble back in January (after nearly five years of doing so regularly), and now have enough hair to get a short, respectable haircut. I've actually booked an appointment for next week at the place I used to go to. I'm mostly just doing this out of curiosity, I figure if I hate it I can always go back to using the clippers.

haha the maternal dad thing is a nice bit of fiction i clung to for a long time.

Yeah my mom's relatives all had solid hair and my dad's are bald to various degrees - I'm heading down the path of the latter. Had a good run but it's inevitable. My cousin, with the same maternal ancestry, was totally bald by 24, like his dad and paternal grandfather.

My wife's dad and brother were both bald by 21 or so, so she's used to it and doesn't care.

i don't believe in the maternal genetics thing. my mom's dad never lost a hair as long as he lived, while my hair looks and behaves exactly like all the male hair on my dad's side.

Hopefully I'm remembering my high-school genetics right: the classic "male pattern baldness" gene is on the extra bit of the X chromosome. Your mom has two Xs and gave you one, so comparison with your maternal grandfather is kinda 50-50 meaningless. Comparisons with uncles on your mother's side is not, because you know they got the X from your grandmother. (My uncles on my brother's side were mostly bald by their mid-20s.) And then there are a billion things about hair behavior and balding beyond the sex-linked classic pattern-baldness gene, so having hair like your dad's side is to be expected.

^^ haha my uncles on my mother's side, obviously; the whole phrase "uncles on my brother's side" is creeping me out right now

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/14/science/14qna.html

i.e. Jordan OTM

I will sue my high school

Can barely bring myself to shave my head (with clippers) couple of weeks. I don't know how people shave it with a razor every couple of days. It'll be fine when it's all gone off the top, but it's just not there yet. Awkward times.

i've got my hair, but eventually it will go gray on the sides, i think.

genetics + stress.

i am bald and have been since about 22 - i shave with a clippers once every couple weeks, and pretty much look terrible days 3 - 14. but, if i wasn't bald, i'd still be fat, so it's all kind of a wash, really.

^^my thinking exactly^^

I generally don't care about the balding thing because I should be working towards shedding some pounds. Just saw a fb picture of an old friend who is bald (but shaves with a razor) and his stunning new wife.

Man, if you already shave your face and your balls, it ain't much to add the top of your head into the routine. The first time you shave it is tough - you might go through a couple razors. And then if you forget to shave for like a week, then it's a bitch because it's all grown back in again and like starting from scratch. But for me, it's just part of my shower routine and takes about a minute.

Shampoo generally doesn't cause premature balding, does i?

*it.

I, uh, am not asking for myself...

I have a friend who bleached his hair a lot in his teens...now he's 35 and has a big ugly bald spot. Watch out

I'm kind of a weird case...no hair loss at the moment but whenever I get a haircut or see myself in a mirror with a bright toplight I notice a lot of white hair. Not gray, but white. Freaks me out a little because I'm only 24, but we'll see how it looks in a few years. Otherwise my hair is dark brown. But, my facial hair grows in like three different colors; blonde, brown, and grey, and I guess some of the other hair on my body is the same way (my wife finds this hilarious)

if your hair is greying or whiting I feel no sympathy.