How to Deal with Going Bald
Contents
Here you'll find some ideas on how to deal with going bald, from possible hair regrowth treatments to the best haircut for balding men.
DON'T TRY TO HIDE THE FACT THAT YOU ARE GOING BALD!
Seriously, you will not be fooling anybody and will look very insecure. And having the right haircut when you are balding will greatly improve your self-esteem and confidence.
I like to tell this story about one of my clients to show how dramatic it can be.
This guy was in his early 20's when he started coming in. He generally kept his hair short except in the front so he could try to hide the corners that were thinning. As he continued to thin, he would go longer in front. To the point that he looked like a poodle! I didn't press it too much, but I recommended that he start trimming the front more. He refused.
During this time, we rarely had a conversation. He was always quiet and clearly tense the whole time he was in the chair.
He came in for a cut one day when I wasn't there and the other barber cut his hair. But this time he decided to shave it all off. Right down to a #1 blade!
The next time I saw him I didn't recognize him. Not only because he looked different but because he acted differently, too.
Suddenly this guy was loose and telling us stories! He let go of his insecurities and his life improved dramatically because of it!
The moral of the story is instead of trying to cover it up, go with the right haircut. A good receding hairline haircut is usually one that is just a neater version of how you are currently wearing your hair.
If you like longer hair and really don't want to let it go, get it neatened up at least. Get a scissor cut and get it off the ears and neck. Let your barber at least trim the ends on top. Thinning hair usually gets frayed and curly at the ends and makes you look like a slob that is either trying to cover up his baldness or can't be bothered to take take of his appearance.
Again, if it is neat, you are not drawing attention to the fact that you are going bald. The Caesar haircut for receding hairlines is one that works really well and looks very stylish.
I often have guys ask me, "Am I going bald? When should I shave it all off?"
Generally, I recommend just going short.
A short haircut looks nice and neat. You don't need to go extreme and shave it all off at the first signs of a receding hairline. Get a #2 clipper blade on the sides and short with the scissors on top.
If you part your hair, continue to part it but just keep it shorter. Keep up with the haircut and don't let it get overgrown.
Should You Shave It Off?
How do you know when you should shave your head when you're going bald?
That isn't an easy one to answer.
It really depends on your personality more than anything. As I mentioned earlier, it isn't like in the past when if you shaved your head you would look like some kind of psycho like DeNiro in Taxi Driver. Nobody bats an eye at a guy who shaved his head.
That doesn't mean that every guy that is balding should do it, however.
I'm really racking my brain trying to think of how to determine if you should. I guess I can only share my own experience.
I shaved my head when I found that there just wasn't a haircut that I liked when my hairline was receding. I was afraid of how people would react when I shaved it off, though.
Nobody was shocked.
People complimented me on how good I looked with a shaved head.
The big mistake I made was shaving it in the middle of summer, however. My head was pale when my face and neck were very tan. My advice then is to do it before the summer!
My other advice is to buzz it off rather than shave it with a head razor
Treatments for going bald
Should you get a transplant? First, let me ask you this:
Have you ever seen a forest that was planted? You know when you see one because all the trees are perfectly lined up. That's what it looks like when you get a transplant.
Unless money is no object for you and you can have each hair individually inserted into your scalp, everybody will know you got one. It just doesn't look natural.
If you are a regular guy getting it done, they will not place each hair individually onto the top of your head. Usually the hair is transplanted in clumps, row after row. Because that costs way less.
The other issue is that you will have scars on the crown of your head from where they harvested the hair to put on top. They don't go away and you will forever have issues getting your haircut after that.
Another thing to consider is that when you fill in the thin spots, you don't know if you have finished balding yet. You might continue to lose hair and then it becomes even more obvious that you got plugs. But, I do have some customers who have had it done and are happy they did.
I don't like how it looks, but if it makes you feel better and more confident, then maybe it is worth it to you.
Should you try Rogaine?
It could be an option if you want to at least give getting your hair back a try. It does work to regrow hair for some people and it's worth a shot anyway. Some people complain that you have to put it in everyday, but it only takes a few seconds.
You brush your teeth everyday, don't you? What's the difference?
It takes about 4 months to see any difference in your hair growth, so patience is key. When it does start to work, your new hair will be very soft, short and downy type growth. But, eventually the hair should grow into stronger strands. Generally a couple of months after you begin to see the initial hair regrowth.
It doesn't work for everybody, however. It didn't work for me.
One of the determining factors of whether it will work for you or not is how long you have been balding. It is best to start as soon as you see that your hair is thinning. In most early cases, even if it doesn't regrow your hair, it will at least thicken it and slow down or stop the hair loss.
If you have been balding for a while or are totally bald you aren't likely to see results. Expecting it to go from totally bald to full head of hair is definitely wishful thinking.
There are some medicated shampoos like Nioxin
There are mostly positive reviews, but quite a few negative ones.
Then there's this guy that claims to be able to regrow your hair naturally. I cannot vouch personally for this treatment, but it does seem compelling and I have heard from people that something similar gave them decent results.
There is no magic bullet to easily regrow your hair to how it was before. You're going to spend a lot of money and commit a lot of time to try to regrow your hair. You may see some results from some of the different hair regrowing treatments out there, but you have to be happy with whatever you get as nothing will restore your hair completely.
Final Thoughts on How to Deal with Going Bald
As a bald man myself, I say let it go. Nobody cares. You will be amazed at how much more confidence you have when you aren't worrying about if people are looking at your bald spot.
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As a woman married to a man that shaves his head because he started losing his hair, I agree with most of your article. Going for it and getting a buzzcut or shaving it all off can do loads for the confidence level and it saves lots more time getting ready in the morning too! Read the rest of my two cents here: http://www.thebaldmanswife.com/losing-your-hair-some-reasons-why-you-should-try-shaving-your-head/
If I could grow my hair back, I would. But, just for one day. I would end up shaving it again anyway because I actually prefer not having hair!
As far back as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to go bald. I didn’t dare admit it openly, for fear they would think I was crazy. After all, who in his right mind would wish to go bald? Well, I did, and I’m not crazy. I really, really wanted to go bald. Trouble was, only my paternal grandfather and one of my uncles on my dad’s side were bald, so I had no more than a one chance in four of going bald. In my early 20s my hair receded just a little at my temples, but no further, although the hair on top of my head gradually became finer and fuzzier during my 40s, a hint of what was to come, as it turned out. Then in my early 50s my hairline suddenly began rapidly receding and I developed a thin, almost bald spot in back. I was thrilled! But I also panicked, fearing my wife would hate it or hate me for going bald. To my delight, my wife was even more thrilled than I was that I was going bald. She begged me to do nothing to stop it. So I just let it happen. It took less than two years for my lifelong dream came true. I went from Norwood 2 to Norwood 6 in about 18 months. It shocked me how fast I went bald, but I couldn’t have been more pleased with the results. Best of all, my wife loves it even more than I do. She loves to kiss me on top of my bald head. What a turn on!
I absolutely LOVE being bald and never want my hair back. If a ‘cure’ for male pattern baldness and a way to restore my hair became available, I would flatly refuse it. What ‘cure’? Male pattern baldness is a natural, normal inherited trait and not a disease, and I am so lucky it was programmed into my DNA.
The only downside is the risk of sunburn in summer and a cold head in winter, so I wear a hat. Not to hide my bald head, mind you, because I’m not ashamed of it. Now my only regret is that I didn’t go bald back in my late 20s immediately after my wife and I were married. I wish I had started shedding hair off the top of my head during our honeymoon and I wish I had been bald by our first wedding anniversary. My wife has told me she would have loved that too. She said that she has always hoped and prayed that I would someday go bald.
The search for ‘cures’ to male pattern baldness continues, but I wish there were a pill or a supplement that would do the exact opposite, actually increase sensitivity to DHT and accelerate balding for men like me who are/were in a hurry to go bald. I doubt I am the only man out there who wants to go bald. I wish these supplements could enable men who would otherwise not go bald … to go bald. I would have taken such a supplement had it been available. And I would have started taking it during my honeymoon 40 years ago.
You know, you could have just shaved your head when you were in your 20’s lol. Well, you would’ve gotten some strange looks back then as it wasn’t as common as now. I have to agree, I am happier bald now. I never have bad hair days and it is very easy to maintain. My only complaint is I would love to be using hair products as some of them are really nice now.
I did shave my head. A more than a few times. And I loved it, but it wasn’t the same as male pattern baldness, as the hair on top would always grow back and there was a very visible ‘hair shadow’ even immediately after shaving, so that it was obvious I had only just shaved all my hair off and wasn’t male pattern bald. I also hated the stubble on top as the hair grew back in. It was a big disappointment. I wanted to be smooth, shiny bald on top with just the typical horseshoe fringe of hair on the sides and back. I also wanted to experience the whole process of going bald: hair receding from the temple, bald spot developing and growing in back and finally the bridge of hair on top fading away, leaving me shiny hairless on top. I didn’t want to go bald overnight, but I wanted to go bald the usual way, only very rapidly. Going bald was a very thrilling experience for me, just as I had anticipated it would be.
And that is exactly what happened to me. I noticed the difference from week to week and the person who cut my hair noticed and commented. She asked me if I was alright, thinking there might be something medical wrong with me. My doctor checked me out and found nothing wrong. I consulted a hair specialist, who informed me I was ‘suffering’ from male pattern baldness and I would soon be bald. Suffering?!? Hell, no! I was delighted and told him so. He was deeply disappointed, as he was hoping to sell me all kinds of expensive and ineffective hair growth potions, or refer me to a hair transplant specialist. He must have thought I was crazy and wondered why I had consulted him in the first place. I just wanted confirmation from an expert that I would be going male pattern bald. My wife and I celebrated the prognosis. It was inevitable, I was going bald. Fast! Yay!!
I’m not completely done balding. At least I hope I’m not. I’m still only Norwood 6 and would love to end up Norwood 7, with a much narrower fringe of hair than what I have now. I also still have a little fuzz and a few stray visible hairs that occasionally grow in. I would like all the hair follicles still remaining on top of my head to totally disappear. I want a completely smooth, shiny ‘chrome dome’. That said, I can live with how bald I am now. I keep my fringe hair quite short, but feel no need to shave it off completely. It’s obvious even from a distance that I am male pattern bald, and love it that way. Shaving my fringe off completely might make that less obvious. Also, I don’t want to look like a recovering cancer patient. Believe it or not, the last time I shaved my hair totally, I got sympathy comments from strangers who believed I had had chemotherapy. My heart goes out to those cancer patients. There but for the grace of God go I.
These days every time I look into a mirror I smile and thank God for my good health and my lovely wife who loves bald men like me.