The Shaved Head

[Fixed by 35]

I've noticed a lot of people on this blog and others are still encouraging people to shave their heads and get on with life. I used to find this recommendation extremely distressing when I first started losing my hair, and still do. I would like to make a few points about head shaving for the people who still don't get it:

1) People who recommend shaving your head name the same five or six celebrities that suit the look. I can name hundreds of people who don't suit the look. You probably can too.

2) Most people's heads are funny shapes. Therefore, their shaved head looks terrible.

3) The shaved head is the look of choice for neo-Nazis.

4) It involves a lot of work to maintain a shaved head, including an extra 15 minutes shaving every single day.

5) Men who are not fit look terrible with a shaved head, so an extra hour of your life has to be given up to the gym. You also have to cut out all the foods you like for 'the look.'

6) You'll increase your chance of skin cancer with a shaved head. Better to cover up with a HT, hat or wig.

7) You didn't like going bald, so you'll hate being 100% bald.

I think I've made my point!

[Layercake]

true to an extent, but in my opinion a shaved head generally looks waaaaay better than very thin hair, or the ol horseshoe.

It also feels great.....though maybe not so much in the winter.

Getting ready in the morning is also a good 60% faster when I shave my head, so I can make up for the time lost shaving by getting to sleep in a bit more.


That having been said I'd rather just have hair and not have to deal with any of it.

[Fixed by 35]

I'm seriously considering artificial implants. Whilst they are not available in the US, fortunately I live in the free world where they are! I think what I'll do is have a very generous real hair transplant at the front, where things need to look natural, and then when the rest of my head thins out more I'll get implants if I don't have the doner hair to finish the job.

[Winston]

Not a good idea! Wearing a hairpiece would be much better!

These fibers have had a checkered history. First introduced in 1970s, they soon became the subject of much controversy because of their numerous complications including recurrent infections, rejection, and periodic loss of fibers needing frequent replacement, frequent allergic reactions leading to severe contact dermatitis, irritant effects, fears about carcinogenicity, cicatricial alopecia, granulomatous hypersensitivity, and cyst formation.

In 1983, the US Federal Drug Administration banned the fibers for the following reasons:

1. The fibers presented risks of illness or injury owing to non-biocompatibility of the fibers and non-medical performance of the implant.
2. The fibers presented fraud owing to the following:
a) Deceptive information on the efficacy.
b) Inadequate information on risks from implant.
c) They did not show any benefit for public health.

Though the ban by FDA is yet to be lifted, the manufacturers are now trying to re-establish the credibility of these fibers and have introduced them in Europe and Australia. Presently, there are two manufacturers: (a) Medicap (Italy), which manufactures Biofibre, which has been available since 1996, and (b) Nido Corporation (Japan), whose fibers are available since 1999. Biofibre's reapplication for permission by the US FDA is pending, but the company claims that many of the previous problems associated with the fibers have been sorted out.

[Fixed by 35]

I'm trying to look into these further and the information you've provided has proved extremely useful.

I'd be looking at NIDO, exclusive to the Crown Clinic in Australia. They have passed tests imposed by the Australian equivalent of the FDA, which is meant to be extremely rigorous. I always have more faith in medical procedures when a country with a nannying government is in power!

What I'm keen to find out is whether the Crown Clinic in Sydney is reputable. I'm also interested to know if Advanced Hair Studio's 'Strand by Strand' is artificial fibres.

[geminidb8]

I was at the gym about 4 years ago and this was before I started having corrective surgery. I was wearing a full cap wig which was bonded to my head when this guy who looked like a chemo patient-Shaved head came up to me and said -"Is that a Wig?" I said yes-He then said "You would look better without it" I said no in fact I have scars all over my head and look very disfigured without it. He then said" Don't I look great"- I said " Personally I do not like that look but if you are happy with it then good for you" He then said " You do not think I look great" I wanted to say I thought you had cancer but said again " I do not like that look" He finally left and I thought to myself -Not all people look great with a shaved head. I tried it and was depressed for months. Not for me. I will fight it and am again glad that there are transplants in one respect. One must be super careful about who is performing them though. Also they are not perfect but to me a better answer than looking like a sick person with a shaved head. Not all people look bad either. But I actually thought that the guy at the gym was sick. He just did not look healthy and would have looked much better with hair. Again I.M.O. I do have empathy for those who do the shaved look because some of them tell themselves they look great when in fact they do not. I suppose what are the choices- Again this needs a cure not lies to oneself.

[clee984]

I still have pretty much all my hair but I've been rocking the shaved head look for a couple of years now, and although I don't think I'm one of the 20 odd percent of white guys who look good with it, it is extremely convenient and it does feel great.

Different people have different opinions anyway, my younger sister hates it (she's too nice to ever say so, but I can tell), but one of my best friend's wives really likes it, she was extremely effusive when I first did it, and whenever she's drunk she pretty much won't leave me alone rubbing her hand over my head. It's actually a bit weird. I think she needs counseling.

It makes me laugh to think what we're all going to do when they do come up with a cure - have a big party and then just disband all these forums and go home? Spencer Kobren would be out of a job

[Fixed by 35]

I'll probably go to a psychiatrist about my bad attitude when they find a cure

The shaved head does indeed look terrible on most people. Acceptance with regards to baldness should mean accepting you are what you are and you're allowed to detest your outward appearance. Shaving your head and saying you look great is not acceptance - it's just another form of denial.

My approach to baldness is on the one hand hate it, on the other hand work on the inside to be successful. Perhaps the most important thing is working for yourself and working alone - you get far less discrimination that way.

[KeepTheHair]

Bald looks stupid on most people. Like 95% of people. I am very athletic and fit but my head would look absolutely terrible if I shaved it...absolutely CRAP.

A lot of people have these tiny heads and big bodies so shaving the head would look really bad... balding just looks a million times worse than if you have a full head of hair.


Dammit lol. I have to prevent this from happening to me.

[Fixed by 35]

I'm coming closer to the decision to have artificial implants. Plenty of supply, just need a regular top up every now and then. I'll see what happens for the rest of this year and if it's still a load of nonsense, it will be time to go artificial.

[KeepTheHair]

Have you tried propecia? That together with rogaine and the lasercomb will definitely help keep what you have and also improve it to a decent extent, then get a hair transplant and your basically set.

From what I have read you sound successful. Surely you can afford a hair transplant? Have you considered it? I am might get one later this year and I am only 20...I don't want to have thin hair.

What have you tried so far?


and why artificial implants?

[Fixed by 35]

Seriously, if you get a hair transplant now you'll end up with weird bald patches in unnatural places by the time you're thirty.

For guys like us who began balding early, hair transplants won't work. Propecia will still give up on you after about 10 years of use, and then a massive shed tends to be the result. You'll end up looking like Joe Biden.

The laser comb really doesn't work and rogaine is useless on frontal recession.

I use dutasteride and it keeps what I have, but the dam will break sooner or later!

The only thing that reduces the misery of my hair loss is refusing to pass it on. I hate the gene with a passion and I take a huge amount of satisfaction that I'm going to kill the bastard.

[KeepTheHair]

By the time I am 30? As if I give half a shit about 10 years from now... in that time something will have probably happened to make hairloss a ton easier. If not why not just another hair transplant lol...I should have plenty of donor hair left. If I can use rogaine propecia and the laser comb to just maintain this should be a decent option.

I think there is more hope than you think.

[KeepTheHair]

I just feel I have to stay "alive" for the next 5-10 years sothat something can happen that would make those times easier. For now I will try to get on propecia. Already ordered rogaine and will get a transplant later this year.

[Fixed by 35]

My recommendation would be to become a recluse for 10 years. It's far easier than having to deal with people who look you in the forehead instead of the eye for the next 10 years.

In 10 years time, a 'cure' will be in the second stages of clinical trials and it will fail. That's what the 'cure' cycle is all about. Companies work on a 10 year cycle promising the earth, going into pre-clinical trials, growing hairs on an animal that doesn't go bald, then going into pre-liminary trials where the results are iffy, then onto second stage trials which prove the cure doesn't work.... then they abandon it and someone like Provillus buys the research and sells it as a cure.

The ultimate cure is castration. Wish I'd known that at 20!