Has Baldness Changed your Life?

[TheLaughingCow]

Have you noticed any major changes in your habits or in your life arising from baldness? I made the observation that my grades went way up after I started noticing I was balding. Now that I've shaved my head and pretty much gotten over my hair, my grades are falling again.

I wasn't thinking "ooh my hair is getting bad, I'd better get good grades to compensate." It just kind of...happened. As my self esteem fell, my grades rose. Maybe they aren't even related, but I can't help but associate the two with one another.

Has anyone else experienced something similar to this, where they improved or declined dramatically in some area of their life, just from hair loss?

[BigThinker]

I started lifting and eating better. School has remained pretty constant, although I'm happy as hell I went to get my Master's and had a ton of internships to launch me into a lucrative, enjoyable (as it can be) career.

[clandestine]

Drastically, and in every way. But, a lot of things have.

[Exodus]

I buzzed it and moved on. No change. Except it's colder up here, much colder. Oh and Im not looking forward to it being sunny.

[baldozer]

Have you noticed any major changes in your habits or in your life arising from baldness? I made the observation that my grades went way up after I started noticing I was balding. Now that I've shaved my head and pretty much gotten over my hair, my grades are falling again.

I wasn't thinking "ooh my hair is getting bad, I'd better get good grades to compensate." It just kind of...happened. As my self esteem fell, my grades rose. Maybe they aren't even related, but I can't help but associate the two with one another.

Has anyone else experienced something similar to this, where they improved or declined dramatically in some area of their life, just from hair loss?

Is it called The Laughing Cow or La Vache Qui Rit? Are you french by the way?

[TheLaughingCow]

Laughing Cow Cheese is the brand's name in America, where I live.

[whynot]

Um...well, before hair loss I struggled with self/body image for most of my life. I could well be in the minority here, when I realized I was losing my hair, my confidence with women was attacked at its core. I spent about a year and a half in a sort of self-imposed sexually catatonic state, being too scared to even desire most women without immediately feeling like some sort of creepy and oblivious caricature of a man; I felt that as a man with thinning hair, all attention I payed to women would be unwanted attention.

I've felt way saner in the last couple of years, regarding that issue. But at first, hair loss sent me farther off the deep end than I've ever been thrown. What does it mean to be a bald man in society? What does it mean for me to be bald?
The fact that I was/am not in any way a prime example of tough, manly masculinity, seemed to compound my fears. My hair was part of my context in the world, as a shimmering, effete, Bowie-esque man-child. Those qualities don't work so well with a bald head.

[redsox11]

I looked into this and the psychology behind going bald is actually biologically based. Hair's function is to give off signals of age and sexual maturity. Losing it messes with our heads (no pun intended).

[Proper]

I think it changed my life by making me shower everyday and making me taking pills and topical solutions everyday.

It also made me look in the mirror more often, looking at my hair more often, looking at other people's hair more often, and becoming really appearance critical.

It also affected my self esteem a bit but i'm over it because there were people far worst than me when I went to the clinic to ask about it.

It made me become an ass to my exes because I don't take shit anymore and I feel like it I can't have my hair (even though its only receded a bit at the hairline and fin thickened up my whole head), then bitches can't deserve what they want. This is also an esteem issue I believe but it's starting to feel more and more normal and the people I've been meeting seem to do the same, making this feel like an okay thing to do.

Looks like a lonely future ahead for me. At least I can say I haven't been whipped.

[BigThinker]

It made me become an ass to my exes because I don't take shit anymore and I feel like it I can't have my hair (even though its only receded a bit at the hairline and fin thickened up my whole head), then bitches can't deserve what they want.

In my opinion, that's a good mindset to have with women (at least in your teens to mid-20's.) Treat girls like dirt and they'll stick to you like mud. I regret that I didn't understand that concept until my early 20's.

I'm fairly certain that game fails much more often by your mid to late 20's, but the impact it has before that is astounding.

[Proper]

In my opinion, that's a good mindset to have with women (at least in your teens to mid-20's.) Treat girls like dirt and they'll stick to you like mud. I regret that I didn't understand that concept until my early 20's.

I'm fairly certain that game fails much more often by your mid to late 20's, but the impact it has before that is astounding.

Yah, having nothing, its fun to be an ass. It attracts the most pretentious girls for some reason. But yesterday I was helping a buddy move into his friend's place.

Holy, the perfect life as I'd imagine. He's in his mid 30's and working for the government. The money is not the best of the best but still enough to generate a modest living and plus he bartends at various locations and he weight trains with the ball team here in Ottawa. That's how my buddy knows him cause he's on the ball team. This guy is always going on vacation and works at home. He has a 4 floor townhouse and its spick and span.

He was telling us stories about how easy it still is with catching girls in their 20-25's just cause he has money. And how he can't believe it's that easy. He's still festering in the 20 clubs just cause he bartends once in a while these days and hes like saying how its his "cestpool" of girls (funny). He's like yeah I tell em i'm 35 and they don't believe me but then when I take em home to my own home, have my own g35 parked in the garage... that's eye candy for the "at the moment low lifers," they couldn't even dream of having any of that stuff. I"M ****ING JEALOUS!!!

Lesson here --- money>

[DannyBoyy7]

Nothing changed here only that i dont moan about it nomore havent done for a VERY long time now just buzz it and get on with my day.

[BigThinker]

Yah, having nothing, its fun to be an ass. It attracts the most pretentious girls for some reason. But yesterday I was helping a buddy move into his friend's place.

Had an old buddy/roommate who ran that game. Out-going, out-spoken, ****y. Would spit rude, sarcastic game non-stop. Didn't work every time though considerably often, but he was running a numbers game.

[PatientlyWaiting]

Yes, for the worst. It made me depressed. No, fin did not make me depressed, I was worse before fin. Suicidal, but I was young and didn't know how to handle it. Now i'm just normally depressed.

[Woodyy]

I didn't make positive changes to my life like a lot of people did, I've got to be honest it completely consumed me for a good few months. My hair loss was caused from TE and the shedding was really rapid, I went from having a full head of hair to a thinning, visible scalp in 4 weeks and it hit me hard, I must have lost 50% of my density in the time period. I think most of the time with MPB it progresses so slowly some people don't even notice for years, there's not normally a sudden change to one's image.

I got depressed and stopped going to the gym every day like I used to, lost a lot of muscle, I stopped going out partying with my housemates completely, missed a lot of lectures at uni and instead of doing all my coursework at uni on campus in the library I'd go and get the books out I needed and then sit in my room and do it so I didn't have to be around people. Although the marks I got for my coursework are some of the best I've ever gotten lol.

Anyway, now that I'm recovering I look back on how depressed I got about all this and I'm kind of ashamed at myself, I always knew it was TE I was going through and so knew it was all going to grow back, it's just a waiting game, and yet I still let it control me.

I'm also going to value my hair so much more once it does fully come back, my family does have a history of minor balding so I'm on propecia and will be for life or until the elusive "cure" comes out.