Sly Bald Guys' Blog

This is an article that I found on BaldingBlog.com which is run by Dr. William Rassman, Medical Director and Founder of the New Hair Institute. This article proves some of the limitations that hair transplants have right now and the life you may have to lead if you end up getting a bad transplant.

Someone wrote in asking this question:

I saw Bruce Willis on the David Letterman show the other day and he told everyone that he was bald and happy. That could put you out of business so don’t buy your new Mercedes yet doc. What do you think of the balding trend? Is bald beautiful?

And the response to this question was:

I have followed Bruce Willis’ hair loss over the years from his thinning during the TV series Moonlighting, to the present day shaved head look he sports. A while back, I did notice what I thought were hair transplants placed in the front of his head, showing a less than artistic straight line of hair (suggesting a poor hair transplant), but if my initial guess was correct, there would be some signs of it on the front (recipient area) and in the back of the head (donor area). Judging by photos I’ve seen, I can not stand by my original assumption. I do not think Bruce Willis ever had transplant work done. It is interesting that my daughter met him at a party in the mid-90s and engaged him on the balding issue and my transplant services. He commented that he would remember the connection when the time came, so with that knowledge, I have followed his balding over the years waiting for him to come to my office and join others in that line of work that have come my way.

It must be clear to anyone considering hair transplants, that the option to shave the head as Bruce Willis does may be lost if you have the procedure, as some scarring may be present at the donor site (even with the FUE technique). I have seen many patients that had a small-session transplant, which was inadequate to cover the bald area, because less hair is moved to produce the fullness that a reasonable person might expect. Small, delicate follicular units will mimic the normal hair and to get that, the doctors performing the surgery must be adhering to the standards of Follicular Unit Transplantation. Anyone with even a good hair transplant that uses strip harvesting would have a noticable scar if the head was shaved, even if it were 1mm in size. For the unfortunate person who had unsightly or poorly planned hair transplants, they may have no choice other than to live under a hat or a hair piece most of the time.

Some men shave their head as a way to accommodate their balding. This is a style that has more recently been accepted by the ‘hip’ young men today. We see many ways these men deal with their balding/thinning at our monthly Open House events, where a significant number of men who have to deal with balding come to learn more about the hair restoration process. Many men shave or clip their hair short, or are wearing baseball hats or hair systems. Unlike the average guy, Bruce Willis could get away with wearing a baseball hat to the Oscars because of who he is, but I would not recommend interviewing for a high powered job with a baseball hat on your head. With a poorly done or incomplete hair transplant, an interviewer might spend too much time looking at the hairline rather than in the eyes of the interviewee.

Society has stereotypes and a bald head is stereotypically a ‘hard’ look, the man’s man look. In the past, Hollywood actors have gone clearly bald (Yul Brynner, Telly Savalas), and they were tough character actors. Bruce Willis now joins that pack, but if he had transplants, unlike those bald men who could elect to let their hair grow in and not shave their head, Bruce Willis may not have that choice. His options may be limited if he wanted both hair and the opportunity to keep shaving his head.

Now to comment on your last inference, I am not buying a new Mercedes and I fully expect to keep driving my Toyota minivan, which seems to get me from here to there just fine. If it is short hair you want, don’t worry about my car payments as I have accounted for those choices already.

So, if you end up having a transplant and you don't like it, too bad. You'll have to spend the rest of your life either wearing a baseball cap or a hair piece. Or deal with the scarring on your bald head.

What do you think about this?

Respond to this in the forum: http://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/index.php?topic=383.msg2432#msg2432

(By MC HammerHead) Well, fellas', the Holiday Season is upon us. My wife and I are not real party people or big drinkers but out of obligation to a couple of organizations we support, close relationships with some friends who live for seasonal parties, and of course our office get together, over the next month and half we will be attending such gatherings. Because I live in a fairly small town and am active in a variety of things, am an oddball of sorts because I am nationally competitive skateboarder, and have this particular look, it seems alot of people know me here. It never fails that some time during each holiday party someone will invariably either ask to touch my shaved head or just do it! It cracks me up how many times it can happen in one night. Most often it is a female (which doesn't bother me a bit and fortunately my wife is not the jealous type) but it is sometimes men.....and alot of times its men who probably should be shaving their head but have not got the courage up to do so.

For this season I am going to actually keep up with the number of times it happens from here to after New Years ( the night the overwhelming number of "hits" (I call it) happen..something about a Happy New Year's Eve party open bar and head touching!! ha ha). I will update the number of "hits" on this forum after each get together. I will also include "hits" that don't happen during a party.

You can see how many "hits" that MC HammerHead has so far by going here: Number of Bald Hits

The other day I forgot to use some lotion on my bald head prior to heading to work. When I got there I noticed that we keep a bottle of Lubriderm in the bathroom at work (I guess so people can keep their hands moisturized Huh). Anyways, I noticed my head was dry and slapped some of the Lubriderm on there.

Pros:

I was really impressed with the lotion when the day was over. It left my scalp shiny, but not too shiny. My head didn't show any sign of dryness and my head didn't feel greesy at all.

Cons:

I'm not really sure about the name Lubriderm. Also, the smell is a lot like the smell in hospitals, but you can only smell it for a couple of mintures.

Overall, if you have a dry scalp and need to do something about it but other lotions cause your head to feel greesy, give Lubriderm a try.

Comment on this review here: http://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/index.php?topic=345.msg2073#msg2073

Do you like football?  Do you like tailgating?  How about roadtrips?  Well, these two bald guys are getting paid to do it all!  That's right, their "job" is to RV around the country from football stadium to football stadium to tailgate.  Sounds like a killer way to make money to me!

Jay DiEugenio (bald guy #1) and his wife Karen have grabbed their 3 kids and hit the road...literally.  According to their website YourTailGateParty.com their mission is to hit all the NFL stadiums in 2 years travelling by RV.  Last year they did the NFC stadiums and this year they are completing the trip by going to all of the AFC stadiums.  Jay is the coordinator of the trip and is having a great time doing it.

Josh (bald guy #2) is the video guy behind the tour.  Yes, there is a video guy!  This is a huge production folks.  Josh is the genius behind Havoc Productions and has the role to make Jay and Karen look cool during their tour.

Check out more of their story at YourTailGateParty.com.

Comment on this story at: http://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/index.php?topic=317.msg1808#msg1808

I've updated the Links/Resources section and given the members the ability to rate the links and resources. Don't forget to add any links you would like to share with others. You can find the Links/Resources section here: http://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/index.php?action=links