Greetings from the abyss

[DNA]

You're right!! Although I never spray it on the outside ( I spray it on the scalp under my hair then cover it over and spray it hard) I did have one time in summer when I'd been sweating like crazy. I was really hot from running to a meeting, coupled with having just done a panic fix in the bathroom of some dept store ( which made me break out in a cold sweat on top of the  sauna-like heat), I went to the meeting far from feeling secure with the makeshift result I'd achieved in the amount of time I had.

Anyway, sweat was dripping down my forehead as I sat in the small  meeting room with the others. I was wiping it away while trying to will myself to cool down, when one lady said to me, " ahhhh....excuse me...." and pointed to my forehead.  I whipped out my my hand mirror like a gunfighter and to my horror there was a rivulet of dark black sweat running from my hairline, down to my brow. I was so embarrassed I could have died right there. A million ridiculous excuses were rollerdexing through my head as I wiped it away, but in the end I said nothing....she said nothing and nobody else there said anything either. I mean how can you possibly explain beads of black sweat running down your face??

I definitely will become a member of the sly brotherhood eventually.....this I know. It's just a question of when (or how much more I'm prepared to fuel the self humiliation by lying to myself and break the chains of denial?)

The problem is this thick patch of hair in the middle of my head will look like someone's stuck a long strip of dark black Velcro to it and then just to rub salt in, painted the surrounding skin as white as possible for maximum contrast. It was seeing this in the first place that compelled me to embark on this insanity and I'm scared that by shaving it I'll be confronted by this offensive spectacle again, every waking moment of the day!

So, is there any way a guy with light skin and the blackest of black hair can minimize the contrast so as to avoid having his head look like a sharpied map of the nearest airport? Also, if I do a no guard buzz cut, how soon afterward can I buzz it again?

Cheers guys and thanks for being there!!

[D.A.L.U.I.]

The problem is this thick patch of hair in the middle of my head will look like someone's stuck a long strip of dark black Velcro to it and then just to rub salt in, painted the surrounding skin as white as possible for maximum contrast. It was seeing this in the first place that compelled me to embark on this insanity and I'm scared that by shaving it I'll be confronted by this offensive spectacle again, every waking moment of the day!

So, is there any way a guy with light skin and the blackest of black hair can minimize the contrast so as to avoid having his head look like a sharpied map of the nearest airport? Also, if I do a no guard buzz cut, how soon afterward can I buzz it again?

Me again--you are certainly out to bring back a lot of memories.  Buzz, that's what I thought I could do before the facts got to me.  But what did buzz show, well two things, there were two "islands" in front, then sparse hair, then a strip between the ears. and to top it all off they were totally asymmetrical--no Stratham look for me,  .  
When I first shaved it off, yes, the strip and islands did show up, but not as bad as I thought--they pretty much disappeared in bright overhead lighting.    Now, a little over two years down the pike, Mother Nature has pretty much removed the island on the right in front--I can feel a little stubble there in the morning but not much.  The other has shrunk, and over all now the top of my head is pretty clear, especially in overhead lighting.  
Moral of the story:  You've got the genes for mpb, and those strips etc. are going to be falling out, probably sooner rather than later--first they get sparse, then gone.  The smooth areas in the morning grow ever larger.  Then one day, not that long after you've gone smooth there will come a weekend or something where you don't shave for a day or two--SHOCK, what's left has a totally different feel and texture on the top from the sides, and a lot of it just isn't there at all anymore.  
Mother Nature will take care of all of this.  A little Jergens lotion will even up the color, and the sun will take care of the rest w/in 30 days or so.  
Again, you're over thinking this whole thing.  Buzz it, then shave.  Yes it's a big step, but no more black sweat, no more agony and angst about the dying mop.  You will continue to go bald, but not hair by hair, you'll stop polluting the atmosphere w/ hair spray and doing Lord only knows what w/ the black spray--it may have dyed the hair and it will quickly revert to a lighter color.  
It's in your power to end this, and only you can do it.  Get ready and do it this weekend, gather up the equipment, get up Saturday and start a new life this Spring--you've endured this far too long.  And your only regret, and SBG will guarantee this, is that you will know you waited too long--almost all of us have had that as our only real reqret.  Get going, time is wasting.  Get on with your life.

[Magoo]

DNA, To your question how long between no guard clipper cuts ( #0). I would say about a week then it starts to look too long.

[DNA]

Cheers all! Your comments are steeling me for the inevitable!!!

[ozzie]

Get to it, mate. Good luck!