Love it but still feel strange - page 1 -

• Love it but still feel strange by Slick Head on 01 Mar, 2010 08:47
• I am about 2 weeks now into being SLY and I love it but over the weekend I was in the pub with my wife and another couple when I glanced around and I was the youngest in there and of course with no hair and a part of me felt a little bit down about it. I started losing my hair when I was 20'ish and its only the last 2 weeks I decided to hell with it and took it right down to the wood.
  Please don't get me wrong guys, I love being SLY and I'll always stick with it but has anyone ever felt like this before? I am not sure if it's just a confidence thing that will eventually get better.
  
  Hope you guys are ok over there! 
• #1 by D.A.L.U.I. on 01 Mar, 2010 08:54
• It happened to me a few times, feeling like the "odd duck!"  But fortunately, once I went sly and perhaps because of that, I kept seeing more and more guys w/ mpb either sly or very tightly buzzed.  The gym helped a lot--except for airports there seems to be the highest proportion of slys in gyms.  Other guys have speculated, and I agree, that being sly is either part of the mind set of guys in a gym, i.e. looking their best, or two, being sly seems to make a guy want to shape up the rest of the body.  I think the same will happen to you. 
  You're only 2 weeks into the 30 day trial and I'd bet by the end much of this will have gone away. 
• #2 by mangosink12572 on 01 Mar, 2010 09:57
• No way - - -you will go other places and see other SLY BALD guys  - - -Look around  whenever you are out  - - -we are all over the place
  
  I wish you lived near me  - -I see several slick melons every day - - - - -I eat  out every day  - - -breakfast - lunch - and dinner - - -maybe that is the reason  - - -but we have state troopers here and most of them  are BALD - - -
  We are a great society of guys  - -BALD  that is 
• #3 by baldguynextdoor on 01 Mar, 2010 15:29
• 
  Hey Slick Head,
  
  I think that's a pretty common experience for recent first-timers.  I know I felt the same way off and on for a while after taking it all off.  Sometimes it takes a while for your mental image of yourself to catch up with the sly guy in the mirror.  The good news is, I think that stage definitely passes (it certainly did for me).   After a while, the bald head becomes part of who you are.  In fact, at some point in the not-too-distant future, I'm betting you'll look at pics of yourself WITH hair and think it looks really strange on you. 
  
  Also, as you get into your 30s, more and more of your peers are gonna join you in the Bare Noggin Club.  When I first shaved my head a decade ago (I was in my early 30s), it definitely made me stand out from most of my friends.  Now I'd say nearly half are bald or significantly balding, and more than a few have taken off what's left. 
• #4 by Magoo on 01 Mar, 2010 16:41
• All of us at one time or another feel that way.We lose confidence in ourselves and  think we stick out like a sore thumb.But given time this passes and we hold up our heads and be proud.This is the way we are,lets make the best of it.
• #5 by Slick Head on 02 Mar, 2010 01:55
• Thanks Brothers
• #6 by pdxtodd on 02 Mar, 2010 06:43
• Hi Slick,   the first 30 days for me was filled with moments of shock and "who's that guy in the mirror".    I took everyone's advice and stuck through the first 30 days.   There is definitely a transition period during the first month - and I thank everyone here for reminding all of us newbies to stick to the blade for that time period.   The shock wore off after the first 30 days and I transitioned into being comfortable during the next 30 days.  By the end of the second month I was totally sold and convinced that I will never go back.   I'm at the end of my 3rd month (Thursday is my 3 month anniversary) and being sly isn't something that I dwell on anymore.   The only thing I think about now is why I didn't do this decades ago -  all that pain, agony, anxiety, and money wasted on something as inconsequential as hair.
  
  Hold tough.  The 30 days goes quickly.
  
  
• #7 by dodger on 02 Mar, 2010 17:54
• Hi
  
  What you are feeling is normal, especially when you see very few sly guys
  
  I am in a work environment that has the same scenario
  
  How do I handle it: I like the way I look and I am happy with it
  
  That's the key
  
  So hang in there 
  
   
• #8 by Mikemc411 on 16 Apr, 2010 20:26
• I'm 48 hours into my first 30 days... So far I am loving it... I worry LESS about my clean shaven head, than I worried / was self conscious about my growing bald spot....
  
• #9 by revived on 17 Apr, 2010 06:34
• Hi guys,
  
  After shaving my head I got into it pretty quickly but last night at the pub had one of these experiences. I was sitting there thinking sh!t i am the only bald guy here and am one of the youngest. I felt like my dome was a beacon and everyone was staring, or checking out their reflections in it. No one even commented and there were no negative responses, but i just couldn't get this self conscious feeling outta my head.
  
  Later that night we went to a house party and I got called 'baldy' - this struck me as odd, but then i realised - i am bald! she is within her rights to call me that!! but i still reacted negatively to it and kept telling myself to not. then for the next 15 mins she proceeded to rub it and analyse so not all was lost.
  
  any tips for not reacting negatively and for embracing all the names that come with it..
  i got crome dome today at a hockey match as well and i wasn't too impressed with that.
• #10 by Gambrinus on 17 Apr, 2010 06:46
• The best defense is a good offense     I like the terms Onion Head, Chrome Dome, etc.  I tend to use them first and laugh when someone tries to down me with them.  Way I see it if I'm laughing, I win!   I think it's funny because all my friends come to me for shaving advice.  I feel like a guru    God Bless
• #11 by The Noggin on 17 Apr, 2010 06:57
• It's all part of the 30 days. The feeling that everyone is staring at you fades away. You become self-confident again and comments like that go in one ear and out the other. 
• #12 by stemikger on 17 Apr, 2010 07:10
• Posted MikeCI'm 48 hours into my first 30 days... So far I am loving it... I worry LESS about my clean shaven head, than I worried / was self conscious about my growing bald spot....
  
  Mike you look like Black Francis the lead singer of the Pixies.  He looks so good, he was the one that made me go sly this time around.  So therefore, I think you look COOL!!!
  
  Slick Head, with that beautiful wife and your good looks, you would stick out with or without hair.  Man you guys both look like models. 
• #13 by Mikekoz13 on 17 Apr, 2010 08:09
• Slick-
  
  It's never a bad thing to be the one that's different or as the Saint put it.. the "odd duck". I relish in that in fact. A good response???
  
  "Yeah I could be like everyone else but that's pretty boring, don't you think?".
  
  Get on with it my Friend... you look great!
• #14 by HairToday on 18 Apr, 2010 09:39
• Quote from: Regi on 17 Apr, 2010 06:34

  Hi guys,
  
  After shaving my head I got into it pretty quickly but last night at the pub had one of these experiences. I was sitting there thinking sh!t i am the only bald guy here and am one of the youngest. I felt like my dome was a beacon and everyone was staring, or checking out their reflections in it. No one even commented and there were no negative responses, but i just couldn't get this self conscious feeling outta my head.

  
  Dude... I had the same experience yesterday.  I went to a Red Sox game with my friend, and the whole time I was sitting on the train on my way to meet up with him at Fenway I felt really self-conscious.  I never felt that way at work, or when I'm with other people, but when I'm by myself in public I feel kind of weird.  Like when I caught my reflection in the window of the train I thought the exact same thing... I'm the only bald guy here and I'm the youngest one!  I ended up putting on my Sox hat for the rest of the night (mostly because it was so cold, but also cause I felt like I looked ridiculous)  I think part of the problem is my head is blindingly shiny... I need to get a tan ASAP, but it's been rainy and cloudy here for weeks.
  
  Part of me thinks I should let it grow back a little, just to see how it looks... I went from long hair to no hair without stopping in between.  It would definitely make me a little more inconspicuous, I don't mind standing out usually (at school I feel fine) but sometimes in public I just feel uncomfortable knowing that everybody is looking right at me.