MPB to BBC: What Was Your "Tipping Point"?

[baldsurfer]

Sort of a sequel to the long-running "What made you go bald" thread...
I'm BBC and have a full head of hair when I choose to - because I just like the way it looks and feels. But when I was younger - and had not yet tried BBC, I always promised myself that when/if I started losing my hair, I'd shave it all off. And nowadays, it seems most younger men who start losing their hair opt to go sly.

So I'm curious to hear about what made you finally take that plunge. For example:
- How far along was your mpb? How old were you?
- When you started losing your hair, did you set a limit of "when it gets THIS far, I'm shaving my head"?
- Did you gradually buzz shorter until you shaved or was there a "take it all off" moment?
- Did any friends or significant other try to urge you to shave before you finally did it?
- Did you have friends who went sly before you that inspired you to do it? Or a friend whose hairloss looked so bad that you chose to go sly rather than look like "that guy"?
- Once you decided it was time to go sly and did the deed, did you ever grow it back or did you immediately know that sly was the only way to go?

[Sir Harry]

For me it was more or less for rebellious reasons. My father, now deceased for 6 1/2 years, was getting a little doughnut hole on the crown surrounded by an afro (only bald guys with ponytails are worse IMO) He says that going bald naturally is the way to go. The first time I shaved my head, he said I looked like a prisoner, and I kept shaving my head off and on when he made me mad just to "get back" In 2008, when the receding hairline was becoming a horseshoe, I just decided to shave it for good.

[schro]

Halloween party, 2006. We hosted a couples' costume party. The Lovely Mrs. Schro & I dressed as Sonny & Cher. She is 5' 9", so she bought 6" platform shoes to be taller than me (she still fit into her Cher costume from college  ). Good friends of ours came and "Deal or No Deal", with my friend wearing a skin wig to look like Howie Mandel (for the record, his wife could pass for a "case girl"  ).

Towards the end of the evening after everyone was good and liquored up, people wanted to try on TLMS' platform shoes. After several people almost fell through the flatscreen, we put a stop to that. The Deal or No Deal guy wanted to try on my Sonny wig. So, I naturally put on the skin wig. After putting it on, another friend said
 "Schro, you look like Schro". 

Well, that kind of sealed the deal for me.

[buddha]

(only bald guys with ponytails are worse IMO)

Haha, this was me the day before I went slick. I had hair down to my shoulder blades (bald up top) that I either put in a ponytail or a long braid.
I was about 48 and shiny bald on top, kinda like Dharma's father (Larry Finklestein for those who remember Dharma and Greg). I don't recall when I started losing the hair, I was never really that much into it.
I went out jogging one day with the long hair hanging loose rather than tied back. The tipping point came when the deer flies (national bird of northern Wisconsin) flew in and got stuck in my hair. When they tried to get away they started buzzing and it sounded like a bunch of dentist's drills going off right next to my ears. I got home, washed and dried my hair, tied it up and "0" buzzed it and finished it off with my old Sensor. Never went back. I sent the hair to Locks of Love.
None of my friends ever said anything about cutting my hair. In fact no one even noticed it. One woman, a hair stylist, who had known me for about 2 years with long hair saw me the day after I scraped the dome and asked me if I had lost weight. She didn't even notice my head.  

[isleepinthebuff]

For me I guys I have always found balding guys sexually attractive and think there is something to the look. I have shaved my head for long periods in my life as I like the look. I guess at odd time I have grown it back and everyso often contemplate it again. My hair is receeding and is fine at the crown and if I am honest my days of having great "boyband" hair are gone but I actually wish the rest would go too now. I hate the shadow I get and would love a shiny bounce that doesnt look like hair is breaking thru. I think if I was more bald I would be happier! I am neither or either now! 

[marshd1000]

I am 51 and have been slowly losing my hair since my late 20's.  As I got into my mid 30's, I noticed that I was looking more and more bald up front and I was seeing much more hair in the drain after I shower.  I first shaved my head at a Seattle Mariners event called "Jay Buhner Buzz Cut Night", where you got in the game for free if you either had a shaved head or buzzed it there.  I actually liked the look.  But grew it back  a couple of times because of pressure from my parents.  I also grew it back  a couple of other times just out of curiosity.  I am pretty much going to keep it shaved as the tipping  point happened a couple of years ago when I had surgery.  I  had abdominal surgery and was too tired to shave.  So I grew the hair out for two weeks and discovered that have a fuzzy Norwood 5-6 on the Norwood Scale of Baldness.  So at that point, I knew there was no reason to grow my hair back.

[balddoc]

My hairline started a backward march in my early 20s. So slow, no-one noticed. At 30, the crown started to thin. When I was 34, a barber asked me what I was doing about my hairloss. By this stage, a donut hole was happening. 2 days later, the final straw came when my Dad ragged me about my thinning mop. It hasn't been seen since

[Razor X]

- How far along was your mpb? How old were you?

Between Norwood 3 and 3A.  I was 35 when I began shaving my head regularly.


- When you started losing your hair, did you set a limit of "when it gets THIS far, I'm shaving my head"?

My goal was to shave it off before I completely lost my widow's peak.  I used to watch it like a hawk on almost a daily basis.

- Did you gradually buzz shorter until you shaved or was there a "take it all off" moment?

Buzzed shorter.


- Did any friends or significant other try to urge you to shave before you finally did it?

No.  I used to wish someone would encourage me to try it.

- Did you have friends who went sly before you that inspired you to do it? Or a friend whose hairloss looked so bad that you chose to go sly rather than look like "that guy"?

No.   But there were plenty of "those guys" out in public on any given day, as well as "those guys" who had gone sly and really looked great.

- Once you decided it was time to go sly and did the deed, did you ever grow it back or did you immediately know that sly was the only way to go?

I grew it back a few times because I felt self-conscious about it and didn't have a good support network at the times.  There was no SBG forum in those days.   

[imaginary]

- How far along was your mpb? How old were you?

I started losing my hair in my early twenties, and the moment I was in a fitting room last year (I was thirty one) and noticed how far long it was, began the turning point.

- When you started losing your hair, did you set a limit of "when it gets THIS far, I'm shaving my head"?

I believe I did, subconsciously. I remember thinking that when I was twenty three.

- Did you gradually buzz shorter until you shaved or was there a "take it all off" moment?

Originally, I did. Haircuts went from once a month to every two weeks. I started cutting my hair at home, when I grew a beard for the first time. At that moment, feeling self-conscious, I let my hair grow just a bit, until I reached that fitting room moment mentioned previously. After that, I brought my hair down shorter, before suddenly deciding to shave it all off.


- Did any friends or significant other try to urge you to shave before you finally did it?

Not really.

- Did you have friends who went sly before you that inspired you to do it? Or a friend whose hairloss looked so bad that you chose to go sly rather than look like "that guy"?

A good friend of mine rocked the bald/beard look for years, so I feel he inspired me.

- Once you decided it was time to go sly and did the deed, did you ever grow it back or did you immediately know that sly was the only way to go?

Today, I can't stand the feeling of stubble on my head.

[Viking]

- How far along was your mpb? How old were you?

I was in my late teens when I started to notice that things were getting lighter up there.


- When you started losing your hair, did you set a limit of "when it gets THIS far, I'm shaving my head"?

I never really had this dilemma, prior to buzzing down I had shoulder length hair and some dreds going on and I was at that post education/pre work stage of my life, I'd missed out on a job because my hair was a "safety issue" and a few months later I got a phone call saying "you sorted that hair out yet??" so I buzzed it and started the next day! I guess eventhough I knew I was loosing my hair I cut it all off before it ever really became obvious, I never had the big receeding hair line or bald patch. I suppose I got rid of my hair before it got rid of me, but it was purely to get a job.

- Did you gradually buzz shorter until you shaved or was there a "take it all off" moment?

I went from the long hair to a no.2 buzz which as the less I had eventually went down to a no.1 and then a no guard, I'll confess I'm not a full time sly brother, mainly as it's easier and quicker to just give it a no guard buzz (which I can do in a minute!).

- Did any friends or significant other try to urge you to shave before you finally did it?

Nope, but like I said, I chopped it off before it really became an issue.

- Did you have friends who went sly before you that inspired you to do it? Or a friend whose hairloss looked so bad that you chose to go sly rather than look like "that guy"?


Nope, my friends all seem to have a full head, mind you I'd be lieing if I said that I didn't feel better when I saw a couple of people from my school days on facebook who's scalps had taken the same path as mine. I wouldn't say inspired but I suppose you naturally do feel better when you know your not the only one. However i am looking forward to later years when I'm sure some of my friends will start to loose hair and to see what they do. The advantage of loosing it young is that it is done and out of the way and you grow up a bald dude instead of being the balding dude or the dude who looks odd as your only used to seeing them with hair!

- Once you decided it was time to go sly and did the deed, did you ever grow it back or did you immediately know that sly was the only way to go?


After buzzing it on the no.2 for 6 months when I first got into the job the technical manager left and despite being a 20 year old trainee I somehow managed to land his job. About the same time my best friend from school killed himself, so I grew my long hair back which took about a year, I think partly due to feeling annoyed I had to loose my hair to get the job and partly I guess trying to be that teenage kid again instead of this shaved headed tech manager with responsibilities. The following year I decided I needed to move on in life and I'd have to smarten myself to land a better job (that and it was thinner than I rememberd up there in places!) so I buzzed it all off again. That was summer 2005 and I've never had more than a few mm growth up there ever since. I'm fortunate that I was never into styling my hair or anything, having the shaved head is very similar in my eyes to the long hair, both fairly low maintenance so I'm just as happy to have none!

[Slyfive]

- How far along was your mpb? How old were you?

I started balding at 17/18, first shaved at 22, I had been buzzing it down for 6 months before, and it only took that long because I wanted my long hair for graduation from my degree. When I first buzzed it (6 months prior to shaving), I went from having fairly long hair (it's embarrassing to admit, but think Bieber) to a number 4, I then gradually took it down to a 1 over the following months, then shaved.

My MPB was gradually getting worse, I always had a high hairline, but it was retreating, and thinning at the front, by the time I shaved, the front bit of my widows peak had basically separated.

- When you started losing your hair, did you set a limit of "when it gets THIS far, I'm shaving my head"?

I had always told myself that if I started balding I would shave it all off. I had been quite obsessed with having good hair, and so my paranoia had led me to consider the option way before it was necessary. Unfortunately, as seems to be human nature, I held on way too long, and should have taken my own advice sooner.

- Did you gradually buzz shorter until you shaved or was there a "take it all off" moment?

Buzzed shorter.

- Did any friends or significant other try to urge you to shave before you finally did it?

No, but I knew it was getting bad when I noticed that my hairdresser kept looking at my hairline, and I just said "this is disappearing a bit so can you please just leave it longer for now, and I'll work up to shaving it off." She promptly replied "I'm glad you're going to do something about it, it's the best move but not enough people have the balls to do it". (of course I had to do something now, my balls had been called into question).

The biggest thing for me was having a very bad allergic reaction to the general anaesthesia during 2 surgeries on my leg, which resulted in a huge acceleration of my hairloss, there was no longer any choice.

- Once you decided it was time to go sly and did the deed, did you ever grow it back or did you immediately know that sly was the only way to go?

I knew it was me from the get go, it took ages to adjust, but I had fortunately stumbled upon Tyler's youtube channel whilst moping about my hairloss and looking for headshaving videos, and got the support I needed to build up the courage, my partner was not at all into it before I shaved and this made it harder, but as soon as I shaved, she realised how much better it was, and has been amazing.