Removing dark hair when shaved

[Shiny]

dusty.... welcome 2 the sbg forum.  glad that u found us.  the only answer that i have 4 u is that u should get an appt. with a dermatologist.  anyways... sorry that i cannot contribute anything else.  keep us posted & c ya around the forum.

WARHAWK

Hey Dusty, you've come to the right place.  These guys are very supportive.  Tyler pm'd me to see if I could offer any advice as I am one of the member who also suffers from Alopecia Areata.  Thanks Tyler, hope I can be of some help.
Have you been to a dermatologist or has your doctor told you what it is that you have?  Any possible underlying factors that could be causing it?  I don't have a whole lot of confidence in Dr's nowadays but you should see one if you haven't already.  I suspect that my underlying factor is sleep apnea because of the undue stress that that not sleeping properly for 20+ years causes to the body.  I'm on a cpap machine now, since april and my hair is coming back very strong.  We'll see if it stays.
I went to a dermatologist a year ago and she gave me some cortisone to put on my scalp to bring back the hair.  I never used it because personally, I don't like the idea of cortisone but it may be something you might want to try.  You might like being sly but at least (if it works) you'd have a solid shadow.
For me, I found that a nice tan and a glossy finish was adequate.  You kind of forget about the patchy shadow after a while.
My patches were large so I think my shadow may have looked like a birthmark.  I don't know but that's what I told myself anyway...
Well I hope that helps, that's about all I can think of right now. 
Hang in there bro, I know exactly how you feel.  (Lucky guys with male pattern baldness, they don't know how good they got it...  )

[dabassman40]

Hello to everyone. Thanks for all the advice. I'll look a little more into tweezing, but man, it seems painful. I've tried tanning it since I cut off my hair 2 weeks ago. It is looking a little better. My concern is winter time when I am white as a ghost. Maybe I should leave Chicago and move somewhere warm. My condition is called lichen planopilaris. I used to go to a Derm. He gave me 20-30 shots of cortisone in my head every week to stop the rash and itching. They would work for about a day. He gave me some medicine to stop the hair from falling out but it made my skin itch on the inside. I would scratch the hell out of myself with scissors, back scratchers, or anything sharp. But, I found out that the only thing that would stop the itching was to soak really hot water. It was so hot, I could barely put my foot in the water. The meds stopped more hair from falling out, but would not regrow anything. So, all the smooth spots on my head are actually scars and hair will never grow there again. I stopped the meds because the side effects and here I am now. I finally accepted being bald forever, unless I want a Trumpover. I hear that the difference between my condition and alopecia is that I can't grow hair back where the scars are. I think that with alopecia the hair can come back? I don't know much about alopecia. If I had regular pattern baldness, I wouldn't feel so freaky, because the world is used to seeing that. So, that is why I could use any advice. I did contact my Derm, but he said that I will basically have to wait for the rest of the hair to fall out. Alright , I'm done for now. I know I hate reading long messages. Thanks guys. I gotta make it look like I am trying to get some work done.

[zetaeffe]

Dusty, don't know how you feel about being permanently bald,
but reading your msg I guess you have no choice about than now...
at this point instead of waiting for the rest of hair to fall
you should go for the tweezing and be done with it... that would
solve also the strange scalp shadow issue.
It will be painful but if you use the method describe on www.scalptweezing.com
you can do it...

Good luck
Francesco

[dabassman40]

Francesco,

I will try anything. It's only a little pain for a little while. Oh well.

Talk to you later,

Dusty

[BALDANDRE]

Hey Dusty...

Thanks for posting the new avatar, it really does let us know what you're dealing with...listen to Francisco and get tips from him...tweeze it...it will even up and look awesome...

why not be totally bald...sounds like there is pain at first when you tweeze, but from what i've read and heard it gets better and less painful...I say give it a go!

Take care ny bald brutha...you WILL have a perfectly clean, hairfree, shadowfree dome all of us will be jealous of!

[dabassman40]

I'm going to give it a shot. No pain, no bald crane. Nothing a little Southern Comfort can't fix.
Later......

[Tyler]

Tweezing sounds like an option.  You can also look into laser hair removal.  You have very dark hair, so it could work well for you based on some of the other postings I've seen here.  In the meantime, get some more color and shine up the dome a bit.  Good luck bro!

[YOSP]

I think it was Paul that mentioned Peroxide. I have dark hair on the sides and was seriously giving it some thought, just afraid of potential irritation. Could work?

[Shiny]

Ya you're right the alopecia areata and universalis do come and go (the hair, that is) and it doesn't leave scars like you have.  It sounds to me like your best options are probably laser or tweezing but in the meantime you should definitely brown up and shiny up dude.  Best of luck to you and remember in the winter there is always sun in a bottle.

[dabassman40]

Tyler, YOSP, and Shiny,
I called yesterday about getting laser removal. It is about $2000 but it is not permanent. It lasts a long time but they cannot claim it to be "permanent". I may try the tweezing. I thought about peroxide. We used to use it in the 80's when we were trying to look like Vince Neil form Motley Crue. It did change my hair but I thought it might irritate my skin. Did you ever get some on your fingers and the skin turns white? That would be a jacked up look. I am going to keep shaving, tanning, and shining. Oh, the lady at the laser joint said that they don't do many heads because it is so painful. Sounds fun!
Thanks guys.
Dusty

[Tyler]

I knew it was expensive, but one of the guys here did it.  I'll try to find his post.  Just want to give you all the info that we can provide bro!

[Tyler]

Here it is Dusty -  http://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/index.php?topic=1832.0

I'm not trying to recommend any technique, just want you to have all the information to make a decision.

[dabassman40]

Tyler,

I appreciate all advice. Don't ever worry sending too much info. I could use as much as possible. I'll check out the post now.

Thanks.

Dusty

[Razor X]

Tyler,

I appreciate all advice. Don't ever worry sending too much info. I could use as much as possible. I'll check out the post now.

Thanks.

Dusty

I'd definitely try tweezing if I were in your shoes.  It may be painful, but you don't have to do it all at once.  Just do a little at a time for as long as you can stand it.  From what I understand, once the initial tweezing is done, the maintenance is not that bad.   And as BaldAndre said, once you've done it,we'll all be jealous of your shadow-free dome.

Let us know how you make out.

[JDog]

I pulled out my wifes Emjoi epilator the other day and after a few days of growth(blasphemy) I ran the epilator over the base of my neckline and the pain was quite bad but not as painful as I expected.

I'm sure if you did it over 1-2 weeks, it would be okay.