Now that I am officially sly and loving it, I am more aware of friends of mine who are exactly like I was. I never really noticed it before. I wore hats religiously all the time for 9 years straight because I was petrified of anyone seeing my MPB.
Now I have realized that I have several friends who also wear hats 24/7 because of the same reason. I was never aware of this before, but now I recognize it quite easily. One friend of mine saw me completely bald out in public and was amazed at me. He kept saying things like, "Wow Vince! Wow, just wow!!! I can't believe you did it! Wow! I wish I had that kind of confidence. You look so good bald, but unfortunately, I don't because I have a funny shaped head so I just wear hats all the time."
Of course I immediately shared with him that I felt the exact same way as him for 9 years, but that I have now completely reached the acceptance stage and there is no going back for me EVER! The more he was around me, he soon took off his hat and was walking around in public as long as he was with me. I do a weekly entertainment gig and he started coming there every week without a hat. He says he feels more confident when he is around me, but less confident when he is by himself. The last time I saw him, he put his hat back on and looked at me with an ashamed kind of look. He hasn't come back to my weekly gig since.
I told him about this forum. I told him about the 30 day rule. I told him how just about every bald guy in the world who has MPB goes through exactly what he is going through. Right now, he is still convinced that it is ONLY HIM that is going through it. Man, I can so relate to that feeling. We feel isolated and we do feel like we are the only one in the world going through it.
So anyway, I haven't seen him in a few weeks. I think it's because he is back to wearing hats again and thinks he is letting me down. One thing I do want him to know is that whatever he decides is completely his decision and I won't judge him for that. However, he wants to be more confident like me and I am not sure how to get him there. He's really a nice guy and here's the thing:
He has a GREAT head shape and looks very good bald!
He just can't see it. In his mind, he looks silly.