Should Balding Men Shave Their Heads?

[Tyler]

I posed this question because someone searched for it and ended up here at Sly Bald Guys.  It's a good question to ask.  If a man has confidence enough to keep a partially bald head or thinning hair, do you think he should still shave his head?

[Christian]

I think yes.

I wish I would be balding so I would have the best excuse why I shave my head. So I am having the problem that I have full hair and that a lot of ppl ask why I had to shave my head if I don't need to do it. I always say that it is kind of a fashion statement and not a political statement.

For balding guys I think it looks kind of ridiculous if you try to keep those few hair you are still having. Shaving makes the llok cleaner and more self-confident.

[PigPen]

I think anyone who wants to should shave their head. Case in point, myself David or Christian. Personally, I don't shave because it's cool or to get the ladies. It's because I want to.

[Professor Melon]

  Every balding man is facing a losing, demoralizing, and irreversible situation. Shaving one's head makes more than a fashion statement; it says "I run my life." Another point must be made in this feminized era: it provides an adult role model for all those young guys genetically programmed to lose  their hair and  who don't have a father-figure with whom to identity. An appreciation of the bare human skull needs to be developed. As RozorX remarked in an earlier thread, most men actually look better bald. Hollywood conceptions of masculinity are both feminized and unrealistic. To use a term coined by the Governator, "girly" men are not bald. I'll take Bruce Willis or Saint Ignatius Loyola over Fabio any day. We as Americans are enjoying unprecedented longevity; it is inevitable that we shall see more baldness as we age from the 20s through the 80s. Increasingly, having a full head of hair will be seen as an adolescent or feminine phenomenon. I congratulate all those guys with hair who choose to adopt the sly bald persona. Professor Melon

[David]

Yes, it gives off so much more confidence.    My mom dyes her hair so it isn't gray and has done that since I was a little boy.    I find it hilarious because everyone knows she does it.    But that is her choice and I won't tell people how to look.   It does give me a nice comeback though if she whines about my permanent bald head/beard or moustache/goatee look.

Hair looks weird on some people(myself) and imho if you have a young face being bald makes you look older, which is good if you are young and trying to make it in the world.

[K J]

Hi KJ here,

Should Balding Men Shave Their Heads?  Yes perfuribly when they start going bald or when they noteise.  Heck if black men and asiain monks do it it must be a great haircut.  Plus if you shave your head every day intill your hair spops growing back your in control.

Kelsey

[bnready]

Well you balding men could always have a comb over. I have balding older Brothers and let me tell you there comb overs look worse then a dime size mole on your nose.Shave that Head and tell your friends you wore your hair off on the Headboard! 

[Tyler]

Well you balding men could always have a comb over. I have balding older Brothers and let me tell you there comb overs look worse then a dime size mole on your nose.Shave that Head and tell your friends you wore your hair off on the Headboard! 

I completely agree!

[BaldRob]

Every balding man is facing a losing, demoralizing, and irreversible situation.

I'm going to disagree with this point, not the losing or irreversible part, but the demoralizing part...

Yes, I'm one of those who has lost my hair and now I shave... however, I went many years before shaving.  I was never demoralized by my hair loss!  I lived with it... and I'm just as confident now as I was then.  When making such a broad and all emcompassing statement, you should really stay away from words such as "every" and "all" unless you are 100% sure that your case is correct for everyone!  Over two and a half years ago, I put the Mach III to the skull... not because I was demoralized by being thin on top.... but because I made a choice to change my style.

Confidence comes from within.  Granted, for some, slicking the dome may push them into the realm of confidence, but that is not always the case.

Increasingly, having a full head of hair will be seen as an adolescent or feminine phenomenon.

I am also going to disagree on this point.  For a man to have a full head of hair is in no way adolescent or feminine.  Not everyone will ever adopt the "sly bald persona" whether they are balding or not... just because a man with a full head of hair decides not to shave his head doesn't mean he is less of a man.  That's his choice, as it is his choice if he decides to shave it all off...  Same goes for a balding man who decides to keep the horseshoe.

[PBurke]

three cheers for bald rob. hip hip hooray.

[Tyler]

I, like Rob, don't feel a guy that is balding always needs to shave his head as long as he has confidence with his look without trying to cover up his balding.  The second he thinks about covering his head with a combover, wig, or using drugs to try to grow hair back I think he should try shaving his head to see if that provides him with the confidence that he's looking for.

[Robmeister]

... try shaving his head to see if that provides him with the confidence that he's looking for.

Yeah...that works...sure doesn't hurt to give it a try.

I've picked a week where I won't have a lot of social interaction for the initial shave.....just so I can get used to it...get some color up there, etc.

The questions my wife has been fielding from her friends is an interesting flip side of this post--"Why in the world would he shave his head?...he's got a full head of nice hair."

Just as Rob pointed out above, "whether they are balding or not... just because a man with a full head of hair decides not to shave his head...That's his choice, as it is his choice if he decides to shave it all off...  Same goes for a balding man who decides to keep the horseshoe."

And I REALLY like how Vash weighed in on the subject:

"Asking why you’d shave your head when you don’t “need” to is like asking why someone would wear their hair short, when they COULD grow it long. Or why they wear it their natural color when they COULD have it any other color they like. It’s like asking why you wear a certain style of clothing, when you COULD wear a number of others, why you choose a hamburger when you COULD have tacos. It’s a choice, an option a preference....The most important reason you should ever change your appearance is because you want to and because you can. No 'better' reason is required or exists."

[fcb2001]

I say shave it, i loved having my hair, but when i started balding a little , i just shaved my head, and i just love being bald, ive totally embraced the bald look./

It is the best solution to the problem

[dieseldan04]

I say shave it too.  I loved my hair in the 80s and did the whole big hair thing when I was playing guitar in local bands.  The fact is that times have changed and shaving your head is not only liberating for you but very cool now.  You will be so happy to be free from worrying about thinning hair that you won't care what others think anyway.

[ChallengeMe]

Shaving your head is not for everyone. And not everyone with thinning hair would look good shaved; my boss for sure. Besides, if ALL balding men shaved, it wouldn't be as cool as it is now.