Ya it does seem to be "chock full of good info" indeed. Thanks very much Happy for taking the time to give such a thoughtful post.
I would like to clarify one thing. That is that my balding problem isn't a "normal" receding hairline or male pattern baldness. I wish it were. I have a disease called alopecia areata. That is when the immune system, for some unknown reason, attacks the hair follicles causing the hair to fall out. Some people lose every hair on their body (alopecia universalis) but I have lost hair in patches (areata). It has been doing this for a little more than 15 years where it falls out and then grows back totally white and then starts to get its pigment back, eventually turning back to its normal colour and thickness. About a year ago, it fell out again in patches and started to come back but stayed white and very thin and started falling out again. That's when I decided to shave.
Now I do like being bald and to address your questions about closeness, I have been shaving against the grain but now that I've shaved a few times (every day) the shadow seems to be getting lighter and less noticeable. The weather has been a little warmer over the past couple of days and I've gone 'nude' for two days now and am luvin' it. I'm just afraid of trying to get too close and cutting myself or getting really bad razor burn.
As far as the self-conciousness goes, I'm finding that with total baldness (even with the patchy shadow) I'm less conscious of it than when I had hair with bald spots, because then I could feel the bald spots.
I will still try the touch of sun thing to see how it works and the oil as well and definitely will let you know how it works out.
That is great that you've been over to our pretty little corner of the globe. My brother and his wife have invited my wife & I on a trip to Greece next fall. They have a time share booked on the Island of Crete. We haven't decided whether or not we'll go though. We really want to but we'll have to see how things go between now and then to see if we can afford it or not. We've always wanted to see Greece and we LOVE the food.
Thanks again
