Sly Bald Guys Forum
Head Shaving, Grooming & Care => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: allegrodonfuoco on July 27, 2009, 04:40:10 PM
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Hey everybody. I had been contemplating it for a while, and this weekend I finally tweezed my entire head. It was very painful (obviously), although as I went I sort of got the hang of making it the least miserable as possible. I didn't use the "tape" method that www.scalptweezing.com suggests (I tried but found it awkward). Eventually, I just ended up moving very slowly so that only a very small area was being tweezed at anytime. A few times (like when I was almost done with a session and wanted to be finished), I would just power through and go a lot faster (it was pretty freaking intense, but I only did it when I had a small space left). I also found that pulling the skin tight with your free hand and taking a huge breath and exhaling slowly while tweezing a new area seemed to help with the pain also. It took a really long time (probably 5 to 6 hours each day, with small breaks of course), so I also found that brining my laptop and some dvds into the bathroom with me also made the process more pleasant - or at least less unpleasant (not really pain related, but certainly kept my mind occupied). Also, I didn't use any pain meds or anything (I'm considering this the male version of natural child birth!)
I did it over Sunday and Monday (I didn't work today). On Sunday, I did the top, sides, and the upper back (from about the ears up). Today I did the lower back (ears down) and cleaned everything else up. I missed a few spots and wasn't as thorough on some place yesterday, but I got the hang of it and the lower back I did today is completely smooth. The upper sides and upper back (near the crown) were probably the most painful for me (most people say above the ears is the worst, although I actually found that place to be mostly okay). I had some breakage in those areas (I think mostly because I wasn't as "good" at it when I did them because they were some of the first places I did), but I cleaned most of that up today. I also only had about 3 day of growth when I started, so it's possible there are a few hairs that were too short. While I have a "full" head of hair (no mpb) my hair in general, and on top in particular, is pretty thin (my scalp is easily visible even w/ a regular haircut), the hair on top came out pretty easily (I guess the little guys just gave up and didn't even bother to put up a fight). I'm curious to see what the regrowth will be up there (I'm not concerned, I don't plan on regrowing my hair ever bc it looked terrible as thin as it was).
I don't mind shaving and plan to still shave sometimes (I'm looking forward to it as this will make the few spots that were a little too short or broke complete smooth ), although I'm going to wait a few days because my scalp is still a little tender.
My scalp was pretty red after I finished an area, although it faded after about 1 day (as others have said). I don't know what kind of irritation (if any) I'll experience as things start regrowing, so my plan is to just keep up with my post-shaving routine (exfoliate when a brush at night, then wash with benyzol peroxide face wash, end with astrigent and anti-bump moisturizer), to hopefully minimize any irritation that does occur.
I have more pictures, but couldn't figure out how to make them small enough to post them, so I just change my profile pic so you can at least see somewhat of how it looks. If anyone (I'm a mac user) can help with this, let me know... Otherwise, I would be happy to email them if you are curious.
I'm very happy with the results, and I can't stop walking by mirrors just to look at it!! I'm not sure where I'll go from here (maintenance-wise). I want to see what the regrowth will be like and how long it will take before I need to re-tweeze, or if I'll just continue shaving (Depends on what the shadow is like with the regrowth).
Anyway, questions are welcome. Would I recommend this? Well, I will admit the pain was pretty crazy, but I guess I'm just a bad ass (haha). Also, once I decide to do something, I generally do it despite the obstacles (not to mention that you couldn't really stop w/ half a head of hair!). That said, I'm glad I did it. It was one of those things that I had wanted to do for a long time and I just decided now was the time.
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Thanks bro...I bet it's awesome now not having a shadow...I've always wanted a totaly shadow free bald dome..keep us posted!
Looks great! O0
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Wow - that takes some commitment and dedication. Keep us posted on the results
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I got the pics to work
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Hey allegro...
Pretty cool man. Looks good. I did the tweezing myself but only on top where it was thin. It definitely kills the shadow and took a LONG time to grow back and it seems to be much thinner than before. Couple things...although actually doing it did hurt...I was able to tolerate it. I did not push the epilator right against the skin...I just sort of skimmed over it lightly. This made it 1000 times more bearable. You said you were only red for a day...I was red for like 3 days so your fortunate in that regard. Overall good job man...the little part I did took awhile...the whole head would definitely take hours. Someday when I get time off from work maybe I will tackle the rest. Man the things us guys do to be bald ! ;)
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But how long does that last? What is the upkeep on it in other words.
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DJBald - Thanks for the great comments! I agree that not pushing too hard was really important for the pain! Just beware, the sides and back hurt worse than the top if you try it! It's the same kinda pain, just more intense (for me). I think I thought it would go faster bc I started with the top... I was like, oh piece a cake, I'll have the whole head done in two hours! Didn't quite work out like that... haha
As for as upkeep, it depends on how fast the hair regrows. I have a few spots where not all the hairs are gone (either bc they broke or bc they were too short). You can't really see them unless you look really close, but I'm going to keep going over the spots each day until they're completely gone. I've already gone back over those spots a few times and gotten more of the hair each time (it's much less painful grabbing just a few hairs, so going back over those spots is fast and pretty easy). It's actually kind of interesting, because can go over a spot that looks completely bald, and the epilator will still grab tiny little hairs that you didn't even know where there. I'm actually kind of impressed by how well the epilators work.
I'm hoping w/ another day or two of going over the not perfectly smooth areas, I can have every single hair completely gone. After that, I'll probably just go over spots when I start to feel a little regrowth. Just depends on how long that takes.
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I'm impressed! That is some commitment. Hat's off to you. (No pun intended.) You definitely have no shadow. I'm jealous, but too big of a wuss to go through it. And I don't have 5-6 hours.
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I think it looks great! But like SlickA, I just don't have that time commitment. LOL
I am so jealous though. I would love to be shadowless!
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Updated pics... My skin has "recovered" from the tweezing... It's much less tender and has taken on a bit more "shine" (although the lighting in these pictures is much different which may be part of it). The back has a little redness from some retweezing I did today, but other than that, the skin tone has calmed and evened out a ton since yesterday when I took the first round of pictures. Tonight I got pretty much all the leftover hairs from the first round, and now it really feels smooth!
Hope you like the new pics!
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It looks really good! Just for kicks I told my wife about it and asked her to try it on me. Honestly, it didn't hurt that bad. She tried in on different parts of my head. She said, "Wow, this is going to take a long time!" I told her about two 6 hour sittings.
I'll keep my shadow I think, my adult ADD won't let me sit that long. ;D
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Looks great man!! Two questions, where do you get an epilator and what kind of money are we talking?
TIA
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Never mind! I just checked out your link and I think it has all the info I'm looking for!
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There's no denying the smooth, shadowless dome looks amazing on you. As for me, I think I'll keep my shadow as well. Does that make me a commitment-phobe? :px
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There's no denying the smooth, shadowless dome looks amazing on you. As for me, I think I'll keep my shadow as well. Does that make me a commitment-phobe? :px
Not at all, all things considered, I think I'm content w/ my "shadow" even to the extent that it evidences my decision not to be a "bozo circle" guy. I see too many potential problems w/ this, and problems are not what this is supposed to be about.
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What exactly is the game plan for maintaining this? When the hair starts growing back, I assume that you have to let it grow out long enough to be plucked out -- or you shave it and eventually the shadow is back and you have to go through the whole tweezing thing again.
I'm just curious. I don't think I could ever do it -- I don't think my skin would respond well to the trauma for one thing ,but there's no denying that the results are impressive.
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My head hurts thinking about it, but I admit it made me consider it. Maybe it if were a more permanent solution.
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I think you could probably tweeze every day if you wanted to... The epilators will grab pretty short hairs. There are downsides to this though in terms of your skin...
I had a lot of hairs that broke off in a few places when I did it the first time (I think it's because I was going too fast and hadn't really gotten the hang of it when I first started). I've been going over those spots pretty much every day and I've slowly been getting everything that I missed. However, the tweezing leaves your skin a little red and irritated for a while (at this point, it's only a few hours because there aren't many hairs).
I actually shaved it for the first time a few days ago and the feeling was amazing... Completely different and better than a regular shave.
As far as my plans for upkeep, I think now I'm going to shave everyday and retweeze once on the weekends and see how that goes. I haven't had much regrowth yet (except for the hairs that I didn't originally get), so I'm not sure how long it will take to get substantial regrowth...
I'm pretty much just figuring this out as I go along, so I don't really know exactly how it will work out... I guess I can be everyone's guinea pig (although i know a few others on the board have done it as well).
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However, the tweezing leaves your skin a little red and irritated for a while
That would be a big concern for me. My skin is sensitive enough as it is.
I actually shaved it for the first time a few days ago and the feeling was amazing... Completely different and better than a regular shave.
As far as my plans for upkeep, I think now I'm going to shave everyday and retweeze once on the weekends and see how that goes.
Will one day's growth really be enough for the epilator to be able to grab hold of the hair?
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Based on my limited experience so far, it seems like the epilator will start grabbing stuff after one day... However, it won't grab everything, presumably because not all hairs grow at the exact same rate (or some other reasons... I don't really know exactly).
It seems like if you did it everyday, you would get some of the hair, but not all of it, so you would have to go over it everyday and keep getting the newly longer hairs. I think you would get a better tweeze if you let it grow for about 2 to 3 days. When I did the original tweeze, I had only 3 days growth and (once I got the hang of it), I was able to get it completely smooth. As I said before, the areas I did first had some breakage, but once I got the hang of it, I was able to get the later areas completely smooth (those areas are almost still completely smooth).
This week, I'm going to experiment. I'm not going to tweeze at all during the week (only shave everyday or every other day depending on regrowth). I'll probably shave Friday morning, then skip saturday morning and retweeze saturday night and see how well that goes.
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It seems like if you did it everyday, you would get some of the hair, but not all of it, so you would have to go over it everyday and keep getting the newly longer hairs. I think you would get a better tweeze if you let it grow for about 2 to 3 days.
The regrowth is the main thing that keeps me from trying it. I really wouldn't want to go around with dozens of inch long strands of peach fuzz hanging out of my head, so it's nice to know the device can yank out very short hairs. I guess since the hairs are so thin when they grow back it makes them easier to nab. Another thing that would scare me is that I might get lazy from this and forget to maintain for so long that the peach fuzz gets long.
This is a great alternative for people who've considered lasering their scalp since that method never leaves you hairfree either. Or even if you do want to laser it, this allows you to see what you'd look like completely hairfree before committing to those treatments.
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As long as I shave every day I have little shadow. As nice as it would be not having to shave everyday I don't feel the pain would be worth having. To each his own I guess. It looks good though. !`nt
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Looks great!
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The results are amazing. I'm curious to see how you maintain this. Seems like you'd have to have at least some regrowth for the epilator to grab the hairs. I think ingrowns would be a huge problem, at least on my skin. Keep us posted, looking good.
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I might have to try this atleast once. I have been thinking about maybe trying laser treatments but would have to try tweezing or waxing before to see what its like. It seems like in the summer my shadow is worse because my hair tends to darken in the summer.
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Allegro... here's what you can expect after almost 3 years of tweezing (will be 3 years next October).
Can't remenber if I had shaved or not in that pic... guess I had shaven 3 days before...
actually ALMOST no shadow at all...
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Allegro... here's what you can expect after almost 3 years of tweezing (will be 3 years next October).
Can't remenber if I had shaved or not in that pic... guess I had shaven 3 days before...
actually ALMOST no shadow at all...
Have you experienced any permanent hair loss? I'd imagine that eventually some of the hair just stops growing back after being repeatedly yanked out.
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One word... OUCH :o
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Allegro... here's what you can expect after almost 3 years of tweezing (will be 3 years next October).
Can't remenber if I had shaved or not in that pic... guess I had shaven 3 days before...
actually ALMOST no shadow at all...
Have you experienced any permanent hair loss? I'd imagine that eventually some of the hair just stops growing back after being repeatedly yanked out.
Allegro thanks for the post. What brand of epilator did you use? I purchased an Emjoli last week in order to try it out but couldn’t get any good results from it. I had let my hair grow for 2 days and the Emjoli didn’t seem to want to grab the hairs. I could feel it grabbing hairs in some place but not in others. Someone told me I needed to let my air grow for 5-7 days in order for it to work. The small amounts that were pulled out didn’t really feel all that bad. Yeah it felt like someone was pulling your hair out but it was a minor pain and didn’t last all that long. But maybe that was because I wasn’t getting much hair out.
As for the permanent hair loss from tweezing there is a condition called Traction Alopecia. Traction Alopecia is a common cause of hair loss due to pulling forces exerted on the scalp hair. This excessive tension leads to breakage in the outermost hairs. The 2 types of traction alopecia are marginal and non-marginal. In the initial stages, this hair loss is reversible. With prolonged traction, alopecia can be permanent.
Typically, traction alopecia is associated with sustained tension on the scalp hair. In theory, this phenomenon can also occur on areas where hair is constantly pulled out. Traction causes hair to loosen from its follicular roots; however, hair loss also occurs secondary to follicular inflammation and atrophy. Hair loss is often symmetric and along the frontotemporal hairline; occipital scalp involvement is less common. Vellus hair is usually spared in the affected area.
Traction alopecia tends to follow a series of progressive events. Initially, pruritus and perifollicular erythema may be present. These may be accompanied by hyperkeratosis, creating a seborrheic picture. Pustules and scales may form. Eventually, an abundance of broken hairs can be detected. With persistent traction, the follicles atrophy and no longer produce the typical long and coarse hair. Instead, thinner, fine, short hair is generated.
So yes some of the hair will stop growing after prolonged periods of tweezing. Tweezing should only be done by those who really and truly want to remain bald for life. It’s possible to tweeze for a few times without damaging the follicles for most people, however if you tweeze for six months or more permanent damage is very likely to occur and if you continue to tweeze the more permanent the damage will become. For me this is a plus and one of the reasons I am looking into this method. I do not enjoy shaving but love the sly look. I don’t have the money for laser treatments and am hopping this will be an alternative.
So I think now that I have seen and heard Allegro’s story I will give it another try. So I will start another post so that those of you who may be considering it (although it sounds like most of you are just wimps ;D) will have 2 stories to compare and see if you would like to try it. Isn’t that what this site is all about? Helping our sly brothers find the look that makes them feel good and comfortable with whom they are.
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@Aleutiancowboy: you should wait AT LEAST 4 DAYS fot the hair to be long enough to be pulled out.
That way you are sure you won't broke too much hair and you will get the maximum effect.
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Allegro... here's what you can expect after almost 3 years of tweezing (will be 3 years next October).
Can't remenber if I had shaved or not in that pic... guess I had shaven 3 days before...
actually ALMOST no shadow at all...
Have you experienced any permanent hair loss? I'd imagine that eventually some of the hair just stops growing back after being repeatedly yanked out.
yes, even if I haven't let it grow for more than few days I can say that part of the top is completely bald now,
sort of receding hairline... the rest of the top is very sparse. Sides and back are fuller than the top, but still very sparse.
Anyway from a distance it looks completely bald even after few days without tweezing/shaving.
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yes, even if I haven't let it grow for more than few days I can say that part of the top is completely bald now,
sort of receding hairline... the rest of the top is very sparse. Sides and back are fuller than the top, but still very sparse.
Anyway from a distance it looks completely bald even after few days without tweezing/shaving.
Is any of that hair loss natural? It's possible that your scalp would have been undergoing natural MPB anyway so if you've been bald for a while that could be the reason. I mention this because if the hairloss was caused by the tweezing I'd imagine that the hair loss would be even across the scalp.
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This is the epilator that I got. It works really well for me.
http://www.amazon.com/Braun-5270-Silk-%C3%A9pil-Xelle-System/dp/B000EZYKTS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1252070151&sr=8-1
I would say that for me, about 3 days of regrowth is enough, although 4 would probably be better. 3 to 4 days of regrowth may seem like a lot but after you initially tweeze everything out, you can barely see 3 days of regrowth (unless you look really close) because it will be very sparse. Even with three days regrowth, I think it still looks completely shadow free unless you look up really close.
I've settled into a good routine that seems to be working well for me. I usually tweeze every 3 days and I do it in the evening. I don't really have much redness now and it only takes about 20 minutes probably to retweeze all the regrowth. It's not too painful at all anymore either. Then the next morning, I shave. When you tweeze, you will not get every single hair out every time. Most of the hairs you don't pull all the way out will break off at the surface, so it's not like you have random hairs sticking up everywhere, but there will be spots that might have a slight stubble feel (maybe the amount of stubble you might have at night if you shaved in the morning). I like to shave just in case I missed a hair or two in spots I can't see (like the back), plus the smooth as glass feeling of a tweezed and shaved head is so much better than shaved alone. I hope that someday I can feel that way all the time, just from the tweezing.
As far as permanent loss, I've noticed that I have much less hair growing back than when I started, particularly on the top. I've only between tweezing about a month and a half, so I doubt there is any change in my natural hair growth. My hair was quite thin before, so I'm convinced that many of the hairs were just one tweeze away from being dead anyway... Who knows if they'd grow back if I gave them long enough... But the amount that I tweeze out each times seems to be less and less, which is a good sign.
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I haven't shaved since Monday morning and will try my epilator again this weekend to see how it works. Will let you know how things turn out. Maybe I just didn't have enough hair growth the first time I tried it.
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I haven't shaved since Monday morning and will try my epilator again this weekend to see how it works. Will let you know how things turn out. Maybe I just didn't have enough hair growth the first time I tried it.
Good luck! O0
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kinda in between tweezing or lasering at the moment..but this tweezing thing looks like a good alternative. No point in doing it just once..if u can get a system going that doesn't take that long every couple of days then it seems like a great way to lose the shadow. and seems like it becomes easier the longer u do, then that sounds very promising.
hmm, have to buy an epilator and give this a go...turn the music to the max cos I might be screamin' !!! ;D
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Any body had, or know someone who has had experience w/ No No?
http://www.my-no-no.com/nono-about.asp
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Any body had, or know someone who has had experience w/ No No?
http://www.my-no-no.com/nono-about.asp
My wife is wanting one of those. I am considering getting one "for her", but I will have to give it a try myself.
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I really don't like the shadow look and/or the feel of the sand paper on my head, therefore I shave everyday (sometimes twice). I've been slick bald now for 4 yrs. now. I would like to find an alternative to shaving though.
I just heard about the nono hair removal device yesterday and was interested to know if anyone has had any results from this device? Does it work? If so, is it permanent? Do you still get peach fuzz? Are you really rid of the shadow look? How often to you have to use it?
I don't think I have the patience to tweeze, just seems like it would take too long for me. I would rather shave and be done with it in 15-20 mins. I have thought about laser though and now that the cost is coming down and it seems like salons are now offering it for the scalp, I might have to get it done.
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I really don't like the shadow look and/or the feel of the sand paper on my head, therefore I shave everyday (sometimes twice). I've been slick bald now for 4 yrs. now. I would like to find an alternative to shaving though.
I just heard about the nono hair removal device yesterday and was interested to know if anyone has had any results from this device? Does it work? If so, is it permanent? Do you still get peach fuzz? Are you really rid of the shadow look? How often to you have to use it?
I don't think I have the patience to tweeze, just seems like it would take too long for me. I would rather shave and be done with it in 15-20 mins. I have thought about laser though and now that the cost is coming down and it seems like salons are now offering it for the scalp, I might have to get it done.
I'm with you - hate the sandpaper feel!
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I checked on one of those there NO NO's and damm they sent message after message cutting the price to get me to buy one of those. They came down from $300.00 some to $200.00 plus shipping yeah right. ;) O:O Another sales scheme.