Sly Bald Guys Forum
Discussions About Being Bald => Reactions to being Bald => Topic started by: thebaboun on December 24, 2009, 09:22:11 AM
-
Me again!
I am curious to know how long it took for you guys to accept your baldness and feel "proud" of it in a way. I think I am getting towards it, but a couple of weeks ago I would see a man with hair and I would feel bad in a way. It is really superficial I knoW! Discuss!
-
I accepted it right away, I literally went from hair down to my shoulder blades to slick in the space of about 2 hours with no forethought. I have been so ever since. But at the time I did it I was ready for it. I didn't do it for any reason than it was time and I knew it. Prior to shaving I saw pictures of myself with long hair and a shiny dome poking through the top and I thought of how dumb that looked.
Superficiality is a basic human defect of character in industrialized cultures. Men have it, the women in their lives will confirm that. The thing that they won't confirm is that they got it, too.....real bad. Womens' superficiality extends beyond how they look, it covers how their men look, as well. There is no getting away from this unless you're gonna live the solitary monk life high in a mountain refuge. The superficiality of people is something that just has to be accepted in the same way that one accepts the presence of mosquitoes. It's a nuisance but will it stop me from going outdooors and letting people see my slick dome?
-
When I started getting compliments from co-workers and, in one really neat case, w/in a week of chopping off the combover I was on a plane and the stewardess started up a conversation, her name was Jennifer, good looking, young, etc. It was a great ego booster, at least until wifey woke up in the seat next to me. Oh well. :D
People just react differently, more positive, they remember who you are by name. It's a whole package of wonderful changes in your life and it's really nice. You're going to see this too. Then, you'll be totally happy--that's why we say 30 days.
-
Well, I have been SLY for a full week and each day I find myself getting more comfortable with it
It does help when there are some positive comments from family, friends
and co-workers
Do everthing that you can not to wear hats..it helps your comfort zone
So, take a deep breath, look inthe mirror and admire that beautiful dome
It will come
Be patient
Good Luck
steve
-
About twenty years before I actually shaved.
I'd been buzzing my head as closely as possible for over two decades before I took a Mach 3 to it. So when I actually did it, it was no big deal.
-
I am so "proud" of being bald - -I hate to wear a hat - -even though I live in the freezing North East - -100 miles north of NYC - - -I want everybody to see my shiny dome - - -
-
Like Buddha... it was instant for me. I loved it right away even though the change was more drastic than I expected.
-
I wanted to be bald for years - - -it took a day - -I could not believe that I had done it I gave the excuse of Halloween dress up - --Telly or Mr. Clean and I got away with it - -Have kept my shine and bald head and I love being BALD - - -now SLY
-
Great question -- I think one that we all ask. For me it was a matter of
Week 1: utter shock at looking in the mirror. I went from wearing a hair system to sly -- a big transformation. Week 1 was shock.
Week 2: wondering how I would look with short hair -- I let it grow out to a #1 -- then realized that I looked like an old balding guy with a gray hair "doughnut" on my head
Week 3: back to the headblade -- put the hat away - and wearing my slyness with pride
I think when I posted the question a while back a lot of people said three weeks. That's exactly what it was for me. Another thing that I noticed was that week 1 -- women would come up and strike up conversations. I found myself at my son's basketball games with a bunch of the moms clustered around me. Week 2 with the gray doughnut -- people treated me differently. Week 3 back to sly and back to people, especially women, striking up conversations. So just on the fact that people react more positively when I'm sly is more than enough to keep the look permanently.
Unfortunately people do react to balding (not sly) guys differently than guys with a full head of hair and guys who are sly. I don't have a full head of hair so I'm sticking with sly!
-
I'm sure everyone is different and it largely depends on the support/criticism around you.
It took me a couple months to stop thinking about it all the time and that's about how long it took others to stop making comments every time they saw me too. :*))
-
I pretty much accepted it from the first day. I'd wanted to be shaved bald for about a year before I took the plunge, purely because I liked the look. I actually felt jelous of other bald guys, and wished I had the balls to do the same. So when i did it was exactly what I wanted to do after years of number 1 buzzes 8)
-
I'm not sure it's a matter of time as much as it is the number of situations you come into. For me, it was a combination of 2 things. One I work with several guys about my age that all have some level a MPB, one at a time in private they have all made "I wish I had the Balls to do that" comments. Second I was at a concert for my daughter, and we arrived late and had to sit in the back of the auditorium, Looking down the rows and seeing how many guys there were with really bad comb overs made me feel pretty good about. After looking at some other guys I knew there was no way I wanted to look like that. Keep up the faith it will work out.
-
As soon as the smile disappeared off my face after my 1st shave I realized I had made the right move. ;D
-
well I have been doin this for over a year, and it keeps getting better... I leave the house knowing I look good, other ppl tell me I look good. but evry now and then someone says something that really gets under my skin...
but I have to say that I am pretty much past negative comments. I am what I am, and I like the way I look, so really what else matters?
-
I pretty much accepted it from the first day. I'd wanted to be shaved bald for about a year before I took the plunge, purely because I liked the look. I actually felt jelous of other bald guys, and wished I had the balls to do the same. So when i did it was exactly what I wanted to do after years of number 1 buzzes
That's the way it happened to me O0
J
-
I would say that 3 weeks is about the time for me to realize-This is what I want. Initially, it was a slight shock to see this bald guy looking back from the mirror. Week two-a loose tongued neighbor finally quit bit33ing about the new look and how she perperred my look with hair. By week three the guy in the mirror is familar and proud. The neighbor has finally accepted the new me and decided to talk to me again. Life is good!!
-
Do you guys really think it takes a couple of weeks to really accept it and after that it will become more common and you will get use to it ?!
-
Do you guys really think it takes a couple of weeks to really accept it and after that it will become more common and you will get use to it ?!
That's a big part behind the 30 day rule, you shave for 30 days not only to work the shaving into your routine but also to adjust yourself to the look, and give yourself the opportunity to meet enough people you know and don't know so that they also learn how good you look without out the receding hairline, hole in the back of the head, thinning hair generally and even the dreaded combover. After 30 days you're sly in mind and scalp. You will do this.
-
Thanks for your comments SAINTS.
I also wanted to know the following:
So far, I would say I received 76% of good comments vs 24$ bad comments.
What if in the future, most of the people do not find me pretty and think I am ugly bald. ?!?!?!??!
A stressed boy
-
It comes down to this : It's not how others perceive you it's how you perceive yourself.
-
First of all: RELAX!
Remember the good comments and forget the bad.
Don't worry about the future.
Stay strong.
-
What if in the future, most of the people do not find me pretty and think I am ugly bald. ?!?!?!??!
Old song, 50's, answers that, "Que Sera, Sera, the future is not ours to see." But, based on what I've seen it all works out, worries like yours are weighted to the young, then when we've gained the serenity to enjoy, we've lost the youth. That's life. Enjoy yourself, let up, don't beat yourself up.
-
It can vary from person to person. Honestly, it took me a couple of years. I didn't get much feedback when I first shaved -- the good thing about that was I really didn't want a bunch of attention because of it, but the downside was that I was never really sure if it looked good or not. I was shaving for a couple of years before I joined this group but the guys here are what ultimately helped give my confidence a boost when it was flagging.
-
About two weeks until I got used to it. A few months later I stopped getting the surprised look after all of my friends, acquaintances and family had already seen it.
-
O0 Literally from the first smooth shave 8 years ago, I have never once thought of turning back, I think that there is something to be said for a well maintained chrome dome. The only downside to it thus far is when working under vehicles and such, a ball cap or strict attention to head position is mandatory, or the result is usually blood and/or bruises.
-
It wasn't too bad for me, I was already buzzing my head pretty short. For me it was better than seeing gray hair coming in on my sides. I'm still in my thirties, and seeing the gray really depressed me. I think being sly makes anyone look younger, and who wouldn't want that 8)
-
I first started noticing hair loss when I was about 19, and even back then I said with conviction that if I ever really started losing my hair, then f**k it, its all coming off.
It wasn't until about 12 years later that I really saw how much hair I'd lost, but in my case it was a combination of mother nature and a drunken tumble off a mountain bike sans helmet, which gave me a nice gash on my scalp. The next day while washing the blood, dirt and twigs out of my hair, (at the time it was down past my shoulders) it was coming out in CLUMPS. I'm not kidding, we're talking HANDFULS OF HAIR.
So inbetween sobs I decided that was it, time to make the big change, so once the stitches came out and everything was all healed, off it came!
Here's the funny part, nothing quite ruins the moment more than when you're "shopping downtown" with (or should I say under?) your lady friend and she asks "Hey, where did you get that scar?"
-
O0 I can connect with what the guys have said on this track so far, especially Buddha, Dodger, and Todd. Three years ago, when I realized that the comb-over was no longer viable, I had my barber shear my head without a guard, but I wasn't happy with the result. An hour later I razored the stubble down to skin. The shock started wearing off immediately. It helped that my wife was supportive from the first and that my colleagues/friends accepted the change. It also helped that, by that time, Euro-American culture had accepted bald chic. I totally embraced a bald sef-image eight months later, after falling on the cellar stairs and gashing my bald skull. The wound required 17 stitches and about two weeks to heal. During that period, I could not shave and was truly wretched . Afterwards I felt as if I had had a second chance to express what I have since become, one proud bald man. Today I never wear hats unless inclement weather makes tham a necessity. Occasionally I switch from matte to gloss Headlube, just to make my baldness plainer. Professor Melon
-
Me again!
I am curious to know how long it took for you guys to accept your baldness and feel "proud" of it in a way. I think I am getting towards it, but a couple of weeks ago I would see a man with hair and I would feel bad in a way. It is really superficial I knoW! Discuss!
Accepting it???!!! Heck, I paid to have my dome shaved bald!! I wanted SLY like an 11th grader with a Calculus test wants a snow-day! I'm a baldman (one word, not two) and I wouldn't have it any other way.
-Owen
-
I went fron a full head of hair to sly 2 weeks ago, just a spur of the moment thing. I loved it right away. The feel and the look, just love it. Plan to stay sly. Did I say I love it? O0
-
Did I say I love it? O0
There you go, I being the key on the subject. O0
-
It took a while to accept it for me to the point where I grew it back (#1 buzz cut) a couple of times since I shaved it New Year's day 2007. But, I intend on remaining sly. The plusses far outweigh the minuses.
-
hello guys..
Michael here, 20 years old college student. My hair started to fall out when i was 16. My friends keep telling me that i'm already balding. at first, i dont care, but things changed when I enter college.
People started to stare at me, which makes me feel uncomfortable. As a solution, i let my hair grow so i can use the very popular "combover" style. That was the only solution that i can think of at that moment. After a couple of years, my mpb got a bit worst making the combover useless in hiding the hair loss. so i let my hair grow even longer so i can tie it at the back of my head like most rockers do. ;D
hmm that look was not for me. though i have no other choice to consider. so i kept it for almost a year. damn..
a month ago, my sister celebrated her 18th birthday. my mom forced me to cut my hair so i can look more presentable to people. after the hair cut, damn i was surprised how balding i am when i checked my dome at the mirror. i think i am on the level 2 or 3 vertex on the norwood scale.
to make the long story short, a couple of weeks after, i had my first buzz cut. at first, it looks fine, but after a week, when my "remaining" hair started to grow back making the bald spot so obvious, i decided that i need to make a move. i buzzed it to #0, and let the poeple around me to adjust.
So.. it took me four damn years before i can accept the fact that im balding..
now i can say that im more confident than ever! and i owe it you guys. if it wasnt for you, im still probably supporting the long pony-tailed hair style.
(sorry for any wrong spelling/grammar) english is not our primary language.
- Michael
-
When I first saw myself, right after visiting a barber with balding clippers, my reaction was "Holy f**k, I look hot!". O:O
My favorite reaction was from my daughter (14 at the time), I went to the mall to pick her up after she spent the afternoon hanging out with her friends (same day as my SLY transformation). She saw me with my newly shaved dome in the food court and blurted out - "What. Did. YOU. DO??!!!", as only a mortified and embarrassed teen-aged girl can do. Haven't let her live that one down. 8)
-
When I realized I had MPB in the beginning I tried my best to cover it up, I grew my hair longer, for my bald spot I used this shoe polish like stuff. I have to tell you I was unhappy with it until I shaved it all off and became Sly. Although I am probably just about now 100% comfortable being Sly that is a better adjustment then adjusting to MPB and I would not have it any other way if you think about it MPB let me to go Sly and I look so much better now then even when I was younger and had a full head of hair. We can learn from this that there is a silver lining in everything and what may have seen like a curse in the beginning is actually a blessing in disguise.
-
I never worried about thinning, although I was thinning starting at about 30, 27 years ago. Six years ago, it started to look like a combover, so I began buzzing. After about 3 years, I felt that I had accepted myself as a "bald/clipper haircut" person. I was happy with the #2 buzz until about three years ago, when I moved to an occassional clippershave, around the time I found this site. Since then, I have come to feel that I have benefitted by the 'sly' lifestyle - increased confidence - at the 0 blade buzz. Now I pretty much do the 0 blade clipper shave, sometimes getting a #00000 at the barber. I prefer the sandpaper feel and look. I have tried shaving once and may do so again this summer vacation.
-
I first found out I was going bald a couple of years ago when I was sitting down at a local coffee house and someone decided to tell me, "You've got a nice bald spot going on back there." That was a couple of years ago, and immediately after I entered a hat phase which lasted up until about 6 months ago when I went sly. When I was in the hat phase I looked at other guys with hair and was jealous, but as soon as I clipped it to a zero and shaved I was 100%. Instead of being jealous of guys with hair I started noticing most of those guys had combovers, and pretty bad ones at that. I like to think they're the ones jealous of us. javascript:replaceText('%20O:O',%20document.forms.postmodify.message);
-
I coped with my MPB for a long time, but once I went SLY...I immediately felt liberated and "accepted it 100%". O0
-
Hi
After wearing a hairpiece for over 30 years, my adjustment period took about one month
I have been sly for about 3 months now and feeling pretty good about it
Can't wait for summer and get some tan for this dome
Then....look out
So be patient, you made the right choice
-
I was relieved immediately after shaving Aug 22nd, 2008. The first few days I felt overly aware of what I had done and was still looking for reactions and approval, I felt good though. After a week or so I went swimming which turned out to be an invigorating and validating experience. Within a month I was cocky and really started to discover the benefits of my new found freedom and confidence.
Accepting it 100%? I'm not sure when that happened because it gradually became a part of who I am. Maybe it was 4 months, maybe a year... I'm not exactly sure. I really liked it the first day and really never looked back other than really wishing I shaved it early Spring and not the end of August.
-
Forgive me I didn't read all the other replies, but I have to say there is someting about the 30 day rule. Also, the brain needs time to see this bald guy everyday. It is weird after you do it for a while, it dosen't look different any longer. I think the brain needs time to get used to such a different look.
Although I have been doing the very short buzz forever, I just started to go completely sly again and every week keeps getting better.
-
It kicked in for me as soon I as finished the last swipe of the razor blade. That, of course, was then followed by about ten minutes of hysterical laughter each time I saw myself in the mirror, then followed by about two days of minor laughter and giggling, and then finally totally forgetting what I looked like with hair (and I had quite a bit of hair.) I knew It was right from that first moment though; It felt like coming home.
-
Whats up Bald Brothers?
Its been 3yrs since I have been on here. I got married, new job, new house, and now it seems a lot of catching up to do.
It seems fitting for me to start with this post. Let see...
I don't know if I will ever except 100%, but I am about 95%. The 5% I question at times is just my stupid male ego as it relates to women. I always wonder and will probably always wonder if I would get more attention if I had hair. I am happily married now, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't like the "eye contact" or a nice smile from a pretty woman. Other than that, everything else is gravy.
I am not afraid now to say I used to wear a piece. Almost 7yrs, I still get sick to my stomach thinking about the wasted $$$. But I also don't completely regret it because I learned a lot about myself.
The first time I rolled the window down, went into the ocean or pool, slowly hung up the hats...man what a liberating feeling! It truly felt like I was not hiding from everyone anymore. 3yrs later and I have no regrets nor would I look into hair restoration ever again.
The crazy thing that has happened to me though is Facebook. I reconnected with people that I haven't seen in 10+ yrs and also with people that knew I was wearing a piece, but have never seen me bald. I don't give a rats a$$ anymore.
Enough rambling for me...I'm glad to be back, 3yrs bald strong!
-
Bro!
Nice to hear from ya!!!!
Glad to see your bald mug again!!!!
-
as soon as I got to rub my hand on it. And feel how smooth it was :@` Man I still do it 8)
-
Hi
After wearing a hairpiece for over 30 years, my adjustment period took about one month
I have been sly for about 3 months now and feeling pretty good about it
Can't wait for summer and get some tan for this dome
Then....look out
So be patient, you made the right choice
Sorry did you say you wore a system for 30 years? Did you lose your hair when you were 10 or something. Sly treats you very well in the age department.
-
I think that I am still getting used to the idea that I am now a bald guy & there can be no turning back.
-
Pretty much immediately.
I don't really even get what the big deal is, but especially for those who were losing their hair in the first place.
If your pate was showing (the top of your head) then you were bald already, who gives a rat's ass about the hair on the sides and back?!? That doesn't count as "having hair", IMO.
So it's not a major change anyway.
I have no problem being sly; and I have to deal with ugly hair transplant scars all over the back of my noggin. (and some at the top front, but there, mostly, just dark circles where the hair follicles are showing, even after being shaved fresh) They're annoying, but if I didn't have those problems, I wouldn't even think twice about being sly.
If you ain't got hair on TOP, then you ain't got hair anyway - get over it.
So for those of you who can't get used to the idea of a smooth dome, hey - it could be a lot worse. You could be me.
-
I have had no trouble accepting it at all. I started cutting it really short for a number of years and one day (more or less out of curiousity), I shave it completely bald.
The only short anxiety moment was when my wife saw it, but she liked it immediately.
-
I accepted it immediately. I was jealous of the dudes who A) had the balls to shave it all B) were cool enough to shave it all. I was tortured with the comb-over and I really mean tortured. Going SLY was EASY for me and a great relief. I am a happy dude.