Sly Bald Guys Forum
Discussions About Being Bald => 30 Day Rule / Beginners Section => Topic started by: Abach24 on December 03, 2012, 05:08:48 PM
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You saw the title, I am 17 years old. In about 5 months i went from a full, thick head of hair to losing my confidence entirely.
I had an extremely rare, bad reaction with an anxiety medication, resulting in the premature genetic loss of hair.(all confirmed by Dermatologist) I recently gave myself a buzz, and I'm just dreading staring at my big old dome with tiny thinning hairs on top.
I want to take the plunge, but a clean "sly" shave isnt what you want to rock in HIGH SCHOOL. I do not have the confidence to go sly bald, yet i am extremely not satisfied with whats left up there!
On top of this all, I have a massive head and i just don't think a pale, smooth, massive head at age 17 is something i can pull off. HELP!
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Post a picture of the scalp, so we can see if you can get away with it for another year.
And if you don't have the confidence to shave it smooth, you'll definitely have it after.
I also have a big head. I was concerned. It looks way better than I thought it would.
By the way, I'm 19, so I'm about your age. Not balding, but I'd be okay with it. I like the feel, you will too.
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I say you have nothing to worry about but defiantly post a pic. I'm a little younger than and I am completely bald sly as can be and love it I think it will help you out a lot with your confidence if you do. You shouldn't have much to worry about. If you need anymore help let me know I will be here and will be willing to help you with anything if you need O0 ;D
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See what you can come up with by meeting with a specialist. If no success, you need to shave it.
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I say you have nothing to worry about but go ahead try a specialist and if it ends with possibility of scarring I would avoid it and just go ahead and shave it
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From what I can tell, you would look good bald. Don't freak out over it. It actually looks okay. You could get away with the buzz for a while, the 9th Doctor, Christopher Eccleston look. But still. You would have a great increase in confidence if you shaved it.
Again, your hairline isn't awful.
If you're not comfortable with being in High School bald, when do you graduate or turn 18? After either of those would likely be an easier transition, even if you're still in high school after turning 18. And just one thing--being bald doesn't look bad at all. In fact, you have to agree it looks awesome. It's just outside the norm, though generally accepted.
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agree with the other members statements .
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Welcome Abach!
There are plenty of men that start to suffer from balding a little bit before graduating so you're not the only one going through this.
But this doesn't mean you don't have a choice.
From your picture I can see you're sporting a buzz cut and honestly, it doesn't look that bad as I expected after reading your first post.
I assume your hair is now about #2 or a #3, but I would suggest you to run the clippers without any combs attached (to get a #0).
When hair would be that short the thinning is not that oblivious anymore.
Regarding the skin color difference, well, we all went through that, moderate sun exposure is the key.
By the way, if you already went with the #0 buzz cut then maybe consider shaving, just to give it a try and see the result; it can be very therapeutic.
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Firstly, welcome to the family mate, I am sorry to hear about your reaction to eh meds mate, but we should be able to help you with your crisis mate!
Good to see Chris and Crusher have already weighed in, they are pretty new to the game themselves so know exactly what you are going through.
I think you will absolutely rock the sly look mate, you don't have to be old to bust out the razor, there are many of us younger guys going all the way (I am 26 myself, started shaving when I was 25), and we all love it!
The final years of High School are tough on anyone, let alone those of us that suffer with male pattern baldness (MPB) from such a young ages (I started at 13 or 14, and I think it was pretty noticeable by the time I finished high school), but I think that shaving your head will give you that boost that you are after. I personally felt like a weight was instantly lifted off my shoulders when I saw the finished product, and there are many other out there that have reported the same thing, so Hopefully you'll get it too if you decide to take the plunge O0 . One of the best things about hair though, is that it grows back (where it can...) so if you don't like the sly look, in a little over a week you'll be back to a no guard, almost a #1 buzz! It's really that quick.
If you do give it a shot though mate, I recommend the 30 day rule, shave every day, (or every other day) for 30 days. It will help you become accustomed to the look yourself, as well as your family and friends. It will also help your head get used to the process too, and will give you time to improve your technique and routine. After the 30 days I can almost guarantee you wont look back!
Let us know how you get on, we are here to help where we can mate!
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By the way, if you already went with the #0 buzz cut then maybe consider shaving, just to give it a try and see the result; it can be very therapeutic.
Great suggestion Andrei ... and if you shave on a Friday night, but Monday you'll be back to stubble/buzz.
You could be razor smooth on the weekends until you decide to keep it all week long.
My guess? Once you shave it all the way, you'll be keeping it all the time.
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Welcome, Abach---you came to the right place. In some degree, we all know what you are going through.
I just wanted to add that if you want to try the razor, a good time may be later this month. If I were you, I would plan to shave it on the first day of Christmas break--right after school. I'm not sure how many days your school is out for the Holidays, but you would definitely have more than a long weekend. This would allow you to see what you think, plus give your hair time to grow back out some, if you truly hated it.
If you decide to go back with a slick dome, maybe you could rock some Pitbull style sunglasses and play it off real cool. Either way, just have fun with it, own the look and let your confidence build. You will get some attention for sure. Some will be negative and some positive. Maybe you will start a "fad". (do we still use that word? lol).
*I do have to say that if you decide to leave it "as is"... you will look fine too.
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As you may know the bald and bearded look is in maybe you should give that a try. I'll you will look amazing! Hang in there. Bald is Bold
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See what you can come up with by meeting with a specialist. If no success, you need to shave it.
Welcome to SBG ! I agree, check this hairloss with a specialist. I am a bit surprised there was no warnings about this anxiety drug side effects? With Christmas Holiday break coming soon, I'd buzz it no guard and give the sly look a try. If you don't feel comfortable with sly, then grow to a maximum of #1 or #2 to blend hair/scalp. Good Luck ! We all support you !
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I say you have nothing to worry about but defiantly post a pic. I'm a little younger than and I am completely bald sly as can be and love it I think it will help you out a lot with your confidence if you do. You shouldn't have much to worry about. If you need anymore help let me know I will be here and will be willing to help you with anything if you need O0 ;D
Crusher should know. He's still in high school.
Maybe you can talk some buddies into shaving their heads with you! Like 'cancer' patients and their friend in support.
Good ideas above, shaving for the weekends until you enjoy it. Or Shaving over Christmas break. You do have a good head shape to shave bald. Think of it as a rite of passage into manhood. Claim it early. Will make you look a few years older.
I buzzed no guard before shaving bald. The look is almost identical, but the feel of being bald is what keeps me shaving my head every day.
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Good advice from the other guys. See what the specialist says, it might be temporary. You actually look OK in your photo.
I know what you mean about breaking the mold at High School. I guess it's about confidence in the end and what you feel happiest with. You never know, you could start a trend!
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So after the advice, what are you going to do? Keep it buzzed? Find if it's permanent? Shave it? Wait to shave it?
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Wow, I was not expecting so much support so quickly! Thank you everybody, I highly appreciate it!
The medication I took was called Zoloft. I'm going to see a specialist as well about this as I really don't understand how this is permanent loss... I stopped taking it, so why wouldn't my body return to normal function..?
The dermatologist I saw told me that the Zoloft brought on genetic hair loss.. and we all know that genetic loss is permanent loss. So until I see a specialist and I am 100% sure that it is permanent, I'm not cutting the area of thinning and am shaving down the thicker areas to make everything blend in shade of color.
I turn 18 on January24 and graduate in June. It'd be a lot easier to wait until June..but I'm not sure I have 6 months of hair left! I also like the idea of shaving it the first day of winter break. I have an 11 day break so I guess that would be a nice transitioning period.
What I am really struggling with is coming to acceptance with it. A few months back... I had a full, thick head of hair. This loss was such an unexpected shock to me, and honestly its still sinking in. High School kids can be brutal, and i just don't want to have to deal with any criticism when I do decide it is time to take the plunge.
Thank you again to everybody. It feels great to have a community who can relate to me.
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Eh, high school kids like that are immature. Regardless, whatever you choose, I hope it goes well. Just be careful cutting your own hair to even it out, that could easily go bad.
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Hi Abach, I also lost my hair due to a reaction to medication and was also balding at 17, it's not awesome, I know the feeling sucks, but freeing yourself from it feels amazing. My major, sudden hairloss came after a surgery when I was 21, so I know it is a different situation being at high school, but trust me, a man who takes control is one who will far more easily command respect and admiration, than a man who hides... but in the end, the respect of others is not that important, compared to self-respect, and being comfortable with oneself, you do what feels best for you, because it's you that lives in your skin 24/7. I'm with Myke, try it over the break.
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Aside from all this, check around the site while you're figuring things out. Check out the "To be or not to be bald" and reactions sections. You can get a good perspective on what it's like after the deed there.
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Welcome, Abach and good luck with everything, man...I gotta say it's pretty cool how all the "young bucks" look out for each other on this site....
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Welcome, Abach and good luck with everything, man...I gotta say it's pretty cool how all the "young bucks" look out for each other on this site....
;) 8) also some of the old RAM's to O0
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After looking at your pic I reckon that it looks really good the way it is.
Yes, it is thin but that looks good too and could be the result of styling it that way. If you want to keep it then just tell others [if they ask] that that is how you like it. You seem to have a really pleasant skull shape.
If you think that you have a "massive" head then I guarantee that you will be very pleasantly surprised when you finally decide to do the deed. You do not have a massive head. If you don't believe me then get it measured with a tape measure against some off your mates.
Even better -- post the measurements here so we can all post ours and you will see how things really are. It would actually be interesting to see how much head size differs especially according to age. It seems to me that older blokes noses [independent of whether one tells the truth or not] and ears keep growing larger until they die but perhaps it is just of the rest of the facial structure collapsing.
Anyway, shaving it off feels liberating -- it's up to you to decide when to free yourself of "the tyranny of hair".
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So I assume it's winter break for you... are you going to wait longer, or are you just going to tell everyone that their opinions on your hair doesn't matter and just shave it off? Because when you've shaved your head, you find that you don't worry so much about what others think. But yeah, if you don't feel comfortable with it, you can just choose not to. Of course, I guess that a good amount of those here didn't feel comfortable with shaving it the first time... but not the times after...
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Hope I'm not just totally butting into a man-zone. :P
I'm a slyette, 28, shaved because of allergic skin reactions to chemicals which make me itch and get rashes so I feel more comfortable with no hair and being able to directly apply meds to my scalp. It's not always easy being a slyette. It's less socially acceptable than being a Sly Bald GUY. But I found that I actually have a very nice head shape!
You too seem to have a nice head shape for going sly. I think taking it down to a #1 or 2 may help it blend and your hair isn't very very dark so that will help too. Unfortunately, I think it looks MORE obvious that a guy is losing hair when he tries to grow the hair around the bald spot longer than everywhere else... . (What was it the :popo used to say when they came into school for DARE programs? "Say No To Combovers"? Yeah, I think that was it... ;) )
I wish you the best whichever way you choose to wear your head! It's what is in the heart that counts.
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Crikey GutsyGirl Sister!!
There is no man-zone here....ummmmm except the men's room down the hall...anyway I digress lol
You and all the Sly sisters are welcome here, don't think Tyler or the other people who set up this website wanted it to be a men's only club.
Speaking personally I enjoy having you and the other sisters (Slyettes) here and joining in, gives me and the other people a different view on things.
So Gutsygirl, post often!! O0
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:)
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What Oz said! We always love the opinions of the fairer sex O0
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I know I am late to the party chiming in, but if you have some questions about the medication and what it does I can explain it more in a PM. I work with patients on it a lot and have seen this before. Going to you problem at hand hmmm, well High School is a strange time and I never was the social norm there anyway I was the kid the was always walking around with the jeans and a leather jacket and t-shirts I never bought into the styles, and having to have this and that. I was more worried about my Car or Truck I had and what girl I was interested in. What ever you decided to do do it with confidence. Any woman young or old respect a man that can make a decision and stick by it. Be ready to hear some comments because it is High School and some kids have nothing better to do then to make stupid comments. Always remember when that 10 year reunion happens a lot of those kids that made those stupid comments are the ones that don't do much with there life because they never took the plunge. Good luck and keep us updated.
Eric
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Who says it isn't what you want to rock in high school?
Ive been shaving my head for 4 months, and I'm younger than you. Be strong and go for it! You will feel a lot better having a smooth dome, than watching your hair thin out more and more.