Now that the cost of transplants has come way down, a lot of guys are flying to Turkey and getting their transplants done
I feel like headshaving reached peaked ubiquity and mainstream acceptance during the 2010s, I see plenty of baldies whenever I go out but its not anymore than it was a decade ago.
I think during the early 2000s head shaving was fashionable even for guys who had a full head of hair like me. Even young guys in their 20s were shaving their heads. I remember on boards the big question was how to eliminate the shadow.
I think guys now just do buzzcuts with their full heads of hair. When i was in the supermarket several months ago, there was a young guy with a shaved head. He had a full head of hair based on the 'shadow' and I did a double take thinking it's been a while since I saw that.
@J_Scott: I'm curious to know your thoughts on how many younger guys are getting transplants, hairpieces or using minoxidil or finasterid. A coworker of mine got a transplant. He's fully bald in the back so i'm guessing most of the transplants are in the front. To me it's not a great look because he was growing his hair out. He looks like a guy experiencing hair loss trying to conceal it. I think maybe got transplants too late or his hairloss was very advanced. I think a buzzcut would have worked better on him. I actually saw him with the buzzcut, when his hair was growing after being shaved to get the transplants.
I don't know really any guys who have actually gotten transplants, systems sure, but not actually undergoing actual hair transplant surgery. I do know it's not a one-size-fits all solution despite how many guys think a quick trip to Mexico or Turkey would have you believe. You have to be a perfect candidate without to much balding and basically be on min/fin for about a year prior to surgery and then for the rest of your life lest the grafts fall out. I've seen one transplant in real life and it looked very obvious and the guy has had to pay to go back and have at least 2 more surgeries, but to some guys that's better than nothing. Sounds like your friend did probably wait too late to get surgery, but with having a intact hairline and then buzzing it down would give his face a nice framing as long as he kept the rest of his hair short (and the transplant actually took). Not the worst idea, but I couldn't imagine going through all that just to look balding vs completely bald.