First off - hi, guys.
I'll introduce myself with a story, I suppose. Most of you can probably relate. Hopefully someone who is thinking about taking the dive will relate to my story as well, as I have by reading some of the forum posts.
I'm 22, and when I was around 20 or so I looked like this:
http://myspace-792.vo.llnwd.net/00646/29/70/646430792_l.jpg. Good-looking guy, right? I've gained some muscle since then. The angle and the lighting and the style somewhat hides the receding hairline, which I sort of accepted, since I always had somewhat of a widows-peak, even in my baby photos. Maybe I was lying to myself, I don't know.
But soon after that photo, I noticed the crown of my head was getting thin, too. I've been gradually accepting my fate since then. It's really taken over a year and a half for me to get this far, mentally.
As a side note, in the picture above, I am wearing a shirt for one of my favorite bands: Les Savy Fav. Oddly enough, the lead-singer of that band is the first hip bald guy I'd ever encountered:
http://www.afterbirthofthecool.com/lessavyfav_boudist.jpg. Luckily for me, he wasn't dressed like that when I saw them live. Anyway, he hasn't exactly shaven his head, but it allowed me to consider that bald dudes could be pretty cool, instead of being a collection of cancer patients, fat guys, inmates, Patrick Stewart, and wanna-be bad-asses.
Since then, the lowest I've taken my hair was about two months ago, before winter set in here in the desert. I took it this low (
http://myspace-330.vo.llnwd.net/01288/03/34/1288904330_l.jpg) so as to dip my toe in the water. I loved how clean it looked, how orderly everything was, and how low-maintenance things were. Plus, it brought out my eyes - chicks dig the eyes. What I didn't like was that the crown of my head looked even worse: the hair was short enough to be low-maintenance and long enough to look like I was hiding from my thinning hair. It wasn't a big deal the first week, but as hair started growing back in faster in the front and sides than on top, it started to look terrible. I let it grow back to where I am now, which is much like the first picture.
But tomorrow, I am taking it down to a #1 or a #2 cut, whichever the barber feels is best. My barber is bald, by the way, so it'll be easier to ask him!
Anyway, that's where I'm at. I should post pictures tomorrow. I think my face suits things fairly well, although I'd like to get some more sun. I understand that my scalp will be a little paler than my face, as hard as that is to conceive. I'm not a big facial hair fan, and even if I was, I couldn't get anything more than a cop mustache since I'm in the military. I'd feel more confident going into things if I had a more "chiseled" looking chin, but I've gone from 175 lbs. and 17% body fat to 168 lbs. and 13% body fat in the past few months, and increased my bench press from 175 lbs to 235 lbs., so I've got a bit of a confidence boost still going from all that.
Hopefully I don't get cold feet; hopefully I hang in there long enough to let the shock wear off and get comfortable with my new look. I don't plan on bic-ing it, but I've learned to never say never. It seems like everyone on here is a big fan of it; for now, I'll go with the velcro/stubble thing with the #1 (or #2).
Thanks for the support!