One of the trainers at my gym appeared to be in the early stages of thinning on top.  He got a buzz cut last summer -- I'm guessing a #2.  I thought it was just a summer cut but he ended up keeping it at that length ever since.  Tonight when I went for my workout I noticed he'd made the huge jump fro #2 to zero-guard, completely skipping #1.  Of course, I had to say something, so I said, "It's a bit early for the summer haircut, isn't it?"  And he just responded that he'd just decided to try the zero-guard. 

I told him it looked good and then told him he was only about 1/16" away from closing the deal.  He said that he couldn't "go all the way" because he was concerned about a (to me) barely noticeable scar right behind the hairline.  He said that was the only spot that had no hair at all, and was afraid that if he shaved it, the hair around it might never grow back.  I just said, "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen whether you shave it or not."  I also told him that the scar would probably be less noticeable without any stubble around it.

I thought that was the end of the conversation but a moment later, he said, "Well, come summertime once I get some color on the scalp, I'm definitely going try "bic"-ing it.  Of course, I said, "Go for it" and pointed out that it would only take about three days to grow back to where it was now.  To me, he seemed to be the type of guy that would prefer the buzz and probably wouldn't even consider shaving.  But now I'm thinking that it might be something he really wanted to do and just needed a few words of encouragement.  Time will tell.  I'm wondering if he'll be able to hold out until summer.