What will it be: spontaneous or planned?

[Andrei]

Do you remember your first head shave?
Was it a spontaneous decision and you did it or was it planned?
Which do you think is better for a future sly guy, to schedule it or just use a weekend's morning or any evening and go with a razor?

[Frontier Guy]

I'd thought about it for a couple of weeks and buzzed down to a #2.

Then planned to go to "no guard" at my next barber appointment (three weeks later on a Monday).

But the anticipation was too much, so I moved it forward a few days, went down to "no guard" and said "Ah, what the heck" and then shaved it Sly.

Haven't skipped a daily shave since.

[Trac3]

I remember my first shave very clearly as it was not so long ago..

I believe it was spontaneous even tho I prepared for it a day before with a bottle of whisky.. However idea of doing that wasn't planned.

There is nothing wrong with spontaneous decision of shaving head for the first time however I would suggest to do it on a vacation where you can get used to your new look by yourself and maybe even get some tan in places where your hair were. That way it will look better and you will be more comfortable with people you know or public places that see you for the first time as a sly guy.

P.S. In most cases I think using clippers would be wise before a shave with a razor because it won't be pleasant to do it with a razor if you have more than 0.5 cm long hair.

[Ming the Merciless]

It's been over a quarter of a century now, so my recall is not the strongest.  But, I think it was something I sort of planned, but took a bit of thinking before I actually did it.  Certainly not something that one moment was nowhere on the horizon, and the next minute was biting at me.

BTW, it's not been twenty-five-years-plus as "all Sly," as I do let it grow back some from time to time--being of the "high forehead" balding, not the "horseshoe" kind.

[Andrei]

Noticed I forgot to say how it was in my case.
Well, for me it was spontaneous: one Sat morning I decided to go with the razor over the buzz. For me it turned out ok.

The question popped in my head a while after joining SBG; there are always people on the fringe and I was wondering what will it work best for them? Different people different choices, but let's see how did you start shaving your dome, and maybe the undecided will benefit out of this.

Thanks guys for sharing your experience here.

[greatnessinc]

It was planed just not fully thought out, I used a disposable double blade razor; I only kept it up for a week, I didn't know about shaving with the grain. After realizing the blades I had used to shave my head were inadequate I did some research and a year later I was all in on head shaving.

[Paul the Headblader]

oh oh oh. I started using the clippers. from the #3 guard, to 1, then with no guard.
I remember It took me like two weeks to think about shaving it with a razor.
I also remember I was going towards the store to buy a razor, then I simply stopped and came back, I was simply afaid of the fact that I wanted to shave my head.

[Hingatao]

It was somewhere in between. I got a #2 buzz cut on a Tuesday morning. That evening, a few poeple suggested that I go sly so I arranged to have a friend give me my first shave the next evening.

[-Doug-]

Planned for me. I've had thinning hair and I'd got the itch to try it. I coordinated my shave as part of a fundraiser. If my goal was met, I'd shave my head. We'll I exceed my goal and did the deed! I kept it for a few months then let it grow back out. The next time, I just started buzzing it lower and lower and then all the way. This last time, about 18 months ago, it was the same story as my second time, however this time it is here to stay.

The difference between this time and the first two was that mother nature/genetics hadn't fully taken over. Now if I were to grow it out, it would be VERY thin on top.

[Razor X]

Somewhere in between. I'd been thinking about doing it for a long time.  I was still getting buzzcuts, going shorter each time.  I was getting a #1.5 and went to the barbershop planning on going down to a #1, but I chickened out at the last minute and got the #1.5 again.  Afterwards, I regretted it and decided to remedy the situation by buying a pair of inexpensive clippers and doing it myself.

It was a Friday night, and as soon as I got home, I got to work with the clippers, but with the #1 guard, it wasn't cutting off any hair.  I didn't realize at the time, that putting a plastic guard marked #1 on a pair of clippers doesn't cut quite as short as a clippers where the whole blade pops off and yo put a #1 blade on it.  Since the clippers I had weren't doing the job with the #1 guard, I decided to take a chance and see what would happen with no guard.  After one swipe, I realized that it was much, much shorter than what I'd envisioned, but I had no choice but to continue.  It left me with very short stubble that was barely visible.  I wasn't going to shave with a blade at that time, but I was practically bald anyway and figured that going the rest of the way wouldn't make a significant difference in the amount of time it would take for the hair to grow back.  I deliberated for about 20 minutes and finally realized that if I didn't do it, once my hair was grown back, I would regret it, just as I'd regretted not getting the #1 cut at the barbershop.

I let it grow back after that one shave and then kept it at #1 for a while.  A few months later, I was in the barbershop again.  It was a shop with about six or seven barbers.  I went with the first barber to free up.  He was very old. I asked for a #1 and the barber next to him -- the guy who usually cut my hair -- told him what kind of cut I usually got.  The old guy repeated, "OK, #1 it is."  He then proceeded to shear off all of my hair with a #000 blade.  I have no idea why.  I know he heard the instructions properly because he repeated them correctly.  Again, I knew right away I wasn't getting what I asked for, but once he started I had to let him finish.  When I got home I decided that I might as well shave the rest off.  I kept it shaved for about two weeks but didn't feel completely comfortable with it and let it grow back.  It was about another year before I became permanently sly.  I probably would have stuck with it the first time if this site had been in existence then, but I didn't have anyone to offer support and it was a difficult transition for me.

[Laser Man]

Mine was planned.  I participated in a St. Baldrick's fundraiser organized by some friends.  Everyone else buzzed down for the day and grew their hair back afterward.  I buzzed down, then shaved smooth after the event.  I couldn't believe how much I liked the look and feel...so 15 months later, I'm still sly and intend to stay this way.

[Frontier Guy]

Razor X, great story. 

Fate required two (minor) catastrophes to finally get you Sly.

I agree that having this site available provides a huge foundation of support for guys destined for Slydom.

[Beardman]

Mine was very spontaneous, I went to my mum for my normal buzz cut and my sister decided she wanted to do it, so I was like sure whatever. When she was almost done, my sister asked why don't you just shave it off? I said, if you want grab the razor and do it, so she did. When I looked in the mirror I was amazed at what I saw, and have kept it shaved ever since.

[Sir Harry]

Mine was spontaneous.....Back in 1986, when I was in the eighth grade, I got a haircut with a "jacked-up" outline I took my dad's clippers and took off the guard and started trying to fix a barber's "mistake"...But me, "Mr. know it all" made the haircut even worse because when I was finished trying to "fix" a bad haircut, my neckline was almost up to the cranium...but I was late for school and so I went with the nape shaved off (bald fade haircuts were not in at that time)...After one of the worst days of my grade school career I came home and my dad saw what I had done...He gave me a stern lecture and said....the only way to fix this is to shave the rest off....the next day, I went to school with a no-guard shaved head and actually got some nice compliments! I didn't realize that something that happened to me at 13 would be a preview of what I am today!

[nuts]

Sort of planned!  Had wanted to be bald for years but lacked the courage to do the deed.  Gradually had my  hair cut shorter, one day had a zero buzz cut down from a No.1 and went home and shaved it all off.  Told my wife I was keeping it for a year (no 30 days then) and now it is 8 years.