My experience with shaving my head. Why young men should shave.

[LachyD333]

Why I shaved my head and why I think you should shave your head too!

My name is Lachlan Dudley. I am twenty two years old, born the 2nd of October 1990, and I live in Australia, Brisbane.

At the age of seventeen I began to lose my hair. Being in year twelve at the time, a year of immense stress for many individuals, you can imagine the devastation I felt when my hair follicles decided to abandon ship at such a crucial moment.

Throughout high school I always wore my hair long as this is how I preferred it. Girls had always considered me attractive. My hair was still thick enough to ride out the year, so, that is what I did. I spent the entire grade twelve year stricken with panic, wondering if any one would discover that my hair was slowly receding. Some individuals did notice on days that were windy or if I had forgotten to style it well. This left me having to check the mirror every thirty minutes to make sure my hair was sitting properly. Well, you can imagine what happened as a result of that. I started to focus more on my looks, how can you blame me, half my day was spent looking in a mirror, or a window, or some blokes reflector, to ensure that people wouldn’t discover my hidden secret. 

I wanted to shave it. I couldn’t, however, muster the courage to get out the clippers and buzz of my hair (at this point my hair looked full. Most people wouldn’t even notice that it was thinning, except for my hyper-sensitive self). I thought of how wonderful and liberating it would be to just man up and accept my hair loss. I mean, people deal with far worse things on a day to day basis with much more guts then it would take for me to simply shave my hair off! Indeed, I felt guilty at times. Getting upset about my hair seems rather trivial in light of the fact that I people are happy just to get a meal or to spend another day with a terminally ill loved one (sorry to get all emotional and heavy, but it’s the truth)

Any who. I finally shaved it. Cut it down to a number four or something that was relatively long. Some people liked it and others hated it. The girl I was hooking up with at the time detested it. Said my hair looked thin, and, let’s be honest, it did.

What could I do!? The only thing left, I guess. I grew it out. I grew it out and continued to hold on to what I had left and spent each day worrying about wether people would notice that I was going bald. I got so worried that I started taking medication for it. To my immense relief my hair loss stopped. It completely halted! Praise the heavens!

This was great for some time. It gets very tedious, however, having to apply a cream to your hair each day, twice a day. I like to surf. This made life difficult. I couldn’t swim or even exercise without worrying about washing or sweating out the super expensive liquid (it cost over 1000$ dollars a year). On top of this was the miniscule but still potential risk of harming babies.

I was now twenty two years old. I first shaved my head when I was 18. I shaved it once more after that but really didn’t like it. Again, the length I cut it too was a four or five blade, not too sure.

My girlfriend knew that I was loosing my hair. She HATED it shaved and wanted me to keep my hair as long as I could by continuing the medication. I on the other hand was fed up. In this day an age it is not only ok to be bald but, in many cases, COOL.

I snaffled up the clippers (At this point my hair was quite long) and I no guarded the whole lot off.

At first, I was amazed. I loved it! I showed my family and they didn’t mind itk either. I couldn’t believe that I had spent so long worrying about how I would look! I didn’t need to spend thousands of dollars and hours worrying about how my hair looked! I didn’t have to live in denial any more.

Then came the shock. I hated the way I looked. Who was I kidding? I looked like a cancer patient, who would ever find that attractive?

I have had my head shaved (I shave it to a 1.8mm length, as I prefer that to no guard) for over two months now. I won’t lie and say it’s been a blast the whole time. I spent much of the first two weeks swinging from regret to exhilaration at shaving my head.

Since then, however, all I can say to any young man (or old, or female) thinking of shaving their head, go and do it! It is honestly one of the biggest changes I’ve made in my life (You can’t really alter your appearance much faster than if you shave your head). I am so much more confident. I really do, and I’m being 100 % honest here, love the way I look with my shaved head. The maintenance is so easy. No more expensive pills or drugs. No more having to worry about wind or water or friends questioning you about your thinning hair. No more trying to avoid standing under light at clubs. NO more having to wear hats or beanies even when it’s hot and you don’t want to. And, guess what, my girlfriend even liked my head shaved when I did it down really low.

Please. Please! Do your self the favour of shaving your head. I know it can seem like a massive step. Geuss what! It’s not going to be easy. Your friends will tell you they hate it (some of mine did) but you will be surprised by how very little they care. Most of my friends either said they really like it or they just said “Oh! You shaved your head? Cool dude, what are we doing on the weekend?”. You may hate it for a while and then love it and then flip back to hating it. All of these things will happen. But I bet you, No, I guarantee, you will be a more confident, happy and probably a better looking person because of it.



P.s I told my girlfriend the night before I shaved my head as I didn’t want to shock her. Apparently, if you have a girlfriend or significant other this is a good idea to do as the shock factor can make reception rather negative.

[Blitzed]

Sir, I salute you. You now know what others will find out and that it's not the end of the world but simply an elegant solution to a problem. You're now a role model for others of your age; you're the one they can point to and say...if he did, so what, so can I. And there are other plusses such as...never fearing doing it again. Frankly, getting a tanned scalp looks better and, where you live, getting  any sort of tan is simple just remember, slip, slop, slap. (To those who are not familiar with Australia, do some research about the three S's ad campaign.) You've done something for yourself you do not yet realize; You've stopped aging. Hair is the one thing that, outwardly, marks us as "growing older". With no visible sign, you just stop wherever you are and for the next 20-or more-years remain in an age limbo-you'll be amazed at how your mates do age, grow a bit gray, grow a bald spot, none of which will happen to you. I shaved my (very full) head of hair when I was 57 and that was 15 years ago. People are so used to me being bald that, now, that's just the way I look, few can really remember when I was furred. Even my physician has commented that he has to check my information to remind himself that he's dealing with an older man.

Thank You, too, for your careful, clever discussion of how, why and when you did it. Your calm logic may well take the horror out of the deed for others and, of course, Welcome to the world of Sly.     PJ

[Frontier Guy]

Lachy, thanks for your exceptional post.

There is no substitute for "real world experience" and particularly for others of similar age.

You've helped so many who will read this in the future.

[theman]

Lachy , enjoyed reading your post good job.   You explained a great deal.

[mangosink12572]

Good for you,  - - Now enjoy the freedom as we all do now- - - -I have never been so happy as I am now being completely shaved SLY BALD.

[Beardman]

Thanks for sharing your story mate, you are a bloody legend  Next time I'm up Brisbane way (I have some friends up that way) I might even offer to buy you a beer haha.

That was a very good read, and I hope that many of the fence sitters take the time out there to sit down and read your tale.

Have you tried going completely sly yet, or are you still rocking out the no guard look?

[LachyD333]

Thanks for all the comments I haven't tried going completely sly yet. I am going to do it for the Shave for a Cure Foundation when that comes around, which I think is some time next year ? I am just keeping it short at the moment but I am really looking forward to a full shave. My only concern is that my head might get burnt a bit as I surf regularly. Might have to invest in a surfing hat which some of the bald/shaved fellas use.

[baldjoeg]

Lacky,

that was a great post. Thanks for sharing your situation with us. I am sure wyou will nlike the sly look and it will help your confidence too!

When you do it and go surfing, make sure that you invest in some good sunscreen.

Good luck to You.

[Beardman]

Thanks for all the comments I haven't tried going completely sly yet. I am going to do it for the Shave for a Cure Foundation when that comes around, which I think is some time next year ? I am just keeping it short at the moment but I am really looking forward to a full shave. My only concern is that my head might get burnt a bit as I surf regularly. Might have to invest in a surfing hat which some of the bald/shaved fellas use.

That's a great idea bro, I thought of that after the case, but I don't think I could live with growing my hair out to do the shave... I have thought of putting my beard on the line, but I can't think of a "fair" amount... I keep thinking it would cost thousands for people to get me to shave it off...

Definitely get yourself some good sunscreen, I haven't heard of these surfing hats, what do they look like (I am not a surfer but I'll be spending a lot of time in and around the water over the next few months I am guessing)

[Lynchy]

Welcome mate,

Thanks for sharing your story.

Nice to see even more Aussies about. A good sunscreen should do the job out In the surf.

Cheers