Hair today gone tomorrow

[UnrealizedPotential]

So I started losing the hair on top of my head in my late 30's. I am 49 now. A bald spot right on top of my head. I have been thinking about it for a while now and I am going to look into getting a hair piece/toupee to cover it. I am not trying to look any younger, although I might.

Mostly I just want to feel better about my look. I hate that bald spot. The sun beats down on it and I am tired of putting sun screen on it. I guess maybe a bit self conscience about it too. For many reasons I don't like it. I know it's not just men, some women lose some hair as well as they age, although I think it may be more common in men.

Some people it doesn't bother, and I think that's wonderful. But whether it bothers you or not, whether you did anything about it or not, if you would like to share your story about hair loss, please do.

 

[joeea]

God only made a few perfect heads. The rest she covered with hair.

Learn to love however you look.

 

[atmsmshr]

BIL said that the smarter he got the more his head poked out.

He eventually compensated by growing a beard.

I can now detect that I too am slowly getting smarter.

 

[candrew]

My hairline started receding in my early 30's. As my head continued gaining scalp, I began cutting what hair that was remaining ever shorter and shorter. Facing a choice similar to yours, I decided to celebrate my hair loss and own it. I've maintained a clean-shaven head for over 25 years now. I love it. DW and others have said it looks good on me. Not all guys can wear that look, particularly those who may have a "lumpy" dome and/or neck rolls. I make sure to wear hats and sunscreen for UV protection.

I recall 35+ years ago when my empl*yer at the time considered a shaved head to be an "extreme hairstyle" and unacceptable in their H.R. policies for personal grooming. At the time, the look and term "skinheads" had a very pejorative connotation attached to it. Guys like me can thank the likes of early shaved-head pioneers like Yul Brenner, Telly Savalas and later, Michael Jordan and Andre Agassi for bringing clean shaven heads into popular culture and making it mainstream.

 

[RunningBum]

I don't like the look all that much either. I don't think I'd look good shaved. I find it looks a little better to keep what hair I have pretty short. I wear a hat a lot, always in the sun to protect it, partly for looks, partly out of habit. Sometimes I'll even forget to remove it in a restaurant, which was somebody's peeve in the peeve thread not long ago. I don't really care. I don't see what's such a big deal. Men used to always wear suits in restaurants. Times change.

If you're going to get a toupee, get a good one, but that's just not for me. I looked into some of the meds but never tried them. The cream looked messy to deal with. The pills would keep me from giving blood, which makes me wonder about side effects too. Combovers just look bad.

 

[neihn]

My hair is very coarse and thick, very time consuming to take care (> 3 minutes is too much). So starting 2008 I decided to shave them all (however, not a close shaved, just no clipper on the hair cutter), and cut it myself every 2 or 3 weeks.

Obviously, not everyone likes that look, my wife did complain about it sometimes. But I like it, feel so much lighter on the head.

 

[Nemo2]

As part of the post sepsis repercussion I'm dropping hair after every shower......maybe it's time to start taking sponge baths.

 

[cbo111]

I was a blond with a full head of hair until some nasty chemo back in 1986. My hair eventually came back in sort of a brown color, but was never as thick. Over the next couple years I detected the standard male pattern baldness affect. Probably not caused by the chemo, but it definitely marked a turning point for my nice head of hair. I would never consider a hairpiece. They are usually so easy to spot, similar to people getting cosmetic eye surgery.

 

[24601NoMore]

My hairline started receding in my early 30's. As my head continued gaining scalp, I began cutting what hair that was remaining ever shorter and shorter. Facing a choice similar to yours, I decided to celebrate my hair loss and own it. I've maintained a clean-shaven head for over 25 years now. I love it. DW and others have said it looks good on me. Not all guys can wear that look, particularly those who may have a "lumpy" dome and/or neck rolls. I make sure to wear hats and sunscreen for UV protection.

I recall 35+ years ago when my empl*yer at the time considered a shaved head to be an "extreme hairstyle" and unacceptable in their H.R. policies for personal grooming. At the time, the look and term "skinheads" had a very pejorative connotation attached to it. Guys like me can thank the likes of early shaved-head pioneers like Yul Brenner, Telly Savalas and later, Michael Jordan and Andre Agassi for bringing clean shaven heads into popular culture and making it mainstream.

Very similar story here, except I started thinning in my 20s..fought it for a while trying Rogaine (didn't work) and other things, but eventually resigned myself to it and like Candrew started going shorter and shorter. Started off at conservative clippered lengths (eg: tapered 1-4) back in the 80s and 90s which over time evolved into a 00000 all over. That lasted a while, until I got up the guts to shave even the 00000 stubble all off with a blade some years later. Surprisingly, it looked really awesome - and I realized I don't "need" hair to look good. Yet, while *I* was comfortable with it, I did find especially early on around 2000 - 2005 or so that others especially in the w*rk world would occasionally look at me like I was some kind of renegade for standing out so much. I actually even had a co-worker "suggest" that I should "leave a little bit of stubble" vs. shaving down to the skin. Thankfully, TOTALLY "hair free" (which I prefer to call it vs the dreaded "bald" word) is becoming more and more mainstream and a lot of guys - especially those with MPB - are doing it.

I've been alternating between 100% smooth shaved and a roughly 00000 length now for years. Smooth is my preference, and how I'm most comfortable - but it candidly is a lot of work to maintain. Takes me about 20 minutes to do as I shave both with and then against the grain to get totally slick smooth..and that's a lot of time out of the day. So, I usually do it every other day or so to maintain the look best I can..

My advice to OP - don't fight mother nature. Everyone has to do what they're comfortable with, but I've never thought hairpieces looked good on people and are usually pretty obvious. So, you might want to consider going the other way and see how you look with LESS hair - ie: what you DO have much shorter. That generally looks better than the hair you do have being longer with the "hair free" spot surrounded by longer hair. If you clipper that down, it will in most cases look a lot better as the transition is less glaringly obvious..

Hope that helps! I feel for ya, having had this issue for 30+ years now..thank God I'm married to a great girl who thinks I look good no matter how much hair I have (or don't have)!

 

[blueskyk]

I don’t know why this is so but as a female, I have a higher regard for men that embrace their baldingness rather than do the toupee or combover thing. Everyone has lots of physical imperfections and a guy who has make peace with less hair looks confident to me.

 

[24601NoMore]

PS - one additional benefit of going clipper short (or smooth shaved) is that you can do it yourself quite easily and save a TON of cash. But if you do ever decide to do it yourself, get a good pair of clippers like an Andis Improved Master (about $100 last time I looked) and not a cheap pair like a Wahl from Walmart.

I've had my Andis and Oster 76 (uses detachable blades, including the 00000 I mentioned) for 25+ years now and both are going strong. I never calculated how much cash I've saved by not going to a pro every couple of weeks, but assuming $25 every 2 weeks for 25 years, it's over $15,000.00. That's a heck of a return on my roughly $250 of clippers and blades..

 

[Alan]

When I was young I had loads of hair, see my avatar, but it started to thin by age 30 and by age 50 I was pretty much bald. Never bothered me much, just one of those things. My wife runs the clippers over me every couple of weeks to avoid me looking like the pointy haired boss out of the Dilbert cartoons.

 

[Moemg]

MY SO's son started going bald . He had a small bald spot in the back of his head . He started popping Biotin and using a Keratin shampoo and the bald spot went away .

 

[justlikebike]

I believe the PC term is "Folically Challenged"

My phrase is that it's a solar panel for my sex machine.

 

[candrew]

I don’t know why this is so but as a female, I have a higher regard for men that embrace their baldingness rather than do the toupee or combover thing. Everyone has lots of physical imperfections and a guy who has make peace with less hair looks confident to me.

I like the idea of making "peace" with less hair rather than making a "piece" of hair.

Let me further suggest that men who opt for the combover or hairpiece route need to understand that nearly everyone will recognize it. No pun intended, however, being comfortable in one's own skin - whether embracing baldness or trying to camo it - will require a willingness to not only own the look, but also an ability to laugh at the occasional tease. My personal approach is to typically be the first to make light of myself.

 

[audreyh1]

I went through a period of sudden large bald spots. Minoxidil and saw palmetto helped a lot and some topical steroid use. But mine wasn’t male pattern baldness as I am female. It was an autoimmune condition called alopecia areata. Fortunately most of my hair is back on my head, still missing a lot on arms and legs.

 

[Bestwifeever]

People looking at you will focus on a toupee, whereas they will likely not even notice your hair if you just have a decent haircut (go to a stylist once in awhile and see what he/she can do). But if it makes you feel better, go for it.

I'm laughing now thinking of Alan Brady, as played by Carl Reiner in The Dick Van Dyke Show; his toupees were a running joke on the show until Laura outed him in an interview.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

PS - one additional benefit of going clipper short (or smooth shaved) is that you can do it yourself quite easily and save a TON of cash. But if you do ever decide to do it yourself, get a good pair of clippers like an Andis Improved Master (about $100 last time I looked) and not a cheap pair like a Wahl from Walmart.

I've had my Andis and Oster 76 (uses detachable blades, including the 00000 I mentioned) for 25+ years now and both are going strong. I never calculated how much cash I've saved by not going to a pro every couple of weeks, but assuming $25 every 2 weeks for 25 years, it's over $15,000.00. That's a heck of a return on my roughly $250 of clippers and blades..

I decided to start cutting my hair short when the receding hairline and the bald spot met and decided to join forces. I started with a #2, and I remember when I tried a #1 soon after it felt too short. Now I'm using a #1/2 in the summer, and #1 in the winter. I may try shaving it one of these days, but that seems too much trouble. The clippers are fast, and I do it in the shower (before showering, with the water off) for easy cleanup.

I paid less than $30 for my rechargable, waterproof Remington PG6250 two years ago and I've been very happy with it. If it ever goes, I'll take a look at the Andis, thanks for the recommendation, 24601NoMore.

 

[Aerides]

(hot take from a woman): Hair pieces on men are worse than botox or filler-duck-lips on women.

If you do end up going that route, make sure it's something that you update regularly, as your hair color and texture will change, and when your system doesn't match perfectly it stands out even more.

Far better to just trim what's left and deal. I'm guessing your DW or SO would agree.

 

[RunningBum]

When I went shorter a few years ago, I bought a Braun and did it myself for awhile. But it's a pain to get the back even, and to clean up the hair. I found a barber shop I like in town and they charge $12 (+ $2 tip) and I decided I like doing that better, and I only go every 6-8 weeks, I think. Once in awhile I'll trim it myself in between. I like the feeling of getting my hair cut, when it's someone else doing it. Kind of like a massage, maybe.

 

[Chuckanut]

Hats. A nice looking hat adds an air of mystery and intrigue to a man. Just make sure it’s properly matched to the clothes and the occasion.

 

[imoldernu]

Last barber shop haircut was the day before my wedding 60+ years ago. I do it myself and it takes about 10 minutes.

If a haircut and back and forth auto expense came to $12 and was once a month, still only $8500... but allowed for an extra 5 or 6 weeks of fun.

 

[travelover]

I've been Friar Tuck bald since I was 25. Please don't go with a toupee. Be proud of who you are. People are not as critical of baldness as you might think, especially women.

 

[aja8888]

I still have a full head of hair at 75. My barber has to thin it every third cut or so, however, it's gone from blond/light brown to grey. I guess it depends on the gene pool. No "baidies" in my family from what I remember.

 

[LRDave]

"Got a spot on the top of my head, begging for a new toupee
And a tire on my gut from sitting on my
But they're never gonna go away"

5 bonus points for the artist and song title.....