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Head shavers of the world, unite!

 
Sheriff
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OK, so I started losing my hair 30 years ago. So for the past 20 of them, I've just been buzzing it.

This past week I decided to go whole hog and just shave the darned thing (results below).



It feels incredible!

So let's talk about "bald by choice".

Any other head shavers out there?
 
Bear Bibeault
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Thanks to the recommendation of another staff member, I picked up the following at my local CVS:



Who knew?

And it comes in matte and glossy finishes.

Before heading out the CVS (which is a fair distance), I thought of calling to make sure that they stocked the product. But I figured that asking "Do you have Glossy Head Lube?" would get me hung up on faster than asking if they had Prince Albert in a can, so I just hoped for the best. (Turned out it's right there with the other shaving products).

P.S. I use glossy.
[ June 02, 2006: Message edited by: Bear Bibeault ]
 
lowercase baba
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i still say you missed a patch!!!

 
Bear Bibeault
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You can have my beard when you shave it off my cold dead face!
 
Bear Bibeault
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Overheard in a grocery store (and I'm sure the subject was me):

"Mommie, mommie, that man's head is on upside down!"
 
Leverager of our synergies
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Bald heads are so damn sexy!
 
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I just go to the barber and say "engage"!
 
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By my count, there are now four JavaRanch staffers who shave their heads (at least sometimes).

First time I shaved my head was a few years ago. The idea had cropped up for me over the summer, but it wasn't until a coworker of mine came back from vacation shaved bald that I decided to take the plunge too. (A lot of headshavers will tell you that if you even have the smallest inkling of doing it, you will know no rest until you do.) Anyhow, I kept mentioning the idea to my wife, but she was somewhat violently opposed. Her thoughts were (are) that the look is a good solution to a problem -- in other words, it's fine for a balding dude to do it, but why would someone like me (full head of hair) want to. Anyhow, one Saturday when she went to work for a few hours, I shaved, unannounced. When she came home, I yelled from another room, "Don't freak out, but I shaved my head today!" Er, she freaked out. She had thought I had been joking all along. Anyhow, shaving at that time of year (October, norther hemisphere here) wasn't the smartest move on my part -- my face was tan and my scalp was very pale. I also underestimated how long it would take to tan up the scalp at that time of the year. I kept shaving only for a week or two, then let it grow back.

In the middle of all this, I happened to be sitting outside in the sun by my apartment building one day, reading one of Kathy and Bert's books, when a bee or wasp landed on the back of my head and stung me. The worst part wasn't the huge swollen lump forming on the back of my shaved head; it was that when I moved my hand to swat away whatever was attacking me, my wedding ring flew off and landed 20 feet or so away in some tall grass. (The ring had been loose because I had lost a lot of weight and never got it resized.) I spent over an hour crawling around looking for it. I sectioned off the whole area like an archeological dig and searched square by square. Nothing. Next day I took off work in the middle of the day and went to a construction equipment rental place and rented a metal detector. Found the ring in just a couple minutes. Months later I did tell my wife the whole story.

Wore it shaved again for several months two summers ago.

This year, I'll probably keep it smooth until fall. Eventually, since I have such thick coarse wiry hair and it becomes such an annoyance to shave every day or so, I'll get fed up and just let it grow back.

Don't have a picture to post yet. I'm planning to buy a camera soon.

My wife still hates it.

I had offered to model (while shaving) for the cover one of the Head First books, but the author didn't take me up on it.
 
Bear Bibeault
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Originally posted by Michael Matola:

I had offered to model (while shaving) for the cover one of the Head First books, but the author didn't take me up on it.



How completely approriate that would be!
 
Bear Bibeault
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Originally posted by Michael Matola:
By my count, there are now four JavaRanch staffers who shave their heads (at least sometimes).



The four: Michael, Bear, Andrew and ?

Max?

Any others?
 
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Originally posted by Michael Matola:
First time I shaved my head was a few years ago. The idea had cropped up for me over the summer

 
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Bear, Did somebody say you look good in tonsure? Well, you really look

There is no smiley with a beard. :roll:
 
Bear Bibeault
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Hey thanks, Arun!

It's also keeping me healthy as I told people that know me to shoot me dead if I ever resorted to comb-overs or a rug!

P.S. I had to look up the word "tonsure". It's not a word that I was familiar with. Thanks for the vocabulary addition.
 
Bear Bibeault
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There is no smiley with a beard.




[ June 05, 2006: Message edited by: Bear Bibeault ]
 
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Originally posted by Bear Bibeault:
So let's talk about "bald by choice".



Sometime, sooner or later, all men will be forced to follow you, Bear.
I myself still have some years to go, or so I think, but I am totally for it...For now I shall start toying with different ways of buzzing it...
[ June 08, 2006: Message edited by: Raghav Sam ]
 
Bear Bibeault
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Originally posted by Raghav Sam:
Sometime, sooner or later, all men will be forced to follow you, Bear.



Not all, but a good percentage. I think the statistics are that about 70% of the male population experiences at least some degree male pattern baldness.

And of that 70%, few seem to embrace it enough to go the shaving route.

Personally, I'm thoroughly enjoying the freedom of being hairless.
[ June 08, 2006: Message edited by: Bear Bibeault ]
 
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Originally posted by Bear Bibeault:
...of that 70%, few seem to embrace it enough to go the shaving route...


The worst thing we can do is pretend there's still real hair up there -- growing out those isolated strands as if they cover anything. (On second thought, most hair "replacement" techniques end up looking worse than that.) Embracing it shows the most self-confidence, and looks cool too.
 
Bear Bibeault
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Originally posted by marc weber:

The worst thing we can do is pretend there's still real hair up there -- growing out those isolated strands as if they cover anything.



The mere existence of the "comb-over" amazes me. Does anyone actually look at a comb-over and really think that it looks better?

Embracing it shows the most self-confidence...



I quess I've always had a good self-image. Or maybe I'm just missing whatever gene makes some guys freak out at the mere thought of going bald.

and looks cool too.



Thanks!
 
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I have had what I guess you would call a comb-over for quite a long time now. I was getting tired of it so I announced that on my 50th birthday I would cut it off and go chrome on top. But everyone else in my family said "NO!!"

Well, I thought, they're the ones that have to look at my head, not me. So I left things as is.
 
Bear Bibeault
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Personally, I'd go for it. Once you get to our age, I feel it's ok to do what you think is best for you once in a while.

Besides, if you don't like it, it grows back!
 
Bear Bibeault
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P.S. Also, you don't need to actually shave it either. As I originally posted, I just kept it really short for years (long before "the buzz" came into vogue) and, to me, that looks a lot better than trying to hide it.

You should post a picture.
[ June 08, 2006: Message edited by: Bear Bibeault ]
 
Dave Lenton
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While not going bald yet (although my hair line appears to be worryingly on the retreat), I find shaving my hair really short is still a good idea. Without meaning to sound too girly about it all, its so much easier. No combing, no hair jell, no silly sticking up bits, its just the same all the time - no effort required.

Its also so much cheaper. If I wanted to get my hair cut, it would cost me about �7-�10. Instead I can buy clippers for about �30 and never need to go to a barbers again. Considering I (well, my girlfriend, I'd miss patches if I did it myself) cut it every couple of weeks, that's an awful lot of money saved. I've only had to replace the clippers once in about four years.
[ June 09, 2006: Message edited by: Dave Lenton ]
 
Don't get me started about those stupid light bulbs.
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