I realised I wouldn't give a damn

[whatevr]

A couple of days ago I shaved my head as close as I could with an electric hair trimmer, cause it was really thin and annoying and making me OCD every time I entered a lit room to see how visible my scalp was and whether it was all combed properly to hide the recession. I got fed up with that and decided to shave it just for a change of pace. Now, judging by people's reactions I don't look that BAD shaved (ofc, I am NW2A or so and it will probably be a diff story when / if I go fully bald), but it made me realize a few things:

-if the only kind of people on the world were the likes of my family and such (who are pretty supportive and sympathetic to me about this issue) I probably don't give a crap about going bald, because they do not treat me any different because of my hair loss
-if baldness had no affect on attraction and my relations with women, I wouldn't give a crap about going bald
-if baldness didn't make you a free target for others to mock you, I wouldn't give a crap about going bald

The only reasons that I would still care about going bald would be:
-my identity being tied to my hair
-being bored/sick of being forced into a single "hairstyle" for the rest of my life and having no room for expression

But in reality it's mostly about society's change of perception and interaction with you once you start going bald. Anyway I know I didn't exactly invent warm water here but it sort of put things into perspective of exactly WHY baldness is a problem, which is kinda a difference between baldness and other diseases which inhibit your life in direct ways, whereas in baldness it is mostly through your degraded interactions with others.

 

[swingline747]

A couple of days ago I shaved my head as close as I could with an electric hair trimmer, cause it was really thin and annoying and making me OCD every time I entered a lit room to see how visible my scalp was and whether it was all combed properly to hide the recession. I got fed up with that and decided to shave it just for a change of pace. Now, judging by people's reactions I don't look that BAD shaved (ofc, I am NW2A or so and it will probably be a diff story when / if I go fully bald), but it made me realize a few things:

-if the only kind of people on the world were the likes of my family and such (who are pretty supportive and sympathetic to me about this issue) I probably don't give a crap about going bald, because they do not treat me any different because of my hair loss
-if baldness had no affect on attraction and my relations with women, I wouldn't give a crap about going bald
-if baldness didn't make you a free target for others to mock you, I wouldn't give a crap about going bald

The only reasons that I would still care about going bald would be:
-my identity being tied to my hair
-being bored/sick of being forced into a single "hairstyle" for the rest of my life and having no room for expression

But in reality it's mostly about society's change of perception and interaction with you once you start going bald. Anyway I know I didn't exactly invent warm water here but it sort of put things into perspective of exactly WHY baldness is a problem, which is kinda a difference between baldness and other diseases which inhibit your life in direct ways, whereas in baldness it is mostly through your degraded interactions with others.

you just named off all the reasons why it bothers EVERYBODY lol

Those are literally just ALL the problems with going bald.

I always say if I was not the only one of my siblings with hairloss it honestly wouldnt bother me but being the bald/ing brother drives me crazy

 

[torturedsoul]

That's exactly what I think. When I shaved my head and it still looked like I had all my hair, I also thought it didn't look that bad. It was the hair line of course. Once I saw myself in bright lights that made the hair line disappear, I became very depressed, because I knew I would look like a grandpa soon. Most people I know were globally sympathetic about my baldness. I still had my fair share of women while I was bald, and people who mocked me were a tiny minority. The identity problem has switched for me now, I consider my true identity as the shaved head one, when I let my hair grow (thanks to my hair transplant) and I see my old self, I'm like: "That's not me!" It's true that it's annoying that we will never be able to get a hair style again, but that's just the way it is. In my teens, I was known as the guy with the crazy spiked-up hair, well for 4 years at least. Baldness is a problem because it affects all areas of your life, even if it's mild, it's still there, and you don't want to have that disadvantage. If I had kept a full head of hair, I would not have been forced to face mockeries from family, friends and random people for years. There would have been way less depression, anxiety and mental anguish in general. If I had kept a full head of hair, I would have had a better sexual life, whether it was because there would have been no self-imposed limitations (I chose celibacy for a year and a half), or because more women would have gone for me. Baldness, especially at a young age, comes with a lot of problems, but as I always say, it has the advantage of building character. If you can get through baldness in your teens/early twenties, you can get through anything.

Why aren't you on finasteride/dutasteride?

 

[DannyBoyy]

I noticed the intimidation factor immediately after I shaved my head for the first time at 20, I still had very good coverage and it looked like I was doing it by choice.

I step down on the street to go to a football game, the first old lady I come across holds on to her bag when she sees me. Great. A woman told me once:

"You, getting mugged? If I saw you on the street, I would think you're one of these skinhead Polak thugs and I would never dare to bother you."

I like the intimidation factor too. I think it also helped with women. But as you said, if you do it as a slick NW6, you automatically go from bad boy to loser.

I really think that if I got all my hair back, I would still buzz it short. I don't ever want to go back to my 15 year old self.

I kinda like the intimidation thing aswell, obviously i dont want to scare anyone or anything i like that, nothing major, im a soft soul, its just growing up through school and few years after i was picked on etc, so if my bald head keeps more people who are dickheads away from me (not scared but just keeping bay), great.