You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
So for some years my hair line has been fairly high but now it would appear the hair on the top of my head is thinning, when do I admit it to myself and shave all my hair off?
It's currently styled in a swept-back stylee so there's still plenty on top but I have to face the facts and that is the hair is thinning whether I like it or not.
When did others decide it was time to give it the 1-all-over treatment?
When the wife tells me...
I'm a #2 all over... she's used to it now.
I just kept cutting it shorter and shorter.
It is empowering and you will feel epic afterwards.
Do it now and send before and after pictures
I did it in the first lock down, gave me a chance to get used to it while no one else was around to gawp and point at me.
Agree, It is empowering!
Was feel self conscious about receeding hair all through 20s.
Once I had the balls to buzz it all off, I never looked back.
DO IT!!
Never!
* flicks luxuriant locks*
I did it during first lock-down too.
I seem to have inherited my Dad's pattern of balding with a nice spot of baldness growing steadily from my crown.
I remember years ago catching sight of the back of my head in a changing room and being shocked how bald I was. When I asked my (now) Wife about it, she said I'd been like that for ages, and just assumed I knew.
I kept umming and aaahing about whether to just go for a short all over, grade 2, and then bit the bullet during lock down.
Should have done it years ago.
It looks much better than trying to keep a 'style' going when there's clearly a massive bald bit in the middle of it & it saves me something like £15/month in haircuts.
I have no option now, but note you have to cut more often the shorter it gets or uneven bits really show up.
Also I have a fair number of hats now - not vanity - just avoiding sunburn
I was in my late thirties. Mine was thinning considerably and that was OK "disguised" by a No 4 on top and 2 at the sides, but it was a losing battle. Fortunately the "fashion" for clippering it all off kicked in (or rather was wrestled from the hands of the thug types) and I treated myself to some clippers and grew a goatee. Zero all over since then. It's liberating.
I have tried keeping it down to skin alone with a electric shaver type grinder, but can't be arsed every other day so it's beard trimmer with no guard every week.
Years ago, I noticed the slightest bit of thinning at the top of my head.
Shaved off the same day, and now shave to bone with wet razor every 2 days. Nothing worse than a bloke trying to keep his hair...
Best thing I ever did (best might be pushing things) but it was a relief to never have to worry about my hair ever again. Plus I used to suffer from real anxiety about going to the barbers and having to make small talk so that was a bonus too, and I’ll have saved hundreds.
If I may be blunt;
If you have noticed the top of your hair is thinning, then anyone else who has looked at you for, probably at least a year, will have noticed you're effectivly sporting a comb over.
Just get it done, you'll not look back. I've been shaving my head since my early twenties. If I don't look like my dad!
About 25 years ago! I starting noticeably thinning in my late twenties. I muddled along with shorter and shorter cuts until my early thirties before the clippers came out. Never looked back, never mourned the loss of my hair. Own it, rejoice in the lack of faff it creates and have one less thing to worry about. Invest in a good head shaver, I recommend the Remington RX5 - none of that No.1 nonsense, down to the wood!
Never. There's nothing more stylish than a Gregor Fisher comb-over...
Mark Strong, Bruce Willis?
It’s a really good look, and I say this as someone who doesn’t have any hair loss.
Never!
* flicks luxuriant locks*
I was in a pub with some squaddies and the older ones were taking the piss out of the younger one who wasnt yet man enough to recede.
I liked them.
Only downsides are sunburn and sometimes it can be a bit chilly but both easily sorted with a hat. Been no 1 for 15 years, absolutely hate it when it grows too long. I reckon a buzz cut takes 10 years off your age.
Shaving your head because you're worried it looks like you're going bald still looks like you're going bald - just with shaved hair
Go full male vanity and shave it then get lots of those little dots tattood on on your scalp so the bit thats bald looks likes shaved hair. - Create the illusion that you've shaved fulsome manly main, not jus the bits you've got left over. Its the very much done thing
That way you flick the Vs at TJ flicking his luxurious locks..... until the rest of your hair falls out and you have a tattood island on your baldy napper. Or for even more fun - the hair you have got goes grey.
Do it. You'll have a few days of colleagues & friends being surprised and making jokes, then nobody will give a shit.
Well, I effectively started on my hair loss journey after my 30th birthday. By the time I was 40 I'd got the comb on the clippers down to a No1. Making the switch to the razor was incredible as it was the final an undeniable admission that I was a fully fledged slap head. Nobody batted an eyelid but I encountered serious push-back from SWMBO.
So, to buck the trend I'm suggesting you go full comb over prior to doing anything else.
Feel free to post some before & after shots \o/
I think if you are asking the question then you already know the answer.
Really it depends a lot of your hair - maybe try a diffferent hairstyle. Some hair / heads / haircuts look fine with a bit of baldness. Embrace being an adult. Shaving your head is hiding baldness in the exact same way wearing a wig is really. Maybe just do something different rather than just give up.
I could shave my head (I did once by accident after the guard came off my clippers and I shaved a diagonal line across the top of my head so just had to finish the job off) - but anything less than a N04 and I just dont suit it. No 2 looks like a bouncer, No1 looks like an escaped lunatic, No0 and I look like escape wouldn't cross my mind. So a choose to have mostly hair.
I look like a vulture with a zero so have to keep it 2-4 and embrace the donut of power :/
About 25 years ago when it started thinning. Best thing I ever did as opposed to slowly cutting it shorter and shorter. Get a Headblade Moto or Omnishaver, some SPF moisturiser and never look back.
Several factors in my decision to go zero guard all over.
Sunburn - unavoidable when thinning and hoping you aren't thinning. It hurts on your scalp.
Reflections - lights above your head really make a point of your scalp being visible through your hair.
The amount of hair removed during a cut - noticeably reduced volume of hair and minimal attention to the top.
It's all down to excess testosterone, you're a real man now!
No.1 all over for me every few weeks.
I feel a fully shaved head would be a level of faff I'm not prepared for! 🙂
Every month or so, and the clippers come out (set to zero).
Barber here, if it goes from the back, ie, bald patch, then it needs to come off. If it goes slowly from the front you can carry on for years if you like.
Mine went at the back so came off at 34. Only issue I have is that it needs doing every two or three days and regulations say you need to balance it out with facial hair 😉
When do you admit you’re bald and shave your head?
I'd say when you're about a 6 on the Nutkins scale.
What Hooli said….
Just buy platforms / cuban heels and no-one will see your shame.
I’d say when you’re about a 6 on the Nutkins scale.
regulations say you need to balance it out with facial hair
My hair started retreating from my eyebrows in my twenties. I've kept my hair short since then Gradually moving from a 2 to no guard. Maybe I'm one of those thug types. I'm sixty now the hairline stopped receding just at the top of my temple in my 40s but now it's turned bloody white. So it will be staying ultra short.
Had really long hair in my youth.
Years of doing stupid shit to it soon wrecked it.
First signs of it falling out and I took the only real option and clippered the lot off in my late 20's
Give it a going over once a week with no guard on.
Life is so much easier this way.
TBH my quandary is when to go blond (oddly that's a uk word with sex - blond/blonde) as I'm not really into the distinguished gray hair look, currently skin fade cut seems to hid it but I may have to dye it one day and i'm just not a just for men guy.
I can't do the beard thing as that really shows it.
I wanted to for years before I was "allowed" to 😀
But when I hit 40 the Mrs was like "OK, it's time now". I think I got out before achieving the full-on "egg in the nest" look, which is pretty much what I wanted.
I would echo what others have said about maintenance. When I had #3 back/sides and scissor cut on the top I could go five weeks between haircuts and it'd mostly look OK. Now it's #1 all over if I don't trim weekly it starts to look bad (or possibly worse).
Interestingly, the barber's is now more expensive. I feel it's an insult to their art to go in and just ask for #1 all over so I get my beard done too...
I reckon I could carry the film image of a So Cal tech surfer giant look as opposed to the real life Elon 🙂
When i was 19... 43 now. Always been a 1 or 0, never been brave enough to try the full on bicced look. I was seeing a hair dresser for a bit during my mid twenties who convinced me she could disguise it. Looking back at photos from then, she failed. Weirdly no one else in the family has been blessed with baldness - clearly i must be the alpha male then...
The day I saw the bright shiny round bit on the back of my head in a photo at a gig is the day I clippered mine off. I'd been trying to keep it looking OK for too long with a comb back and honestly it was just delaying the inevitable.
No guard clip every few weeks makes dealing with hair way easier anyway.
I think if you are asking the question then you already know the answer.
I was going to say, "when you feel the need to start a forum thread about it."
Honestly, I've got little to add as like TJ I'll go grey rather than bald. My hair is one of the very few physical traits I'm happy with, I'd be devastated if I started losing it. I reckon I'd be in denial as long as I could get away with it (and probably be longer). You have my sympathies.
When it was pointed out to me I had fallen out clumps stuck to my back at a sweaty rave in Bridlington Spa. Guess I would have been 19!
Mid 30s, final straw was a mate is not seen in a while taking the p!ss, clippers on it that evening (against the will of SWMBO) and weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders and the bonus that I could wear hats without messing up my hair. Since then it’s gone from grade 2 to no guard; to skull shaver.
When your MTB friends start calling you monkey bum head.
When my pattern baldness went odd, widows peak stayed, but wasn't attached to the rest. Went to No1 all over every 3 weeks. Covid shut the barbers so I went shaved and have stuck with that. Remington RX5 every couple of days now.
Takes me about 5 mins with the headblade a couple of times per week and the blades last forever. I think fully bald looks tidier and weirdly helps you look younger if you’ve only got side bits left. I’ve tried electric head shavers but they don’t get it smooth enough.
During lockdown I clippered my hair to a grade 3 and really liked it but the long haired general decreed that I had to have proper haircuts again as soon as the barbers re-opened. I assume that were I to starting thinning on top she'd allow it then.
For just about every male in my family it's started in late teens or early 20's.
All sorts of methods to hide it, comb overs, comb forwards, slicked back, doughnut of power (my dad was balding from the crown at 25 AND had a big bushy perm at the time), clippers all over, a few toupees over the years as well... Dad still goes to the barbers to have what's left tidied up. The actual cut is probably the shortest part of the entire operation, including blipping his card at the till.
Brother started going at 19/20, still in denial in his mid 40s (though it hasn't actually got much worse in the last 20 years). Family photos have always been interesting to see, find out how to disguise MPB.
Me and my great uncle though. He went grey in his 30's, white in his 70's and died with a full head of white hair (but stained yellow by smoking) in his mid 90s. Still styled with pomade into an immaculate DT and quiff that he'd started doing after the war. I've not even gone grey yet at nearly 50, hairline has moved up about half an inch since my teens (a scar that was in my hair, is now on my hairline). Everything else is where it should be.
I spent the best part of quarter of a century shaving it all off though. Sunburnt scalp, the whole lot.
Started letting it grow again at 45.
I waited a bit too long to be honest but when I took the plunge I was more than happy I did. Only watch out, if you decide to go down the DIY route when shaving, is to make sure you run your trim past someone you trust (not your teenage son) as it is easy to miss a nice long streak or a bit behind the ear.
Google image search Prince William and scroll back in time. Pick the year that best matches your current vibe. You can then see your future and decide.
As above the Prince William scale...
I have hair but still clipper it off on a zero..
Only watch out, if you decide to go down the DIY route when shaving, is to make sure you run your trim past someone you trust (not your teenage son) as it is easy to miss a nice long streak or a bit behind the ear.
Yeah, i got stopped at the door to a night club in my late 20's by the bouncer.
Took me to one side.
Got out a knife.
And shaved the little patch on the back of my head that i'd missed.
Only downsides are sunburn and sometimes it can be a bit chilly
Hail is deeply unpleasant with a shaved head.
I think I noticed I was growing too tall for my hair on a security monitor in a petrol station.
Just gradually went shorter with the clippers, now it's clippers with no guard once a week.
Only watch out, if you decide to go down the DIY route when shaving, is to make sure you run your trim past someone you trust (not your teenage son)
My teenage daughter does a surprisingly good job of tidying up the bits I miss.
Never fully trust her though.
My teenage daughter does a surprisingly good job of tidying up the bits I miss.
Teenage daughter = fine: teenage son = not fine, and thinks it is hilarious if i go out with a stripe
Yeah, i got stopped at the door to a night club in my late 20’s by the bouncer.
Took me to one side.
Got out a knife.
And shaved the little patch on the back of my head that i’d missed.
That's fantastic! 😀
My hairdresser was the one to suggest it. Did herself out of a job there as I've never been back and do it myself!
Her comment was something like "Have you thought about shaving your head? It's taking less and less time to cut your hair now, you're not getting your money's worth"
My brother-in-law's combover was a thing of beauty. He was clinging on to the concept of hair for far too long
Do it
that is all
My hair is definitely thin at the back. Missus is not convinced it's time to clip it off just yet. 42 by the way.
Won't be long until it's full on chimps arse though, then the clippers will be in action.
43 and been receding from the front/temples for years already. Very gradual but when I see myself in photos taken in the past few years, very noticable. Always been a #2 back n sides and short scissor cut across the top anyway due to crappy, dry, lank hair anyway - luxurious locks it ain't.
My big worry about a buzz cut or shaving all over is I think I have a lumpy skull! Hair at least hides a bit of that. Is that a concern of those that shave?
how to you drop a hint or two to a mate that its time he stops holding on for dear life....
Still got a full thick head of hair at 50 but I choose to shave it off or at the very least a grade 0, have done since my early 20's as hair is just a ****ing nuisance to deal with
I'm surprised my wife hasn't mentioned I should do.
She and my son have both said I'm losing hair at the back (not that it's particularly bad or thin yet) and we can all see I'm losing it at the front so I'd have thought she'd have insisted I shave it off but she hasn't yet so I'm holding on a bit longer. I'm now wondering if there is a point at which it becomes inevitable.
Is that a concern of those that shave?
I think head shape is a factor in how well you can carry it off. Some people just look a bit too 'uncle Fester' for example. I think mine is OK 😎But Mrs BUTR might have a more objective take on that! Being cursed with male pattern baldness is bad enough, without having to look like Shrek in to the bargain!
You'll never know till you give it a go. Do you feel lucky punk? 😉
When did others decide it was time to give it the 1-all-over treatment?
About a month into lockdown. I’d been putting off the inevitable for years, I started using a new barber not far from where I live, and it was about £10 once a month. After lockdown, as I wore a hat all day ‘cos I worked outdoors ten hours a day, it was sweaty and lank by the time I got home, so standing in the bathroom with my beard clippers, I just thought, oh, what the hell and went for it. My partner just looked and said, well, that’s better! As did all my friends.
I managed to find one of those Remington clipper things, and I use the 2.5mm combe once a week.
Having a wee bit of stubble acts like Velcro and helps stop my hats from sliding off!
I decided to do it in my mid 30’s. A few people commented that I looked like a thug for a week or so, but soon got used to it.
The biggest bonus for me is not having to go the hairdresser/barber and having to make small talk. 😆
About 2005.
nah, just chop it off. More to worry about in life. Started in my 30's and I just started cutting my hair shorter. Then ten years ago I just shaved it all off and now twice a week, guard off. Most of my friends are either the same or in denial.
About 4 weeks ago, age 42.
In truth, it's not too bad and I could have held on longer, but it's now a 2 all over and looks pretty good. Also saves money on hair products and trips to the barbers.
I was about 14, after looking at my dad and both grandads and noticing mine was starting to look a bit thin in places I decided it was coming off, grade 0 all over. I'll never forget the look on my mother's face when I walked through the door afterwards. 44 now and can do it in under 10 mins with a Gillette fusion razor
#0 all over the top since being 32.
It is what it is and embrace it.
My Dad lost his hair in his 20s and I remember him sporting a full Bobby Charlton-style combover into his 40s. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when he cut it off (though never shaved his head fully). Thankfully I've still got a decent covering but I have the worry of not even being able to grow a full beard to compensate if I do go full slaphead.
I think head shape is a factor in how well you can carry it off. Some people just look a bit too ‘uncle Fester’ for example. I think mine is OK 😎
TBH I'm surprised there's no head paint so you can do a 1 and er paint the patchy bits.
When it's time just go for it don't bother messing around going 4,3,2,1 just go no blade you look odd in the mirror for a couple of days, but no one else really GAS.
Embrace the look, get a hat for the sun and a choice of beanies bobble hats for when it's cold.
Started when I was 18 (along with so many other things). Haircuts since have cost a grand total of £250 (three pairs of clippers). Not bad for 27 years.
Bare clippers once a week, job done.
My big worry about a buzz cut or shaving all over is I think I have a lumpy skull! Hair at least hides a bit of that. Is that a concern of those that shave?
think I’m lucky in this regard as I have a pretty smooth and uniform head. A good hat head as Mrs F says! I can imagine having an odd shaped head might make the decision more difficult. That said I think anything looks better than denial
TBH I’m surprised there’s no head paint so you can do a 1 and er paint the patchy bits.
I got talking to a fella at a wedding in the summer who’d had stubble tattooed onto his head. So that the bald bit matched the shaved bit. In fairness, it looked really good, just an appearance of consistent cut.
Full head of hair here but I give it a number two (!) most days as I like the springy feel of freshly clippered hair. However, I think a closely cropped balding head looks much better than combovers etc which never really work. If in doubt, think Trump.
Around 1980 , went from ponytail to short back and sides. Clippers with no guard is the nor now .
Mine started thinning in my early twenties, finally shaved it all off mid thirties I think. To be honest it's so long ago I can't remember. Once I'd done it I felt great and it had the added bonus of women in the pub telling me it looked sexy and wanting to stroke my head (men with shaved heads were a bit of a novelty around here at that time). OH found a photo of me from the pre shaved days before she knew me and asked what the hell was I thinking? I thought I had destroyed all those photos but as I looked at the picture of a guy who looked a bit like me but bald on top with a stupid pony tail, I couldn't think of a good answer!
My dad still has a full head of hair, all be it grey. I'm going that way at 53, but my younger brother, early 40's is more mums side so losing it. Mum's dad was bald.
I've always said it will be short if it goes. The Mrs won't let me go too short - it's 18mm top, 12mm sides (don't know the cut size now as I whizz it over myself these days).