So I'm bald now. Anybody else?

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Yes, fellow WP posters, I could no longer bear to watch the continuous thinning of the hair on my scalp, and decided to put a stop to the recession of the hairline by slash-and-burning the whole rainforest!

So now, I have joined the league of chromedomes! Hey, if it works for Joey Lawrence, it works for me.

But now, I kind of need to adjust to this new situation. On the plus side, it cuts down shampoo costs by a third in our household, but now I'm a bit stumped on how to properly take care of all this exposed skin. It's the second day today that I've been bald, and so far I've been keeping it smooth by using the same Wilkinson Sword razors I use to for regular shaving (facial stubble). Is this good or bad? Also, should I apply something to my head after shaving? I've bought baby oil to use after the aftershave (or rather alum, as I use an alum crystal to disinfect after shaving). I should probably mention that I have dry skin.

Comments would be very, very welcome! Normally, I'd google this, but it's not all that urgent, and I'd prefer to get feedback this way as it's more personal. I'm curious if there are any other bald WP members on board and how you guys rock the scalp.

Cheers.

I'm also slowly but steadily getting there but I don't care, I used to be bald in my teens because it was deemed to be a good look on me.

Plus, 50% of the black male population for example is bald.

As long as you don't look like Justin Beiber you're fine being bald I think.

When you're having long hair with obvious bald spots in it that's way worse than being completely bald or buzzcut imo.

At least you're not a female who is balding. (picture bald Britney Spears for example)

I think I would scare people if I shaved my hair off. I have a pretty nasty scar underneath it.

Hi CyclopsSummers,

I too recently decided due to my front hair-line receeding to just accept it.
Instead of going bald I now have a grade 2 all over.

Prior to doing this I researched into various products that claim to restore hair growth in balding men. My discovery was that these products may work, however they have a very BIG downside..... If someone stops using them then all the hair that has regrown from using the product falls out. And even worse, it seems that if a person uses these products and then stops using them that the receeding of the hair that was already there is accelerated.

In other words; once you start using these products you can't stop otherwise the hair will fall out quicker than it would have before.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL9lQ-DiL80[/youtube]

Invest in a large assortment of hats

I've been losing my hair for a few years now & am trying some various products after research online including hairloss forums. Your rite that those products have to be used regularly which can be a pain with time/convenience & expense & the medications have risk & side-effects & require a prescription unless you get them online form overseas & I get some that way but I'm rare because I like some of those side-effects like lower testosterone lowering my sex drive. Part of why I don't want to lose my hair is because the hair helps protect my head. I moved from south Louisiana to Vermont a year ago & we're closer to the sun & the weather gets colder. I didn't like losing it before & started trying things a couple years ago because I didn't like the sun shinning on it. I wear a cap now when I go outside but I think hair helps insulate/protect my head & make wearing a cap more comfortable on my head. I think it's great that some like Cyclops here are able to embrace it & I think the bald look works well for some guys like Patrick Stewart/captain Picard but I find it alittle odd that Star Trek was able to cure the common cold but not baldness Anyone here is welcome to PM me if they want to know about some of those baldness treatments or we could start a new post instead of derailing this one.

Thanks for you feedback you guys. StarCity and nick007, I guess I'm going to steer clear of those hair-regrowth products on account of the side-effects.

And Uprising, Skin rocks the bald look pretty well:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPglNjxVHiM[/youtube]

I think some men with totally shaved head look better than with hair. I might try it someday although I would probably still look as boring as I do now.

I'm lucky; 46 and no hint of a typical male bald spot yet. But I do have a receding hairline on the forehead. Not really any worse than 30 years ago, but it still looks "older" (even though it basically looked the same when I was a teen). But then it was all brown, and now it has a few white hairs around the sides and front, and my beard (if I ever didn't shave), is WHITE

Charles

I'm bald in the front so I usually cut my hair down to a 1 so it all matches.

I will add that those products are alot more likely to be effective when started sooner rather than latter. There's only two FDA approved treatments anyways. Rogain is a topical foam that you have to rub on so risk/chance of side-effects is alot less if you only put it on your head & wash your hands thoroughly after; the main side-effect is possibly a slight burning sensation rite after it's applied that goes away real quick. Rogain may not make much of a noticeable difference thou except for slowing down the loss & it can be a pain applying it twice a day & not being able to get the hair wet for a while after. Rogain usually works better when used with other treatments. The other FDA approved treatment is the medication Finasteride. It was originally approved for Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy in the strength of 5mg under brand name Proscar. The company noticed that in some it stopped baldness & afew even regrew hair so they ran trials to test it in the dose of 1mg under brand name Propecia. Some think male-pattern baldness is due to high testosterone but it's actually due to a genetic sensitivity to DHT which is a more potent form of testosterone & Finasteride affects the DHT receptors. Some of the potential side-effects are related to lower testosterone. It's fairly easy to get a prescription for it but what most docs will probably do is prescribe it in the 5mg & tell you to take one 4th; health insurance is more likely to cover the 5mg because it's used for Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy whereas the 1mg is used for male-pattern baldness which is a cosmetic thing. I'm taking 5mg & haven't really noticed any side-effects specially from that but I'm taking & doing other things too some which are probably pointless & a couple which could be more risky; I won't go into that stuff here because that really belongs in another tread. Soy is thought to help Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in kind of a similar way to Finasteride & some think it could help with male-pattern baldness as well. There's soy supplements & those are probably safer than Finasteride but may not be as effective & like other things probably work better with other treatments. Nizeral shampoo might also help. It's used for dandruff & has afew other uses but it also has some anti-androgen properties as well as helping with itching. I originally started using it partly because of the itching I had. Instead of washing my hair with it 2wice at a time every few days which the bottle says; I use my other shampoo 1st & then put it on & let it soak a minute or so every couple days. There's a prescription strength that's 2wice as strong as over the counter version; the stronger one may not be prescription only in Canada because I see sellers on Amazon selling it but it's cheaper & probably better & safer to use the weaker one a day or so more frequently. You could also look into that Keranique shampoo to use everyday. The commercials say it has an FDA approved ingredient to regrow hair & Minoxidil which is the ingredient in Rogain is the only approved topical one but I'm not sure if it actually has it or not; commercials could be misleading/lying.

i still have a covered head but the covering is somewhat thinner than it used to be, mostly all over. there is always a bunch of hair trapped in my hair brush.

Don't forget sunscreen and wear a hat. Your head is now somewhat more vulnerable to UV rays.

What about Hairclub? they are always advertising on the tele, as far as I know they have not been sued.