"At least I'm not bald."

[nyjrb]

Given the choice I would take having a gut over being bald anyday. That being said, we don't get that choice. Plus some people end up with both, like my dad and older brother, went bald and then got a beer belly right after. I think they tried to drink and eat away their sorrows, haha!
Now thinking about it....I hope that doesn't happen to me...

 

[swingline747]

I have seen that happen on national French television. It was the French version of the show "The Price Is Right".

I remember I was only 19, on holiday with friends and just discovering the "world" of hair loss.

I didn't follow everything but the main host of the show is a famous bald guy in France called Vincent Lagaffe.

This guy:

The supporting host was a middle-aged man who starred in a TV show for teenage girls in his prime. He still had that ridiculous NW1 teenage hair line.

This guy:

Anyway all I remember is this: Lagaffe makes a joke that I didn't hear and the NW1 guy replies with "At least I have hair!"

The bald host replies with: "Let's take a break!" with a furious look on his face.

Of course I was the only one in the room who picked up on that.

My friends were my age, two girls and two guys (full head of hair of course) and they were just like "Meh". They didn't notice.

"At least I have hair"... Like it's such a great accomplishment! Privileged NW1 douchebags.

This is where my anger comes in. I work so damn hard but in the end it means nothing honestly.
I get sick lately of people showing images of hot shaved guys with obvious nw1 hairlines and talking about how good looking THIS bald guy is. Hes not bald. Give him the 5oclock horseshoe and then speak up.
Its like I work my *** off at the gym but for what? The guy with good hair is still better.

I see even out of shape guys with good looking girls there working out together while bald fit guys are angry and alone.

I wish I was one of those people with some crazy niche interest I could use to become a millionaire and just feel good about my success but honestly putting myself through college for near 8 years for a bachelor's garnered me middle class life at best and That's with my rental props.

I'm in a mood. I'm gonna hold off posting till this passes I think.

 

[maher]

Indeed. I'm 25 now and I'm seeing a lot of my peers who once tried to lecture me about baldness starting to thin too.

Including one of my cousin who once almost died laughing about my father's hair piece.

This is my cousin's last Facebook picture with his wife:

I know I should not wish baldness upon anyone and it shouldn't make me feel good, but it does, and a lot. I know karma doesn't exist but sometimes it comes close.

My father knows about this story of him mocking him for his hair piece, when he discovered this picture, he was like: "Well, in a few years, he'll be able to get his own hair piece!"

LOL. Looks like Buddha and karma in the selfie..

 

[swingline747]

Given the choice I would take having a gut over being bald anyday. That being said, we don't get that choice. Plus some people end up with both, like my dad and older brother, went bald and then got a beer belly right after. I think they tried to drink and eat away their sorrows, haha!
Now thinking about it....I hope that doesn't happen to me...

I think this happened to most guys who lose their hair. I remember my pops being a much happier guy then. But I was also little and oblivious. When he lost it almost overnight his entire mentality changed. He also became basically bodily dismorphic and turned himself into a human skeleton.
Most guys get the attitude I just mentioned and say why bother and just let themselves go.

 

[SayifDoit]

I was so close to adopting this mentality too when I became a NW2 at 22. But it had the opposite effect on me, it made me work harder to look as good as I could despite the baldness.

I took vitamin A to clear my oily skin and acne, I whitened my teeth, I started eating healthy lost some weight, I got gynecomastia and myopia surgery and I stayed out of the sun.

But as you said swingline, even with all that, I still looked ill because of my faded wispy NW5.

While a NW1 could be a little overweight, have some acne, mild man boobs and glasses, and he would still look decent and society wouldn't look twice at the guy.

Add baldness into the mix and you're considered a creep and a paedophile by society. So I understand why it upsets you so much.

Fred you were a NW2 at 22? That alright in it...
I'm NW2 and 20.
I thought you said you didn't recede?

 

[shookwun]

The worst about the whole 'at least i'm not bald' is you could have the best argument, and debate then some idiot who can't emotionally handle the situation will shout that out then suddenly the tables turn, and the the bald male looses. It's almost as bad as people talking about haircuts infront of someone who's loosing their hair, that and when a Norwood strokes his hair infront of a male pattern baldness sufferer.


People who haven't lost hair see male pattern baldness sufferers as amusement, and a form of humour.

 

[VeprSuper]

If not being bald is the only retort you have for a disgusting gut, you have lost in the game of life.

 

[Wolf Pack]

The worst about the whole 'at least i'm not bald' is you could have the best argument, and debate then some idiot who can't emotionally handle the situation will shout that out then suddenly the tables turn, and the the bald male looses. It's almost as bad as people talking about haircuts infront of someone who's loosing their hair, that and when a Norwood strokes his hair infront of a male pattern baldness sufferer.


People who haven't lost hair see male pattern baldness sufferers as amusement, and a form of humour.

Me and my friend couldn't discuss balding the other day as the guy in the bar sat next to us was bald. He was having a meal alone. It's just common courtesy I guess. I don't really look bald and my friend has some thinning - hardly noticeable as he is afro caribbean. But we played it safe.

I do the same when discussing medical conditions in public, you don't know who is eavesdropping.

 

[lkm370]

chances are as a fire fighter, hell eventually burn to death so karma

 

[nyjrb]

I think this happened to most guys who lose their hair. I remember my pops being a much happier guy then. But I was also little and oblivious. When he lost it almost overnight his entire mentality changed. He also became basically bodily dismorphic and turned himself into a human skeleton.
Most guys get the attitude I just mentioned and say why bother and just let themselves go.

Yup, they must let themselves go. I've noticed that most nw5's and up seem to have beer guts. Take my dad for example, I've seen photos of him at my age, we looked a lot alike. He was very thin with a full head of hair. Now he's nw6 and has a pretty decent gut. How does that happen? How do go from stick thin..to that? He's said to me: "Just wait till you my age. You'll look like this too." but I hardly doubt it.

 

[F2005]

All of your sentiments are true. It's easy for a bunch of NW1's to tell some one not to be depressed about their own hair loss because they have never experienced it for themselves. I call it the I WOULD syndrome. Although they have never gone through balding themselves, they will always say "I WOULD just accept it and move on", "I WOULD never let it get me down", or "I WOULD never let it hold me back". No one is ever going to admit something like "I would let hair loss paralyze my life". They just won't admit that. Hell, I even see this on hair loss forums. People with about as minimal hair loss as you can get telling people with real hair loss to just accept it and move on. Yet they have never done it themselves. The phrases I WOULD and I HAVE are as different as night and day.

Fred, I sympathize with your situation with regards to your friends distancing themselves from you because of your depression over your hair loss. It's happened to me too. People are often incredibly selfish and stupid. Like children, they will remove themselves from anyone who doesn't share their positive and happy mood, rather than show empathy and compassion to some one who is clearly suffering. Yet if they were experiencing hair loss, they'd be singing a different tune.

 

[uncomfortable man]

If not being bald is the only retort you have for a disgusting gut, you have lost in the game of life.

Quote of the thread right there.

And you are right f2005 about how people make unfair blanket statements like bald people dont take care of themselves or take pride in their appearance, or when they try to bring health into it thats always infuriating. Even in the face of common sense and logic, these people CHOOSE to believe that we some how did this to ourselves thus deserving of it. Its like they just want any excuse to feel justified in their feelings of prejudicial hatred. disgusting behavior but not to apparent unless your bald. Being bald is like having a scarlet letter, once your marked your ****ed.

And something I want to mention to fred. Im not trying to make excuses for myself but I am just struggling to stay afloat in an ever increasingly expensive place to live aka the silicoln valley, making just above minimum wage which doesnt leave any room for saving up for extensive surgeries from multiple doctors (bht is still ridiculously expensive). you have had some advantages that not everyone is privy to, not that you havent worked hard but to hold everyone to the same standard accountable and if they dont suceed then it is purely their own fault is a little unfair imo. Unless there is some breakthrough and an even bigger miracle of it being affordable then, myself and many other bald men will have to wait because the relity remains that it is no easy task for a truly bald man to recover a socially acceptable amount of hair. Look at the success rate, you are the exception not the rule.

 

[Wolf Pack]

UC why don't you look into travelling abroad? Yes there are tickets, accommodation to consider but it might still be a lot cheaper. Any approved surgeons in nearby Mexico or South America? I imagine that might be cheaper for an American.

 

[CaptainForehead]

making just above minimum wage

But why? You certainly have got brains.

 

[billybob mcdougal]

U.man, it pains me to say this(as it applies to me also), but the reason you get some much flak for being bald, certainly more than the average bald man, is the fact you have facial hair(a full beard I believe). Now I dont know what its like in America, but in the uk the main type of people sporting a full beard is the hipster type/david beckam wannabes. Also designer stubble is a big trend here, usually the metrosexual goofballs, with their quiff hairstyles, tinted eyebrows, waxed chest, bulging pecs, and shaved teabags.
From the programmes Ive watched from America, many men sport a goatee, which seems very popular still. Now Im not saying too shave, but offering a major reason why you get constant crap.

 

[swingline747]

U.man, it pains me to say this(as it applies to me also), but the reason you get some much flak for being bald, certainly more than the average bald man, is the fact you have facial hair(a full beard I believe). Now I dont know what its like in America, but in the uk the main type of people sporting a full beard is the hipster type/david beckam wannabes. Also designer stubble is a big trend here, usually the metrosexual goofballs, with their quiff hairstyles, tinted eyebrows, waxed chest, bulging pecs, and shaved teabags.
From the programmes Ive watched from America, many men sport a goatee, which seems very popular still. Now Im not saying too shave, but offering a major reason why you get constant crap.

no in America the full beard is kinda in. If he has a good beard a full one would work, BUT you also have to have some stature to go with it. If youre 100 lbs bald and trying to sport a tough guy beard it wont work UNLESS you pull off some nice clothes. I will say the ONE bald guy me and my GF both agreed was REALLY good looking was working in the polo ralph laruen outlet near us.
He was about my height, but thinner with a beard, full but low clipped. He was a damn good looking guy. Dressed to the nines though in their best clothes. Again if he had a full head of hair he would have looked better but he was good looking either way and honestly didnt even have a super good looking face.

Dont do a goatee they are so awful and played out. Theres something I like to say, never trust a man with his hands in his pockets, never trust a man with a goatee.... and if he has his hands in his pockets WITH a goatee just run.

I used to rock the Chris Cornell. Might look good with a shaved head.



chicks dug it to. But again my hair at the time looked like THAT

 

[billybob mcdougal]

no in America the full beard is kinda in. If he has a good beard a full one would work, BUT you also have to have some stature to go with it. If youre 100 lbs bald and trying to sport a tough guy beard it wont work UNLESS you pull off some nice clothes. I will say the ONE bald guy me and my GF both agreed was REALLY good looking was working in the polo ralph laruen outlet near us.
He was about my height, but thinner with a beard, full but low clipped. He was a damn good looking guy. Dressed to the nines though in their best clothes. Again if he had a full head of hair he would have looked better but he was good looking either way and honestly didnt even have a super good looking face.

Dont do a goatee they are so awful and played out. Theres something I like to say, never trust a man with his hands in his pockets, never trust a man with a goatee.... and if he has his hands in his pockets WITH a goatee just run.

I used to rock the Chris Cornell. Might look good with a shaved head.

Eh! You say goatees are awful, but then state Chris Cornells beard as an alternative option. To me that style is neither here or there. Kind of a half breed goatee for those missing the connecter between moustache and chin hair. I have a goatee as I look even worse clean shaven(Ive been told many times) due to having a super baby face, which doesnt look good when you are 6ft 2 and 103kg, and pale and pasty. I tried a full beard, really doesnt work, got more crap than I get for the goatee. Stubble doesnt work on afair skinned man, just looks dirty. So really I fu**ed!
BTW, People have told me I look like Stone Cold......

 

[swingline747]

no in America the full beard is kinda in. If he has a good beard a full one would work, BUT you also have to have some stature to go with it. If youre 100 lbs bald and trying to sport a tough guy beard it wont work UNLESS you pull off some nice clothes. I will say the ONE bald guy me and my GF both agreed was REALLY good looking was working in the polo ralph laruen outlet near us.
He was about my height, but thinner with a beard, full but low clipped. He was a damn good looking guy. Dressed to the nines though in their best clothes. Again if he had a full head of hair he would have looked better but he was good looking either way and honestly didnt even have a super good looking face.

Dont do a goatee they are so awful and played out. Theres something I like to say, never trust a man with his hands in his pockets, never trust a man with a goatee.... and if he has his hands in his pockets WITH a goatee just run.

I used to rock the Chris Cornell. Might look good with a shaved head.

Eh! You say goatees are awful, but then state Chris Cornells beard as an alternative option. To me that style is neither here or there. Kind of a half breed goatee for those missing the connecter between moustache and chin hair. I have a goatee as I look even worse clean shaven(Ive been told many times) due to having a super baby face, which doesnt look good when you are 6ft 2 and 103kg, and pale and pasty. I tried a full beard, really doesnt work, got more crap than I get for the goatee. Stubble doesnt work on afair skinned man, just looks dirty. So really I fu**ed!
BTW, People have told me I look like Stone Cold......

You use KG which means you are in the UK (my guess), My convo was directed at people in America. My beard connects, be it poorly, so I would have to shave the cornell. I think it just has a bit more dash to it and not as many people use it. to me a goatee is strictly this



the cornell version has a much smaller area of coverage.

 

[billybob mcdougal]

"KG"? I dont know what that meand, but yes, I am in the Uk. I thought that the reason you dislike goatees is the main fact you are unable to grow a full one. My goatee is alittle fuller than the above pic. I used to have a really low depth to the goat, thus covering more of my face. The amount of crap I got of random strangers was incredible. The way people acted, I was the only male in the whole universe with a goatee(or a goatee of that size. I wonder if bikers get that much nonsense from society. Anyway, over the last 15mths I have shortened it and shortened it. Get less crap, but still way too much fixation of people. Its just a bit of fu**ing of natural hair on my chin and top lip, not some unusual entity.
Its funny, when I shaved the goat about 18mths ago and started to grow a full beard. After about 2wks of non shaving, I shaved the neckline, and thats when people noticed and praised(mostly). I grew it for 13wks without trimming,a dn according to society it became less of a beard than a poxy 2wks! Thats one thing I taken note, society despises thick facial hair. This designer stubble crap is extremley popular in the uk, its pathetic. BTWE, I only have the goatee because Im bald. If I had a full head of hair I would be clean shaven, or sport short, neat sideburns.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Beards and stubble is a style that in the UK too currently. I'm doing something like this at the moment, partly through being too lazy to shave. I have to comb my hair down to cover the recession but it's working well with the girls. Back and sides very short and I have a line put in wear I do my side parting (Barber's idea).

Never been into any kind of goaties, wouldn't even do one if they came into fashion. I have a square jaw and doing a goatie would hide that. Goaties are a good idea on people who don't have a defined jaw but it's an old trick many people are aware of, does help a bit.