Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

[Nene]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

Boondock, I agree with you and everyone here. At a certain point you have to stop obsessing and shave the sh*t. I would buzz it lower so the thinning spot in the back blends a little better.

Yeah it's right down to a #1 now. That shot's pretty old, but it does illustrate the loss before i trimmed down.

OOOOh, that was before the buzz. OK. Good job on being brave enough to buzz it. I've had buzzed hair my whole life, but I can imagine it must be scary if you never buzzed it! You'll learn to love it bro. Trust me. Plus applying minoxidil is a cinch.

 

[GeminiX]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

Boondock, definitely a great look for you

 

[zeroheat]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

Buzz cut looks great on you.. not everyone can pull it off!

 

[sadscalp]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

I was force-buzzed when I was in the military, and hated it. But September last year my hair loss had come to the point where I just looked silly with long hair (started thinning considerably on top, combined with NW3-temples), so I just rushed to the clipper and got rid of it all. It really does take some time to adjust though, I'm still struggling with the thought that this is the best I'll look for the rest of my life.

 

[Hope4hairRedux]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

Boondock, I can only reiiterate your thoughts.

There comes a time when an obsession about something naturally gets boring. I think this is probably the case for most people suffering from hair loss. They obsess really badly about it for a while, and then eventually begin to let go and accept the process.

Im not saying I wake up and its nothing at all. But now I just dont care about it as much. I know that, firstly, there is nothing I can do to reverse it. So why waste time on what fate has in store for us? Why go against nature? After all, losing hair is perfectly natural and normal, its just certian people lose more and lose younger then others. Id say caucasans are generally the most unlucky when it comes to hairloss, but thats life. Perhaps slow it. But even worrying about slowing it is stressful. So now Im just more interested in what I can change. Diet, fitness, style. etc etc.

I think part of getting over hairloss is getting over yourself and your own ego. I think if you can get over yourself but still have confidence then your on the right track. And besides, until you do get over yourself and begin to accept what has to be accepted, confidence in yourself is going to be low. Confidence can only be present if you like yourself for what you are; if you can accept yourself for what you are. Try to turn away from vanity. We can still look good through dressing sharply and taking care of our health, but overly obsessing about our looks well never do us good. Dont let it consume you. Be happy that you are who you are.

If you are consumed by your insecurities and vanity and depression, what type of life are you likely to lead? What type of people are you likely to meet? If you are confident, happy, and free, then what type of people are you going to meet? If you want a nice relationship with a girl, then you will want someone who is beautiful on both sides, inside and outside.

I think beauty is different from 'hot'. Beauty is more timeless and to an extent ageless. You can have a beautiful baby, or be a beatuful old person. Beauty is where you are good looking; but that good look radiates from within. People that walk around with that 'I know Im hot' look are usually insecure. People that base their everything on their looks are usually the most insecure, and they dont even fully trust their looks, as they usually invest in make up/style to enhance it. Its easy to fall into a trap of vanity but a balance needs to be drawn and sometimes you just have to wake up and face yourself as you are, bald or not, ugly or not, tall or thin, you just have to wake up and try and enoy your life despite your looks.

I would rather people valued me due to my qualities as a human being rather than my superfical qualites. Remember also that some of our physicality does display our qualities - our ability to stay in shape and take care of ourselves shows in our body and health, and people can sense that. Being healthy and happy = sexy and popular.

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.â€￾ -Marcus Aurelius

 

[BrightonBaldy]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

This is a positive thread, I like it.

My instincts are to be negetive and say women like the buzzed look but not baldies.

But really its because I'm jealous of how your MBP is shaping up compared to mine, congrats man, wish there were more threads like this on here.

 

[JayBear]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

I don't post here very much, but I read this today as I was just thinking the same thing. I'm pretty much a NW1 but I've been thinning for years and it's really looking terrible. You can now always see my scalp through my hair. There are so many things I used to love that I hate/avoid now (swimming, sunny days, rainy days, etc.). I know I'm not going to look nearly as good once it's gone, and I'm sure that I'll probably still think about how I wish I had hair for the rest of my life, but this constant worrying if my hair looks bad and avoiding sun, rain, and wind is just killing me.

 

[Risugo]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

im not gonna say dont worry about it because everyone would like hair back but buzzed cuts are IN now

I see every1 buzzing it now looks good

king- is the KING! unk:
Best thing I ever did, a BUZZ CUT!
My wife and all of my female friends and coworkers says it looks great on me. :jump:

 

[Draco88]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

Good on you for making such a leap Boondock :bravo:

 

[Boondock]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

Two weeks on now, and my outlook's changed quite significanty on hair loss since trying the buzzed look. I managed to get away from here for a week or so and it's only the last couple of days I've popped back.

I'm not giving up on treatments per se, but I'm certainly not going to go to the lengths that I was going to before. I won't be ordering RU58841 from obscure Asian pharmacies anymore, for instance - something I was giving serious thought to a few weeks back.

I also won't be going down the hair system route. Too much hassle, too much embarrassment, and I don't think I could live with keeping up an act all day long.

My strategy now is basically to keep it short, see how things go, and reassess in a few years' time. If by some miracle Histogen comes good, then I'll be blessed. If I could get enough coverage for FUE if kept short, then that's another option. I expect, however, that I'll just end up getting it shaved altogether.

And I don't think I regret this path. Yes, the bald look does look kind of sh*t. But the lengths a lot of people go to in order to keep their hair end up ruining their life far worse than the bald look does. There comes a point when you have to ask yourself whether you want to waste your life spending all day being paranoid about concealers and treatments, or whether you just want to get on with things and live your life. How many people pursue the hamster wheel of treatments, hair transplants, and healing periods, only to find themselves at the end of their 30s still feeling miserable and having let life pass them by?

Consider this a break from here for the forseeable future. I'm sure I'll pop in from time to time, but I've more or less discovered what I need to about hair loss and worked out how I need to deal with it.

Bon chance,
Boondock

 

[Boondock]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

I'm not giving up my break from here, but I do have an update on the situation. Yesterday I decided to not only buzz the hair short again, but to do this without any guard on the clippers. In other words, I went for a #0, which for the first day or so looks effectively bald.

I know I'm going to have to grow my hair out later this year for job interviews and whatnot, so since I was at a short cut anyway I thought it'd be worth a try. I know I'm going bald, so I wanted to face the fear of my destiny straight on.

And I've gotta tell ya, it's not that bad. I've had the standard chemo comments, but nobody really seems to care that much. I don't think the look's great, but it's not a complete train wreck compared to before either.

It's a lot worse when you're thinking about it than when you actually do it. I encourage people who are balding to man up and give this a try - it grows back quickly anyway, and it puts your mind at ease a little.

 

[Guest]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

i also shaved my head when i started my regimine and i was somewhat pleased with the look. your hair was buzzed first so it may not have been that BIG of a change. i had always had pretty long hair so it for me it was a complete 180. I even took a razor to it once or twice, then i realized that shaving it with a razor was more trouble than i felt like going through every morning. i do agree that everyone should give it a try atleast once. they may like it and save a bunch of money on treatments.

 

[cuebald]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

So you signing up for a Sly Bald Guys account then?

 

[Boondock]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

Update:

I will not be taking out a sly bald guys account...

In fact, I'm afraid to report that my experiment more or less ended with failure. I can't 'rock' the bald look. I appreciate some people can, but I'm not one of them (based on others' feedback, and most importantly how I feel about it). The #1 or #2 looks a bit better on me, but I still don't see it as a permanent solution. And of course it won't be, assuming my loss continues.

I'm still glad I gave this a try, but it isn't a solution for me. Some people say they stop thinking about hair loss as soon as they shave it off, but I ended up thinking about it even more.

My next step now is to try out the hair system route. I'm passed the point of caring about this anymore, and frankly I have a unique opportunity with it. I'm going to be abroad for six months next year, so I can get used to the system and not be too surprising with the change when I come back. To be honest, it's beyond a joke now. If I don't do something about this, it will eventually impact my future in a serious way, including my career. And I probably spend more time on here every week than it would take to maintain a system anyway.

Again, it's not something I'm set upon, but it's something I want to give a try. I'm too young for hair transplants, and likely to experience too much loss to make them work well for me anyway.

 

[Nene]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

How old are you? I didn't think you looked bad with the buzz cut.

 

[Nene]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

NM i see your 23 from the first post in the thread. Yeah, a bit young for hair transplant.

 

[Boondock]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

NM i see your 23 from the first post in the thread. Yeah, a bit young for hair transplant.

Yeah I'm 23. I don't look *bad* with the buzzcut but I don't particularly like it, and it's only going to look worse as things recede. And with the kind of career I'm going into next year, buzzcuts are not really the way things are done.

Also, my loss is more significant than the buzzed look made clear. I've attached a pic from like 6 months ago.

hair transplants...to be honest man I've thought about them a lot. But I'm too young, and it's too big a risk. I could probably 'fill in' the back of the head over time, but I don't want to start that game before giving hair pieces a go. Also, a large proportion of hair transplants on people NW5+ don't look all that good. Fine for filling you back to a state of mild wispiness in your 40s, but not for a guy in his 20s.

My attitude now is basically that if I can get a hair piece to a) look good and b) not be too much hassle, I'd be OK with it. I'd be happy to tell girls about it (not one-offs, but in a relationship yes), and even my close friends I'd be happy to tell about it. Sure, it won't be a walk in the park, but this road I'm heading down right now is much, much worse. I'm starting to feel like I could become the next UCMan (I love ya UMan, but we both know the place you're in right now isn't a good one).

 

[Nene]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

Well, personally I wouldn't go the hair piece route, I'm very prone to sweating and I can imagine that it would itch the hell out of my head. But if you like it, if it gives you confidence and makes you happy, then by all means go for it. I agree with you on the hair transplant. I would advise anyone to wait until 30 before a hair transplant unless of course they are Norwood 5 or 6 before then. The pic does show some pretty aggressive loss, you ever try concealers?

 

[Boondock]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

Well, personally I wouldn't go the hair piece route, I'm very prone to sweating and I can imagine that it would itch the hell out of my head. But if you like it, if it gives you confidence and makes you happy, then by all means go for it. I agree with you on the hair transplant. I would advise anyone to wait until 30 before a hair transplant unless of course they are Norwood 5 or 6 before then. The pic does show some pretty aggressive loss, you ever try concealers?

I'm getting some concealers in soon. Hopefully they'll keep me going for the rest of this year.

Yeah, systems are by no means an ideal solution, but I guess I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. finasteride gave me sides, I'm too young for hair transplants, and I don't much like the bald look (and I went down to #0 on my last buzz, after all). I'm not saying they're going to work but I wanna at least give them a try.

 

[sandovalusa]

Re: Thinking of throwing in the towel with fighting this sh*t

Your hair loss is not very far along. I was like you when I was 22 and I'm 24 now with nothing haha. I used Rogaine but stopped using it and when I stopped, I lost it really fast.

I'd say use Rogaine and Propecia. Fight the sexual side effects, and keep fighting. You have a few more years left in this fight.

People never really noticed when I was balding, but when I started shaving my head, I got stares, comments, jokes, and all sorts of crap!