After wearing for 2 years, I have decided to shave my head

[mroizo]

I got a hair system close to six months ago and was thinking of getting one for almost two years before that. Maybe the stage at which I got it made a difference too, I was not in the headspace of "will other people think it looks 100% natural or not?" anymore. By the time I got it, I was 41 and like a NW4-5. I take care of my skin, am going to the gym regularly and have a good and healthy lifestyle. If I didn't have a hair system tomorrow, I could go on living normally as before. But having it makes me happy. I only got positive feedback from family and friends so far on it. I smile much more often than before and now actually like taking selfies and photos with others.

Before the hair system, I had years where I tried to grow back a shitty hairline and do short hairstyles with a lot of spray to keep the weak hairs in place and position. Having bad hair day was the default. Then I buzzcut down to 2mm and did that for like 3 years. Apart from the hair, my facial features are still young, no wrinkles and good skin. I never liked growing a beard. Even a stubble gets annoying fast. What convinced me finally to try hair systems was that I was like I don't care if some people might not like it. It's mine, not theirs. Now everyday I have a full head of hair and can style it however I like. If I knew it would be this good, I could have done it a lot earlier.

To people who are on the fence if they should try hair systems: There's really no reason why someone would mock you for having one, provided that it's done well with a good cut-in and maintained properly. Do people get mocked for tooth implants or leg protheses? Heck no, that's harassment. This is in the same ballpark. Nobody is going to say "you should embrace nature and walk around with broken teeth or limp with one leg".

 

[Jbalding]

I got a hair system close to six months ago and was thinking of getting one for almost two years before that. Maybe the stage at which I got it made a difference too, I was not in the headspace of "will other people think it looks 100% natural or not?" anymore. By the time I got it, I was 41 and like a NW4-5. I take care of my skin, am going to the gym regularly and have a good and healthy lifestyle. If I didn't have a hair system tomorrow, I could go on living normally as before. But having it makes me happy. I only got positive feedback from family and friends so far on it. I smile much more often than before and now actually like taking selfies and photos with others.

Before the hair system, I had years where I tried to grow back a shitty hairline and do short hairstyles with a lot of spray to keep the weak hairs in place and position. Having bad hair day was the default. Then I buzzcut down to 2mm and did that for like 3 years. Apart from the hair, my facial features are still young, no wrinkles and good skin. I never liked growing a beard. Even a stubble gets annoying fast. What convinced me finally to try hair systems was that I was like I don't care if some people might not like it. It's mine, not theirs. Now everyday I have a full head of hair and can style it however I like. If I knew it would be this good, I could have done it a lot earlier.

To people who are on the fence if they should try hair systems: There's really no reason why someone would mock you for having one, provided that it's done well with a good cut-in and maintained properly. Do people get mocked for tooth implants or leg protheses? Heck no, that's harassment. This is in the same ballpark. Nobody is going to say "you should embrace nature and walk around with broken teeth or limp with one leg".

I agree, if it is done well nobody who isn't a half an inch away from your scalp (who is looking for it) will be able to tell. Aside from that, if it looks great most people won't care. People still wrongly carry the sentiment that toupees look like sh*t, thats the reason they were made a mockery in the first place.

 

[kharmacoma]

It's interesting to discuss the effect baldness and hiding baldness have on a person's levels of anxiety. Let me share my story and experiences about this.....

I personally think the decision to wear a hair system was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life and has got rid of most of my anxiety about my hair.

Having balding/receding hair caused me anxiety, and the annoying thing is that people have a strange and irritating habit of pointing out when people are losing their hair. People would say things like 'Hey, you're losing your hair!' as a throwaway comment or subtle dig at me, without realising the effect it would have on me. I might've just laughed it off at the time, but deep down I was livid that they could be so insensitive. It seems people like to point out the obvious, and especially so when it comes to people who are losing their hair.

Then around 2011 I found out about hair loss concealers and started using them. They were a godsend, and gave me back the look of a full head of hair and thus increased my confidence levels again. My hairline had not yet started receding, so I was able to apply hair fibres on the thinning area on top without any problems. For the next few years I did not have to worry about baldness and thought I had found a great long term solution.

As my hair loss got a bit worse, between 2016 to 2019, it became harder to get a realistic look with concealers and was taking much longer to apply them to get things looking right. This was mainly because my hairline started to recede at each side, meaning I could no longer use hair fibres alone. To top it off, I've got longer hair so it was even harder for me to do, as I had to maintain a certain look since I was a musician playing in a rock band.

I had to do a LOT of research to figure out a solution, and I started using a combination of hair fibres (for the upper area of my hair) and brush on hair concealer powder (for the hairline). It was very difficult to do and caused me HORRIBLE anxiety. The first problem was finding a colour match between the hair fibres and the hair concealer powder, as it did not look natural if there was even a slight mismatch between the colours of these. Eventually I found a company called VolumON who make hair fibres and powder which had an exact colour match, so I was able to solve part of the problem.

However it took me at least an hour every day to apply them to get a 'realistic' look. There were other downsides too: hair fibres would end up everywhere - all over my sink, bathroom, pillows, on clothes, hats etc. I also had to be very careful not to sweat, otherwise the hair concealer on the hairline area would get wet and start dripping or just look weird. I couldn't wear hats or helmets without it rubbing off, and I had to be ultra careful that nobody touched that area. I was constantly living in anxiety about how my hair looked, paranoid if people glanced up at my hair/hairline, and under bright lights I was very self conscious because this was more likely to show up the hair concealers. I couldn't be relaxed in social situations at all and started disliking some aspects of how I looked with the concealers on. I even hated having my photo taken because of this too.

So around 2018/2019 I knew deep down that I could not continue like this and that I had to find another solution to my hair loss. That was when I found this forum and started looking into either trying to regrow my hair or get a hair system. Eventually I decided to take the hair system route and took the plunge in late 2019. This got rid of my anxiety about the hair concealers, but replaced it with a different anxiety that people would notice I was wearing hair. However, within a few months once I got used to hair systems this anxiety disappeared and I was able to start living my life as normal without worrying about hair.

Where I'm at now is that I'm waiting to get a custom system with longer hair. Do I still get any anxiety about my hair? Very little - of course, we all sometimes feel a bit self conscious as to whether the glue on our hairline is going to be detectable, etc. I am confident my hair now looks very natural and I've had many compliments on me having great hair etc. However I do still want to make a few tweaks, i.e. the longer hair system, perhaps getting bleached knots or skin on the area where I have a central parting to make it even more undetectable etc. But this will follow in time, and I am confident I now have a long term solution to hair loss and can have a great head of rock star looking hair for the rest of my life.

So compared with baldness or using hair loss concealers, hair systems have massively decreased my levels of anxiety about my hair as well as made me much more attractive (based on how about I feel about myself when I look in the mirror, and based on responses I get from women). I can relax in social situations, around women and when having my photo taken. Hair systems are also FAR less hassle than the concealers. I can now wake up, give my hair a quick brush (plus spray with leave in conditioner) and I'm good to go within a minute or 2 max. I detach/reattach every 2 weeks on average (I might do an experiment with 3 weeks to see whether that works actually), so I can conclude that between being bald/receding, using concealers or wearing a hair system that the hair system is the FAR better route for me. I feel like it's been a new lease of life for me now and that I look younger than I did a few years ago, ironically (people usually guess my age as a fair bit younger than my actual age).

In the end, though, everyone has to decide which path is best for them!

Good story man. How come you dont consider a hair transplant?

 

[SD1984]

Do people get mocked for tooth implants or leg protheses? Heck no, that's harassment. This is in the same ballpark. Nobody is going to say "you should embrace nature and walk around with broken teeth or limp with one leg".

I liked your post and I like your attitude, but you are off with your comparisons. People need teeth to eat and people need prosthetic legs to walk. People don't NEED hair. They just want it. It's a cosmetic enhancement. Big difference. And most ordinary people don't think like us in the sense of "well he doesn't look like Vin Diesel and can't pull off the shaved look so, I get it". They just find it odd. It's the harsh reality but it's just the way that it is.

If you want to make a proper comparison you can look to women and breast implants, and we all know how those are still viewed in todays day and age.

 

[Hair2019]

Good story man. How come you dont consider a hair transplant?

For the same reasons a lot of other guys don't consider it - the high cost, the waiting time for the hair to grow and the scars to heal, the fact that the density isn't that great etc. I would not be able to make a seamless transition into a hair transplant, especially with long hair, as I have to work and be around people (even online) and how would I explain the state my hair was in during the transition period? That would totally defeat the object. The cost is also crazily high too. Plus the density of hair transplants doesn't go beyond a certain point, so I wouldn't be able to have that nice thick head of rock star looking hair.

The other thing I've realised is that hair systems can actually look BETTER than bio hair, since the quality of hair on them is better. It's all good and well saying 'I'm going to try and grow my hair back', but if your bio hair is wispy, straggly, wiry and low quality, it's not going to look great even with a full head of bio hair. This is especially so with long hair! You could probably get away with lower quality bio hair if you keep it short, but not for long hair. It's not that my bio hair is low quality, but it's not definitely not as high quality as the hair on my hair system. I think for a guy with long hair who's starting to lose his hair, a partial or even full cap system would be his best option long term if he wants great looking, natural looking, rock star hair. As we age, hair loses it's quality and looks older. There's nothing worse than seeing older rockers with low quality long hair that's really straggly, even if it is their bio hair.

The other thing I like about hair systems is that I don't have to worry about grey hair (unless I choose to have it grey). With long bio hair, you have to constantly dye it to get it looking right, which is a lot of work.

After considering lots of options, I know hair systems are the best option for me.

 

[Jbalding]

I liked your post and I like your attitude, but you are off with your comparisons. People need teeth to eat and people need prosthetic legs to walk. People don't NEED hair. They just want it. It's a cosmetic enhancement. Big difference. And most ordinary people don't think like us in the sense of "well he doesn't look like Vin Diesel and can't pull off the shaved look so, I get it". They just find it odd. It's the harsh reality but it's just the way that it is.

If you want to make a proper comparison you can look to women and breast implants, and we all know how those are still viewed in todays day and age.

Maybe its because i'm young but a fair amount of girls have breast implants. They've come a long way and just like hair systems (if they keep it a natural size) - you really won't know until you feel them haha. The stigma around breast implants is gone unless you go and get ones that are way too big and fake looking.

 

[SD1984]

What I looked like when I used to shave my head...
Didn't like it much...
Much prefer a hair system.

Ha, welcome to my world. I'm probably as opposite as Dwayne Johnson or Bruce Willis as you can possibly get. Incase you're ever outted or made fun of or told to "Just shave it bro!" just keep that photo in your pocket to show people lol

 

[yurguardianangel]

Ha, welcome to my world. I'm probably as opposite as Dwayne Johnson or Bruce Willis as you can possibly get. Incase you're ever outted or made fun of or told to "Just shave it bro!" just keep that photo in your pocket to show people lol

I don't mind that pic of me.
Just prefer myself with a hair system.

 

[BaldBearded]

I don't mind that pic of me.
Just prefer myself with a hair system.

Welcome back!