Shave my head?

[luke77]

Hi everyone,
I posted my pics a couple of days ago and was looking for opinions on whether it was in fact male pattern baldness...now I have a follow up question. I know that a lot of guys say that when they shave their head it makes the hairloss much less noticeable (the thinning anyways), especially if they don't have much recession. I don't have much recession but I have much more thinning than the "typical" guy with male pattern baldness. So I'm asking for you guys' opinions - if I shaved my head (not totally but like a buzz cut) would I look "balding" or just like a guy with a buzz cutand maybe a little thin hair? As bad as my pics look, at my current length I can use toppik and pretty much cover up all signs of hair loss - but it's a pain in the butt and more importantly, it's getting to the point where pretty soon I won't be able to cover things up with toppik. I would really appreciate your guys' opinions. Here's the pics:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/btcarter777/my_photos

Thanks,
Luke

 

[lmdavies]

Luke, I would shave it all off mate. It takes some balls to do but your hair loss will be much less noticiable. Get your barbar to gradully try out ithe different buzz settings (i.e. 4 down to 0) and see which one you like. I personally had a number '1' all over but next time I might have a '0'.

Your mates and family will probably laugh at first but its just a question of them/and you getting used to it.

 

[Stingray]

Here's my synopsis. Get yourself a fade, and keep the facial hair in check Grizzly Adams. Only canadians are allowed to look that rugged, and that's only because they are all gay socialists. Gotta at least keep up the lumberjack appearance.

You will feel GREAT once you buzz the mop. This girl I've been "hollering" at told me she likes me so much better with no hair.

Proper.

 

[eduardmc]

it seems u are thinning all over the place, your hairloss is moving really fast, is better off shaving it, and see if u like it, if not, then leave it shave for a while, DO NOT LET IT GROW. start applying minoxidil to it, and use finasteride. u can also apply spironolactone (or better yer, fluridil) for about 9 month, and then let it grow a little, most probably u will have great result.

 

[TheBaldingMenace]

Luke, I'm fairly sure that I mentioned in your previous post that your hairloss looks to me like it's more along the lines of diffuse thinning and NOT male pattern baldness. I believe that this is the case based on the fact that your hairline seems in tact while there are diffuse areas of thinning all over the place.

 

[biff]

I have diffuse thinning similar to yours. I recently shaved my hair to grade one and it looked quite good, the trouble is I haven't got the best shaped head! I got used to it after a while but have now grown it back as I want to be able to see if my treatments are working. If you do shave it it doesn't take that long to grow back. My hair grew back at around 1/2 an inch a month. It was two months ago I shaved it and it is now an inch long. Kelp tablets should also help your hair grow faster.

 

[luke77]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I will try shaving it in 2 weeks when I go back to school...that way even if it looks totally horrible I can just hide out in my dorm room until it grows back (lol) or just wear a hat or something. I'm also gonna go to work on the grizzly adams thing, I just let it go for about a week to see what it would look like. TheBaldingMenace, I agree with you that it might not be male pattern baldness and it's more diffuse, but I still don't know what to do about it, you know what I mean? I am gonna try to get a derm appointment soon to see what he says, but aside from some of the "alternative" treatment that were suggested to me, I still have to treat it like male pattern baldness because I don't know what else to do.

Luke

 

[SE-freak]

Luke,

your pattern is so diffuse and you look kind of pale(I could be wrong though). Please see a Doctor, it could be some kind of deficiency.

If you buzzed it- I think your loss would not be detectable.

 

[luke77]

Yeah, I've been to a Doctor and been tested for various things - many times. In the past I have had low thyroid levels but they have since normalized (without thyroid medicine), and I have had low white blood cell counts, low platelet counts, and low hemoglobin consistently. However, I also had an exercise-related eating disorder and the Doctor attributes my abnormal blood counts to that (except the thyroid - that was before the whole ed thing). I think you are tight about the paleness also - I used to be fairly dark. I don't think my Doctor realizes this though because I began seeing him after (as far as I remember) I "became" pale looking. Are there any specific tests you guys can recommend that my Doctor may have overlooked? Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

Luke

 

[wotsthedeal]

Lupus?

 

[Shinyscalp23]

partying too much? I lost alot of hair when i was abusing myself quite a bit in addition to male pattern baldness..by the way canadian joke=lame. i dont think its that bad at least you have hair ALL over your head i have a big puff in the middle of the back and 2 really thin areas on each side of that puff ...youre lucky... toppik is a pain in the butt but its really good...or if u didnt wanna buzz it try streaking it...bleaching wont hurt it really even if it falls out from brittleness itll grow back since the cause wasnt an internal(dht-genetic-thyroid etc) one but only superficial..streaks really camouflage it in my opinion..i know how it is to grow your hair out long...i dont think a really short crew cut would be bad either..leaving just a little in the front to spike up a notch slanted not straight up the more straight up you leave your spikes the more people can see thru to your scalp.. go extremely short on top if you do that...like a one on the sides and half an inch on top or even alittle less...i bleach my hair and for two weeks it makes my hair loss practically undetectable and it picks up the vellus hairs growing from the minoxidil as well...u could pull off the bleached look..u have long enough and enough hair period so that when it grows in youll see enough roots so your loss will still be practically undetectable... if you totally buzz it, this goes for anyone losing their hair, when it starts to grow in your loss becomes even more noticeable..so keep that in mind...and i dont think a shaved head really makes it look any better--it just draws attention away from your hair...shaved or not you can still tell a balding head...but ofcourse drawing attention to it is a bad thing... hope youre using minoxidil irregardless of whats causing your loss because you seem like an ideal candidate for good regrowth in my opinion...you definitely look like you could pull of the bleached look with that hair and go surferish...just my 2 cents..anwyays good luck..and no matter how gay some guys say it is, the chicks love it...but ofcourse im gays o they cant have me anyway lol

 

[Shinyscalp23]

another thing... u look kinda skinny and ya u do look pale so take care of yourself it could be from malnourishment or drugs or whatever u do...shaved heads on skinny pale guys--i know this because i was pale and skinny--until i came back to florida---dont look the greatest...do soemthign to brighten yourself up and youll look and feel much better..i used to be the most conservative polo golf shirt wearing dude out there until my hair loss became even more noticeable then i started the hair coloring and gettign the tatoos and tank tops and it looks good...your loss really doesnt look that bad so work with what you have and get a hair style..if you dont keep it that long get a buzz cut but dont go totally baldy..i personally would lose the beard you look too young for that liek youre prolly around my age or so..but keep your sideburns long...if you styled your hair spiked up in front with long sideburns it would look good

 

[not-so-hairy]

Here's my synopsis. Get yourself a fade, and keep the facial hair in check Grizzly Adams. Only canadians are allowed to look that rugged, and that's only because they are all gay socialists. Gotta at least keep up the lumberjack appearance.

You will feel GREAT once you buzz the mop. This girl I've been "hollering" at told me she likes me so much better with no hair.

Proper.

Umm.. canadians aren't socialists... (nor do I like being called gay for that matter)

 

[drinkrum]

Here's my synopsis. Get yourself a fade, and keep the facial hair in check Grizzly Adams. Only canadians are allowed to look that rugged, and that's only because they are all gay socialists. Gotta at least keep up the lumberjack appearance.

You will feel GREAT once you buzz the mop. This girl I've been "hollering" at told me she likes me so much better with no hair.

Proper.

Umm.. canadians aren't socialists... (nor do I like being called gay for that matter)

I think he is using "gay" in the original sense. Canadians are so happy! Must be all the sugar from the maple syrup.

D.

 

[Shinyscalp23]

so many americans r just dumb....but not me.. i used to live in canada..sorry if canadians are more liberal than most redneck backward, ignorant american hicks..its not their fault they have a brain that goes beyond the cnn bull or church crap that most of us yanks believe!wake up and smell the coffee you fundamentalist idiots!canada is america jr lol...without as many ignorant morons ofcourse...unfortunately the u.s. cant accept the fact that not everyone owes its allegiance to the u.s and i am gay and and anyone who worries about their thinning hair as far as im concerned should be called a f**...us fags care about our appearace more than any str8 slob would...thats why the chicks would do us if they had the chance over you anyday...so pple badmouthing canada just cant accept the fact that the world doesnt revolve around the usa and pple bad mouthing fags just are insecure with their own sexuality...m sure there are many str8 guys who would call u all fags for worrying about your hair...

 

[luke77]

Ok, dumb question...what exactly is a "fade"? And "streaks"? Both of those were recommended but I'm not sure exactly what they are, and can I do them myself or do I need to go to a stylist or something? I imagine "streaks" are like highlights, but is a fade a type of haircut or some kind of dye job? Thanks again guys.

Luke

 

[Shinyscalp23]

oy..lol..welcome to the world of hair...streaks are like highlights...u know little stripes of blond in the hair..a fade is like a crew cut u know buzzed on the sides