Whenever I see a guy who is starting to bald I always feel bad for them and wonder what they're going through. I know if I saw the first signs I would be an emotional wreck and my self-esteem wouldn't be great. Still, I don't see a lot of guys who seem shook by it and almost like it doesn't even bother them. Maybe some guys are good at hiding it. I'm sure everyone handles it differently but I'm just curious.


30 comments
  1. Here’s an original copy of /u/youlikemywonton’s post (if available):

    Whenever I see a guy who is starting to bald I always feel bad for them and wonder what they’re going through. I know if I saw the first signs I would be an emotional wreck and my self-esteem wouldn’t be great. Still, I don’t see a lot of guys who seem shook by it and almost like it doesn’t even bother them. Maybe some guys are good at hiding it. I’m sure everyone handles it differently but I’m just curious.

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  2. There are worse things than balding.

    Sometimes you choose the haircut, sometimes it chooses you.

  3. Are there more important things than balding?

    Are you an idiot?

  4. It is when you are very young. Once you get used to it you don’t even care about it to be honest.

  5. Bwhahaha. I started balding like 18. Started buzzing maybe a year later. Started actually shaving a year or two after.

    Just owned it and rocked it.

  6. My hairline has been receding for a good 6 years of so now and I’ve stressed about it long enough. Once it gets to the point where I need to shave it off, off it goes and I’m moving on with my life and not worrying about it anymore. So to answer your question, yes to both. It is devastating to lose your hair, but eventually you realize there are much more important things to worry about than balding.

  7. Im more upset at the influx of nose and ear hair than wrinkles, balding, or greying out

  8. I started going Picard pretty early in life. It was uncomfortable to come to terms with, yeah. It’s easy to think “oh it isn’t that bad” and then you get a glimpse of your balding spot in a mirror and it’s like “well fuck.” But once you accept it and grab the razor it’s fine.

    Honestly there are much bigger things that happen we go through life. Health problems, loss of loved ones, etc. Going bald is just what it is.

  9. When I started it wasn’t devastating but demoralizing, like I was losing a piece of myself.

    But then I realized nobody really cares. My wife actually prefers my look now to pretending to hide my hairline and crown. It’s all about self-confidence…

  10. My self esteem isn’t based on my hair.

    Started balding and I just started cutting my hair real short. Life went on and not a single person cared

  11. You can feel bad for me if you want, but I promise you I am doing just fine.

  12. Of course it was a shock at first, but what can you do about it? I refuse to do hair transplant or medication or anything like that, so I guess I’m balding. That being said, it’s hair and not that important. There are far more important things to worry about. On the plus side, getting ready for the day has never been easier and I like the shaved down look I have going.

  13. First hair in the drain you should go to the woods to make your peace with lord and be reclaimed by nature.

  14. Bald guy here. It got worse around 32-33. It was difficult to accept that I just didn’t look good with hair anymore. I look at old photos now and realize that I should’ve shaved a lot sooner.

    If you need to ease into it, buzz cut it for a while before using razor.

    Balding really isn’t that big of a deal. For people that have a hard time accepting it, there are hair solutions and procedures to get people through it.

  15. Things I consider worse than balding:
    – Losing your spouse
    – Watching a beloved pet get brutally killed
    – Terminal illnesses
    – Sexual assault
    – Going bankrupt due to medical bills
    – House fires
    – Being targeted in a genocide
    – Older loved ones not recognizing you anymore
    – SIDS
    – Democratic backsliding
    – Losing a limb

  16. When I started noticeably balding, it caught me off guard. I was surprised by how much hair I lost. It had happened so quickly where I was considering shaving the rest off. I did feel bad about it so I looked into potential reasons why I was balding.

    That ended up being a fantastic decision because I found multiple reasons that applied to me, poor diet, excessive stress, lack of sleep, depression, medication aide effects, and overall poor health. It was a wake up call for me to start taking better care of myself. Over two years later and my health can definitely still improve but after making some changes resulted in a lot of my hair growing back. It’s not as full as it once was, but it’s significantly better then before.

    Balding made me realize there were more things to worry about, just probably not in the way that you men.

  17. it sucks, but you learn to deal with it.

    I refused any of the treatments at the time cause they all had a risk of making your dick not work, which negates the only reason i would want hair anyway.

    Turns out there are plenty of women that like bald guys, so it’s fine.

    One major downside is that it makes you look tougher, so you might have to smile more to avoid fights. That took me a bit to figure out.

  18. Theres a lot of cope in the top comments, which I get. But yes it is…. it definitely is. But you quickly have to own it because thats just life

  19. 36, bald. I started thinning around age 24. I was in denial for about a year after that. Can’t even lie it sucked a lot. Growing up my hair was always sort of part of my identity. Was a skater and a surfer and I had the hair for it. Lush, blonde, and wavy with random curls thrown in. I still have dreams about it.

    Luckily by the time I accepted that it was happening I had already started on the beard. So I was able to sort of switch my affections to the lower half of my head and that helped the sting a little bit. Sort of like having two pets and one dies but there’s still one left so they get spoiled 😅

    Right around my 25th birthday I buzzed it down from shoulder length to a very tight #1. It took about another two years after that for me to finally decide to go full slick shave, been doing that ever since. I don’t really think about it much anymore unless a picture pops up or something.

    All that to say that it was a bit like grieving something lost 🤷‍♂️ and at the time there wasn’t much in the way of doing anything about it. The plugs and the hair creams existed but a lot of men just didn’t entertain the idea. The prevailing attitude was “ah damn that’s unfortunate, blame yer momma’s side and cut it off before you look like a cretin.” 🙄

    Nowadays guys have more of a choice in the matter and it’s not considered shameful to do something about it early. Which is great. That’s a good thing.

  20. Started going bald in my thirties. There began an arc of bald scalp. My daughter giggled and said “Daddy your head smiles at me” while I tied her shoe. Mind you I had a pony tail to my butt crack.

  21. My hair was falling on to my textbooks in school when I was about 17. Was at the point of no return at like 26 but held on, unwisely, until about 30. Now it’s like, so what, its hair, id rather have it but it’s really not that bad.

    In terms of bad things that have happened in my life it simply doesn’t register. Of course there are worse things to worry about

  22. Get your prostate and colon checked. Those can wreck you a lot faster than your hair.

  23. Depends on if you are single or not. It’s less of a big deal if you are in a long term committed relationship. But if you are single and dating, it can be kinda rough. I had long hair my whole life so it was kinda a part of my identify. My hair started to thin a while back and I held it off with treatments for several years, but it finally got untenable and I shaved my head.

    Really, just shave your head once it gets bad. It’s less of a big deal than thought. And I can now ride around with the windows down without tangled hair. It’s also less maintenance overall.

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