Last Updated on November 5, 2016 by Robert Price
I believe in a man’s right to choose. And in a woman’s right to choose. Whether you decide to treat your hair loss or not, that’s nobody’s business but yours — and I support you. I think people are prone to extreme positions on this matter. They often fall into two camps.
1 .The Arch Conservatives – This group believes that all the treatments aren’t worth the time or money. They also question the safety and effectiveness of those treatments, especially in the long-term. Accordingly, they believe that anyone who takes a proactive approach against baldness is a little crazy, superficial, insecure, or all of the above. We’re all going to end up bald to some extent, at some point, so we might as well start embracing it now — that seems to be the consensus among the arch-conservative party.
2. The Bleeding-Heart Liberals – They like to think they’re open-minded. But they’re not. They find the idea of baldness to be unappealing, to put it mildly, and you better believe they’re actively fighting their genetics. They may openly encourage others to combat baldness too, whether on the internet or in real life. Immediate intervention is usually the best course, they’ll say. Some may even suggest Propecia as a preventative measure to men with maturing hairlines, to ensure the minimal “recession” is arrested.
Most people are somewhere in the middle, granted. But the two extreme parties regularly dominate conversations, on Youtube, the hair loss forums, etc.
Look, I’m not the type of person that is going to embrace baldness, for a wide variety of reasons, primarily my head shape (cone-like). Also, my acne scarring. I’m not interested in rocking the Bill Murray look, sorry. And finally, my lack of facial hair — seriously, plenty of women can grow better beards than me. Hair gives my face a frame, and my poor head shape isn’t noticeable because of it.
I’d look something like this if I shaved my head.
But if you can accept or even embrace your hair loss, more power to you. I wish I were as self-assured as you are. There are undoubtedly many benefits to accepting hair loss. You’ll save a considerable amount of money, most likely, and of course you’ll save time, too. No rubbing in daily treatments, and you won’t need to do nearly as much hair maintenance over the course of your lifetime. If you’re smart and look at it in a positive way, hair loss can help you learn to accept your other limitations and flaws. Yes, you can use it to your advantage!
Any thoughts or opinions? Can we all just get along? I don’t know. But no matter which side of the aisle you’re on, I’m not going to try and change your beliefs. Even if you’re an extremist, you’re welcome here.
Robert Price is a writer, consumer advocate, and hair loss researcher with thousands of hours of experience in the field. His goal is to keep you out of the hair loss rabbit hole, underworld, or whatever you want to call it. He founded Hair Loss Daily, the unbiased hair loss blog, in 2016. You can learn more about Robert in the my story section of this website.
I was the world’s best candidate for male pattern baldness: I have a nice shaped head. I have clear skin. And most importantly, I wanted to go male pattern bald so desperately that it hurt. The deep desire hit me when I was only 5 or 6 years old and grew more and more intense over time. I was insanely jealous of several of my college classmates who were already going bald. One was already Norwood 6 in his senior year. Everyone always talked about finding a ‘cure’ for male pattern baldness, while I was looking for ways to start it and accelerate it. No such luck. Based on the number of bald male relatives in my family, I knew I only had a 50% chance of going bald. So there was no ‘choice’ involved, only random probability, the flip of a coin. By my 50th birthday I had almost given up hope. Then my luck changed and I noticed my hairline starting to recede. I got down on my knees and begged God to quickly make me bald. I did that every day for several months. God answered my prayers as I started finding hundreds of my hairs on my pillow every morning and hair clogging my shower drain. When my wife noticed I was going bald and confessed to me that she had always wished and prayed that I would someday go bald, it was like I was in heaven. Going bald was a two year joyride for my wife and me. It was a second honeymoon. We both changed in ways we both had always desired. While I was going bald, she was losing her schoolgirl figure. She gained 60 pounds in all of the right places and she finally pixie cut her gorgeous long hair. I love being bald and I love full figured girls. Both wishes were granted.
I too am all for choice. I wish no one would be forced to go bald and anyone who wished to could choose to go bald. I wish there were supplements available that could prevent male pattern baldness for those who don’t want it. I also wish there were supplements available that would bring on male pattern baldness and accelerate it for guys like me who are eager to go bald. And I wish those supplements worked even on guys who are not genetically predisposed to go bald.
In the end, I lucked out and got my wish. I’m just sorry I had to wait until my 50s for it to happen.
I’ve never heard of someone praying to go bald — that’s definitely a little unique, I’ll say that much! Glad things worked out for you, even if it took a little longer than you would have liked. Why do you say you only had a 50% change of going bald, out of curiosity?
I was only guessing when I said I had only a 50% chance of going bald. I based it on how many of my adult male blood relatives were bald or had receding hairlines. Male pattern baldness is, after all, an inherited trait. I must have been five or six years old when I noticed the difference, but I clearly remember falling hopelessly in love with the idea of someday going bald. I imagined myself as a young man steadily losing my hair until I was left with the typical fringe in the sides and back of my head. I dreamed of having a receding hairline and growing bald spot and light shining off my smooth bald head. I worried that I might not ever go bald. I worried that going bald would take too long. I worried I would only go partly bald and not Norwood 6 or 7. My own dad never went bald, but his brother, my uncle, did.
So yes, I actually prayed to go bald, especially right after my wife and I were married. I prayed a lot. I would literally beg God to make me bald. But nothing happened and I was very disappointed. Had I shared my heart’s desire with my wife, I now know she would have confessed her desire for me to go bald. Together we would have prayed for male pattern baldness for me. And the prayers would have been specifically for MPB, or I might have ended up ‘cancer patient bald’. God does, after all, have a sense of humor. But He does answer our prayers and likes to give us the desires of our hearts. I have no idea if my wife joining me in prayer for MPB would have made a difference. But God finally granted my fondest wish, plus a few other wishes.
I always thought my wife was a bit too thin and I prefer ‘full figure’ girls with lots of curves. Over the years I often hinted to my wife that I would love it if she put on a little weight. She steadfastly hung on to her schoolgirl figure, until I started going bald. While I was losing my hair, she finally let herself go. She also cut her gorgeous long hair to a cute pixie cut. As much as I love long hair, I love pixie cuts even more, especially on a full figured woman. Like I said before, those two years were a second honeymoon for my wife and me. You might say that I prayed away my hair, my wife’s schoolgirl figure and her luscious long hair. God does grant us our fondest wishes, but in His good time. Now, twenty years later, I am still happily bald and my wife is contentedly plump. Things turned out much better than I anticipated. I love being bald much more that I ever imagined. Going bald in less than two years was fun. Being bald is wonderful for me. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else, unless he wanted it as much as I did. It was God’s intention for me to go bald, so it was very loving and kind of Him to also ‘infect’ me with an irresistible wish and urge to go bald. The anticipation was almost agonizing. The final fulfillment was indescribably wonderful. I know it’s impossible for anyone else to understand how intense and irresistible my desire to go bald was. I fought the urge all my life, but finally surrendered to it. The thrill of finding hundreds of my hairs on my pillow every morning and wads of my hair clogging the shower drain is hard to describe and impossible to explain. Even now I can’t help but smile when I see my bald reflection in a mirror. And I absolutely LOVE it when my wife sneaks up behind me as I sit watching the news or sports on TV, and kisses me on top of my shiny bald head. She loves my MPB almost as much as I do. Bald is beautiful. Thank God I went bald!
Robert, feel free to use the above entry in one of your next blog pieces. As a matter of fact, use any of my remarks as you see fit. You might title your piece “Some guys actually WANT to go bald and some women prefer bald men.” Or, “Here is someone who couldn’t wait to go bald and couldn’t go bald fast enough when it finally happened to him.”
I’ll be looking forward to reading it. Soon, I hope.
By the way, BALD is my favorite four letter word. Someday I will get a customized license plate for my car with that word on it. 🙂
Had there been a supplement that caused male pattern baldness or accelerated it, I would have taken it in a heartbeat starting during or immediately after my wife and my honeymoon. Provided that supplement didn’t harm my health and only with my wife’s OK. I know now that my wife would have enthusiastically approved of my taking a MPB causing supplement. All along she wanted me to go bald almost as much as I did.
I’ve read about anabolic steroids that weight trainers use, but they appear to be quite dangerous, with possible undesirable side effects. Ironically, the side effect they warned about most is male pattern baldness, especially for those of us who are genetically programmed to go bald. It is fortunate for me that I was already bald when I first read about those supplements and anabolic steroids, or I would have been very tempted to take them. Besides, I’m not into body building, just MPB, and luckily, I have already achieved that.