Javis Buckley of Mountain House has rocked his share of diverse
dos. He’s had an Afro, a Jheri curl, a hi-top fade, and a straight
perm with a flip
– a look he calls the
”
Lord Jesus.
”
Javis Buckley of Mountain House has rocked his share of diverse dos. He’s had an Afro, a Jheri curl, a hi-top fade, and a straight perm with a flip – a look he calls the “Lord Jesus.”
But, about 12 years ago, Buckley looked in the mirror and realized he had more cowlicks in front of his hairline than actual hair on his head. So, he grabbed a razor and set his dome free. He’s been bald and beautiful ever since.
“I’m fascinated with my bald head,” says Buckley, now 47. “I always knew I had a pretty good round one. And my wife loves it. She rubs it all the time.”
Bare heads are in. Seal. Bruce Willis. Taye Diggs. Michael Jordan. Some of Hollywood’s biggest hotties have nothing on top, and Web sites such as Baldly go and Sly Bald Guys offer tips and support for budding baldies. Now, it seems men everywhere are embracing the look, regardless whether they’re losing their hair naturally.
You can’t beat the low maintenance or female attention, not to mention how much more youthful a tan, shiny head feels when compared to grays or comb-overs, men say. The trick is to make sure you approach the shave carefully, and that nature has blessed you with a nicely shaped noggin.
Twice a week, Buckley covers his head in shaving cream. He shaves against the grain in long, careful sweeps, then applies an after-shave lotion “to keep the bumps down.” That’s his regimen.
Darren Nicholson’s grooming is slightly more involved. Nicholson, 35, began shaving his head when hair loss hit at age 23. Nicholson, a Danville middle school baseball coach, takes clippers to his head once a week and follows up with conditioner. In the summer, he rubs on moisturizer.
One time, a student’s mother told Nicholson that she thought most men look scary with shaved heads, but not him. He was flattered.
“Before, losing your hair made you think, ‘Oh, I’m some old bald guy,'” Nicholson says. “But it’s considered such a good look now that you can feel confident about it.”
Women interviewed for this story were split on the bald look. But the ones who like it really like it. Some, like Denise Parla, of Oakley, consider it a fetish. “I gawk at bald men the way men look at breasts,” says Parla, 46. “I get giddy over it. It’s so smooth. It is so sexy. It makes their whole look come together.”
Nicholson says it helps that he comes from a long line of men blessed with good heads: Round with limited lumps and bumps and a forehead that isn’t too long. But, if you’re considering the look, how do you know you’ve got the right dome?
“You really have to feel your head,” says Cornelius Hankins of The Barber Lounge in San Francisco. “A lot of people have lumps or bumps or excess skin on the back of their head, where the cranium meets the neck.”
Hankins, a barber who shaves his own head, consults with clients about the shape of their faces and recommends products specifically designed for the scalp. He’s against bar soap because it dries out the scalp, he says. Also, if you tend to bang your head on things, the bald look may not be for you. It’s tough to shave your scalp when it’s constantly covered in cuts and bruises, he adds. Nevertheless, chrome domes look good on a lot of people, especially those who sport facial hair.
“A lot of guys are growing facial hair and thinning on top, so I try to give them a shorter look and blend it into their beard,” Hankins says. “I encourage a lot of guys to shave it all off. It hides the gray and adds a lot of youthfulness to an older face.”
Walter Lowhorn, of Oakland, concurs. “It kind of suspends you in time,” says Lowhorn, who is 46 and started sporting the look 10 years ago. His job in building maintenance requires him to wake up way too early to worry about his hair. While he recognizes the trend, Lowhorn says the bald choice runs deeper than that. “Hair is a status symbol, and I think we’re finally getting past that,” he says. “Shaving your head is about being comfortable with yourself. It’s about confidence.”
The community forum at Sly Bald Guys, a Sunnyvale-based Web site with 1 million page views a month, is rife with such discussions. Founder Tyler Smith launched the site in 2006 so men who are losing their hair would have a positive place to go. About one-third of the site’s visitors are bald by choice, meaning they are not necessarily suffering from hair loss.
“When people start losing their hair, the first thing they do is try to find a way to get it back,” says Smith, who is 32 and has been shaving his head for seven years. “But the confidence they were looking for all along usually comes from taking the hair off instead of trying to put it back on.”
Mike Dorrance of Danville says he’ll “never, ever go back” to having hair.
“I got tired of combing it,” says Dorrance, a father of four. “No more shampoos, haircuts, blow dryers. I just shave my scalp every other day in the shower.”
His wife, Kris, walked in on him when he first reached for the clippers five years ago. He was about 75 percent closer to resembling Mr. Clean – Dorrance is a redhead with a ruddy complexion – when she screamed, “What the hell are you doing?”
Now that she’s used it? “Not everyone can pull it off, but on him, it’s sexy as hell,” she says. “It suits him. He’s fit. He’s athletic. He’s all man.”
***
HEAD SHAVER 101
Want to shave your head? Follow these tips from Tyler Smith, founder of Sly Bald Guys, a Web site and community forum that embraces baldness.
– Get a fresh blade for your razor and replace it every seven days.
– Invest in good shaving cream, shaving gel or shaving oil. If it foams and comes out of a can, it’s not what you want.
– Using an exfoliant before shaving can help lift stubborn hairs and provide a smoother shave.
– To avoid bumps or cuts, do not apply pressure to blade. A sharp blade does the work for you.
– Each person’s hair grows differently. Shave with the grain first and then venture to other directions to find the best shave for you.
– Protect your head with at least SPF 15 sunscreen every day.
