Unless you do look like Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, or even Patrick Stewart and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as well as a handful of other Hollywood stars who look more dashing and extraordinaire without their most prized crowning glories, noticing your hair significantly growing thinner every single day can be a source of frustration and great anxiety.
While a lot of men didn’t have transplantation to help address their receding hairline, they found the confidence to sport an entirely new look. It turns out all they ever needed was the right and highly knowledgeable hairstylist to help find the most appropriate hairstyle to suit their balding heads. With a new hairstyle, you can also say that you have found an entirely different version of yourself – one that you are absolutely happy with. With the renewed confidence in your baldness, you are now able to stand up prouder than ever before. Perhaps, this is exactly what celebrity bald men have. We believe this confidence can be yours, too.
A Look at Male Baldness
Before sharing with you the different styles of hair that you might want to try for yourself, let us first take a closer look at what baldness is all about.
In scientific terms, baldness is called alopecia. In common language, it is more appropriately referred to as hair loss. Whether you prefer to call it hair loss, baldness, or alopecia, they all mean the same thing: you are essentially losing your hair, some of it or all of it. Do take note that hair loss, strictly speaking, does not only occur in the head. It also affects other parts of the body, albeit rather rarely. However, whenever we think of baldness, it is almost always the excessive loss of hair from the scalp. So, hair loss or alopecia can point to loss of hair while baldness will always point to loss of hair in the scalp. Let’s get this straight.
When it comes to baldness, the most common type is male pattern baldness. In modern medicine, this is called as androgenetic alopecia. It is quite easy to spot someone who has male pattern baldness since hair loss typically follows a well-defined pattern, often beginning just above the temples. At first, you may not readily notice it. However, over time, you will begin to see your hairline starting to recede especially at the temples, leaving some locks of hair in the middle. As the recession progresses, it creates a very characteristic “M” shape. Additionally, you will notice that the hair on your crown starts to thin out as well. Again, over time, this thins out until eventually you’re left with an imaginary island in a sea of hair or even a dry patch of “desert” in the middle of a thick jungle of hair. Some men completely lose their hair eventually.
The more important question is how we get male pattern baldness. Unfortunately, experts say that androgenetic alopecia is hereditary. What happens is that our hair follicles become oversensitive to one of the hormones that we produce – dihydrotestosterone. This hormone causes our hair follicles to shrink until such time they can no longer function. I’ll put it in simple words you will understand. If you have someone in your family – your father, grandfather, or even relatives, or anybody else in your family tree – who has male pattern baldness, then you have it, too. That simply means that there’s not much you can do about it because it’s already in your genes. You’re already programmed to lose your hair at a certain point in your lives.
You can think it’s not fair, but that’s exactly where the crux of all this baldness confidence-building effort must spring forth from. The sooner you can accept the fact that you will be growing bald at some point in your lives, the better and more efficient you become at finding the most appropriate hairstyles for us to sport our new look.
What Hairstyles Should You Consider?
Like I said, if you have male pattern baldness, there’s really no way you can reverse it. Sure, there are medications that we can take to help you grow these back again but these are often temporary, not to mention the side effects that they bring. That’s why the only way you can truly manage your male pattern baldness is by looking for the best possible hairstyle that will suit your personality and your slowly diminishing crowning glory. Here are some hairstyles you may want to consider.
The Slick Back – If you notice your hairline at your temples already starting to recede, try asking your barber or even your hairstylist to highlight your handsome face with a slicked back hair. If you still have plenty of locks in the middle, you will also be creating flattering volume. Again, understand that your crown may also be starting to thin out so having your front locks slicked back can also help hide the beginning patch at the top. You may also want to have thinner sides to make the top appear much thicker and with more volume.
The Comb-over Style – Have you seen Anderson Cooper? He still looks dashing, doesn’t he? Despite the fact that he’s actually losing some locks, he still is able to show confidence in his neatly trimmed hair. The comb-over is perfect for those who may already have their tops starting to thin out. Their temples may still have the hairline intact, though. Nevertheless, it should pretty much work with beginning male pattern baldness. It’s essentially a side-part hairstyle sans the well-defined part. What you get is a longer haircut on top, surrounded by shorter sides and back. It is also possible to style it with a little fade.
The Pompadour – Want to look really cool despite the fact that your hairline is beginning to recede and that your top may only take a matter of months before it starts thinning, too? Well, the easiest way to really feel confident even if you’re already on the road to male pattern baldness is sporting the pompadour. This has got to be one of the most versatile hairstyles for balding men as it offers a lot of variations. Generally, however, you get short hair that you are going to style into the classic pomp shape. Think of it like a slick back except that the hair won’t be combed all the way back. You will have to use a blow dryer to achieve the kind of cool look you desire.
The Spike – No, I don’t mean the punk-style of hairstyle. It’s more like a derivative of the pompadour except that you’re going to make sure the hair strands will be moderately sticking out in an uneven, somewhat unkempt, manner. This is especially useful if your crown is starting to show particularly just above your forehead but you still have plenty of hair to style. The height of the spikes and the texture they create can reduce the look of slowly thinning hair. Think of David Beckham during his glorious days at United.
The Textured Crop – If your only issue is a receding hairline with plenty of locks to spare, this hairstyle should do the trick. You’ll need short bangs over your forehead and then the rest of your hair styled to produce greater texture. If you have thinning hair, ask your hairstylist to tousle your top.
The Military Crew Cut – Ever wonder why men in uniform don’t look like they have problems with thinning hair or even baldness? Well, that’s because they already sport very short hair. This actually de-emphasizes thinning hair. The shaved sides can also work wonders by making the top appear fuller than it really is.
The Buzz – You can call it “skinhead” or the like but the Buzz is the perfect choice if you already cannot hide the fact that you’ve lost most of your hair. It is essentially like having a bald head except that you still have hair but cut really short. It’s particularly ideal for men who may already have their crown starting to thin or even the hair near the hairline. It’s clean yet very edgy. Just think Jason Statham or Channing Tatum and you’ll get the point.
The Bald + Beard – Instead of letting people stare at your thinning crown and receding hairline, why not just completely get rid of it. To compensate, try growing facial hair. Look at Patrick Stewart, Dwayne Johnson, and, at some point, Bruce Willis. They all looked dashing even if their hair significantly went downwards.
The hairstyles shared with you are just some of the most basic styles that many balding men today use to create an entirely new look. While it is equally important to determine whether your baldness is indeed hereditary in nature, looking for ways to make the most out of your balding condition is a much worthier endeavor. If it worked for these celebrities and countless other men, it should fairly work for you, too.
