Bald Head Styling Tips: From Chrome Domes to Hip Heads...
31 December, 2007 14:09
Julie Olson, Mission Coordinator
I found this great article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN):
From Chrome Domes to Hip Heads, More Men Daring to Go Bald
By: Jesse Tinley
For 32 years, George Sapir and his hairpiece were inseparable.
The hairpiece, which he'd glue to his crown each morning, was the source of his public confidence and his private shame.
His wife of many years and, later, a longtime girlfriend both failed to persuade Sapir to part with the piece. The idea of facing the world without it seemed frightening and out of the question.
Finally, on a warm June night this year, a new girlfriend persuaded the 65-year-old attorney from Chesterland to lose the wiglet.
He peeled off the phony hair and trimmed his real strands down to a shadow. He nervously stepped out into the world as a new man.
"I remember it was very difficult the first time I went out in public without my hairpiece," Sapir says. "I felt almost naked."
He and his date went to dinner. As dim restaurant lights bounced off his shiny head, she reassured Sapir that he looked "hot."
These days, Sapir is minus the hairpiece - and the girlfriend. But he's added confidence in his new look and is determined to never wear another wig.
Sapir is among a growing number of men who are battling androgenic alopecia - or baldness - by trimming their remaining hair down to what's known as a shadow, or by going completely "NBA" - a style popularized by Michael Jordan.
Hairstylists and men's fashion tailors say they notice more men of all ages sporting the bald look: from Cavs' coach Mike Brown to bankers suffering from those cruel receding hairlines.
The confidence-boosting look is more suitable to some noggins than others, says Raphael Taylor, a stylist at Mobazz barbershop in Cleveland, who went "NBA" six years ago after androgenic alopecia began turning his once-coarse and abundant hair into peach fuzz.
Even before his hair started to disappear from the center of his head, Taylor's friends assured him he was blessed with the perfect symmetrical head for sporting the bald look.
Many balding men never pay much attention to the shapes of their heads.
That is, until the heartless onslaught of androgenic alopecia begins to eat away at blond curls, bold dreadlocks and long, chestnut ponytails.
Personal injury attorney Tim Misny, who weighs 225 pounds and stands 6 feet 5 inches, has never been short on confidence.
After Misny's hair became as threadbare as a worn dishrag, he faced the mirror squarely. He never fell for the lure of hair-club products.
"It's a great feel," says Misny, who eight years ago finished off with a razor what nature started. People have told him that his stature, his baldness and the black Hugo Boss designer suits he favors can be imposing. "I'm a big guy and (the bald look) can be intimidating when you come into a room," Misny says.
Not even a magic hair-growth pill could persuade Misny to give up the bald look, he says.
Back in the day, Misny says, "You had Yul Brynner, and that was a guy of great confidence and elegance. I have nothing against the long-hair look. My wife has beautiful long hair."
Don Seyler, a statistician with AmTrust Bank, puts it this way: "I have this (look) because of nature - I didn't have a choice."
But, adds the 36-year-old, "I'm lucky, because I have the head for it. Or else I would be in big trouble."
Carl Jones, who launched Arabica Coffee years ago and is the founder of Phoenix Coffee, is equally at ease in his own skin - from head to toe.
"Michael Jordan had the best (bald look) I've ever seen, followed by Telly Savalas and Yul Brynner," Jones says. "It works for me."
While "the ladies" like his shaved look, Taylor kindly lets some clients know that "going global" is not for everyone.
It doesn't suit men with flat occipital bones, agrees Barbara Martorello, a stylist at Europa International Salon & Spa in Woodmere, Ohio.
For them, she recommends a very low cut (in back) to provide a more balanced look. Taylor considers facial features and head shapes before making recommendations and tells some clients they would be better off with a shadow than a completely bald head.
To get a good idea of how well the shadow look works, Taylor suggests those faced with the hair dilemma take a close look at the head of Eric Snow of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"It's the perfect shadow cut," he says.
There are various options for balding men, from creams to hair transplants, says Martorello, who is unsure how well they work. Getting the right hair cut, be it a shadow or bald cut, is much healthier than stressing out about hair loss.
"Going totally bald takes the kind of guy that is very sure and very confident about himself - the guy who says, 'This is me,' " she says.
Still, the subject of baldness remains a touchy one for some men, who cling desperately to the Donald Trump comb-over, or others who wear long ponytails in conspicuous and headstrong defiance of a glistening crown.
Hair, or lack of it, "is very sensitive and involves the male ego," Martorello says. But she's also seen the confidence level of balding men rise with the trends of balds, fades, shadows and low cuts.
The trend hasn't gone unnoticed in the local men's fashion industry, said Wally Naymon, owner of Kilgore Trout clothing in Cleveland.
Tiki Barber, the former NFL running back, "is a guy who epitomizes that look," Naymon says. "He is always sharply tailored, and he looks phenomenal."
These days, whether in a suit or sportswear, Sapir is as free as the wind. He no longer worries about the eyes - real or imaginary - stealing glances at his wig or about the brutal forces of nature wreaking havoc on a hairpiece that costs $400 or $500.
"I will never go back," he says.
As for his old hairpieces? He plans to find a charity to lay them to rest, once and for all, on someone else's head.
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