[BlueOctopus]

I'm a 38-year-old man. After a long period of unemployment and constant rejection I was fortunate enough to land a great job recently. While I'm very excited about this opportunity, something that I've struggled with a lot over the past few years has really got me down: I feel very insecure and self-conscious about my appearance. Specifically, I'm having a really hard time accepting the fact that I'm losing my hair. This may sound absurd or vain, but I can barely stand the sight of myself in the mirror. At my new job they wanted to take a headshot of me for their website, and before she started, the photographer asked if I wanted to fix my hair first. I made a joke about it, but inside I felt gutted.

I want to feel confident and appear confident to others at my work, but I just don't know how to get this toxic self-consciousness out of my head. I'm considering just saying "f*** it" and buzzing my head, but I'm afraid I'll wind up looking worse.

Any suggestions? Thanks for listening to me whine.

[Teddy Bear]

I shaved my head and lost more hair. I'm 41

[notz]

I'm female and work with 3 men in my department who all shave their heads. This was their choice of control in their appearance as they were losing their hair anyway. I'm so proud of them, I think they look great!

[BrokeTech]

I was kind of thinking the same thing as notz. I see all these commercials and products for men who have issues with balding to grow more hair--I guess those are also options, even though some definitely result in all the hair that would have come out finally coming out when you stop using those products. Some guys wear hats all the time or bandanas to cover bald/thin spots.

I'm basically mid-30s, a woman and have gray hairs popping up everywhere. It's so irritating to me, and I look way younger than I am otherwise...so I hate to go to work with gray hairs showing in my hair looking like I'm 27 in the face otherwise, i.e. a 27-year old with gray hair. I've been clipping them out (the ones I can see) and, of course, they come right back. I'm going to have to start dealing with that annoying hair coloring garbage to hide it, ugh.

[reb569]

I work with a few guys who have shaved their heads. One has a mustache and well groomed beard too. It's very in right now. I wouldn't worry about going that route.

I'm basically mid-30s, a woman and have gray hairs popping up everywhere. It's so irritating to me, and I look way younger than I am otherwise...so I hate to go to work with gray hairs showing in my hair looking like I'm 27 in the face otherwise, i.e. a 27-year old with gray hair. I've been clipping them out (the ones I can see) and, of course, they come right back. I'm going to have to start dealing with that annoying hair coloring garbage to hide it, ugh.

My older sister started getting gray hair in her early 20's. She started highlighting it first, then ended up going bleach blond (normal hair color a medium brown). She regrets it now because once you start you can't stop. My younger sister too, except she went darker instead of lighter. I've never actually colored my hair. My hair is lighter, not really blond, but pretty close so the gray blends in, and in the summer when I get a lot of sun it's almost unnoticeable (I'm 54). Just throwing that out there.

[BrokeTech]

Originally Posted by reb569

My older sister started getting gray hair in her early 20's. She started highlighting it first, then ended up going bleach blond (normal hair color a medium brown). She regrets it now because once you start you can't stop. My younger sister too, except she went darker instead of lighter. I've never actually colored my hair. My hair is lighter, not really blond, but pretty close so the gray blends in, and in the summer when I get a lot of sun it's almost unnoticeable (I'm 54). Just throwing that out there.

My hair is very dark, so it stands out. A lot of the gray hairs are in the very front and on the sides, too, so...very visible to everyone who greets me from the front (which is basically everyone).

I already hate salons, and I'm not into hair at all, which means I don't know how to do much of anything with it myself but wash and dry it. I'm already stuck with salons (hard to explain), and this would be one more thing to make me keep having to go to them, one more cause of hair problems, etc.

[reb569]

Originally Posted by BrokeTech

My hair is very dark, so it stands out. A lot of the gray hairs are in the very front and on the sides, too, so...very visible to everyone who greets me from the front (which is basically everyone).

I already hate salons, and I'm not into hair at all, which means I don't know how to do much of anything with it myself but wash and dry it. I'm already stuck with salons (hard to explain), and this would be one more thing to make me keep having to go to them, one more cause of hair problems, etc.

My sister's do their own coloring. They tell me it's not that hard. None of us spend a lot of time trying to style our own hair. We really are wash and go for the most part. Once you have it done a couple of times at a salon, you might be able to do it yourself.

[BrokeTech]

Originally Posted by reb569

My sister's do their own coloring. They tell me it's not that hard. None of us spend a lot of time trying to style our own hair. We really are wash and go for the most part. Once you have it done a couple of times at a salon, you might be able to do it yourself.

No, like I said, my hair issues are hard to explain...there's a cultural difference. Anyways, not to hijack the man's thread, lol.