Fifty Plus (50+) - And Speaking of Shaving....I'm Thinking of Shaving My Head

The thick forest of hair that I knew and loved in my 20s, 30s and even into my 40s is growing thinner by the day. Yesterday, finally dawned on me, that it may be time for the buzzcut. Anybody else in the shaved head club? Any negatives?

Assuming you're a helmet wearer you're going to get some funny looking tan lines.

I don't technically shave my head, but I do run the clippers with the lowest gaurd setting over it from time to time, leaving nothing but a slight stubble. Like you, I once had long, flowing hair that was part of my self-identity, but I have gone past balding to bald and it is more trouble than it is worth to keep any length of hair on my head now. I kind of like it gone. I even get some of that "freak flag" feeling that I lost when I quit wearing my hair at shoulder length. A bandanna or Headsweat takes care of the sunburn problem.

I am in my late 40's, and I started losing my hair in my early 20's. For many years, I had a horseshoe fringe of hair. About five years ago, I started shaving my head daily except for a van **** beard. Other than making sure to use sunscreen or wear a hat, I have noticed no negatives. Many people tell me I look much better with a shaved head as opposed to the fringe.

While it is fading to white more every day, I've still got about a 95% full head of hair. No shaving for me! Two of my brothers are balding, so I guess I got my mother's gene on this attribute.

You will get faster, girls will like it, the massage will be easier and cuts and scraped will heal more quickly.............:)

I like having long hair, although when I let mine get long it curls and barely reaches my shoulders. My "bald spot" convinced me to rethink things.

I started buzzing mine with the clippers around the time I hit 60. I gotta say it's easy to maintain, if nothing else.

I buzzed my hair off last week. Like others, I'm going bald in the front and just normally comb it back...periodically I say the heck with it and buzz it off. I love the low maintenance and can clip it myself so I save a few bucks, too.

The problem with shaving is you have to do it daily. A set of clippers set to #1 or #2 is easier for me. A fresh buzz every couple of weeks keeps me nice and tidy and only takes a few minutes in the bathroom mirror.

Wow! I'm glad I don't have these types of decisions to make:D

I still have plenty of hair on my head and the leg hair quit growing as I got older. It appears the shaving problems might shift to the males after 50:)

I'm keeping all the hair I can keep.

Now if there was someway of keeping the Ear Hair permanently trimmed????

I'm keeping all the hair I can keep.

Now if there was someway of keeping the Ear Hair permanently trimmed????

+1 on the ear hair!!!

I have considered using my beard trimmer to give myself a buzz cut, but I've never taken that step. I am a huge procrastinator on hair care, and haven't had a haircut for 6 months or so... maybe after all of this indirect encouragement I will have to buzz myself this weekend.

I have always thought that the ease of maintenance would be great... No combs to keep track of, hair dries virtually instantly after a shower... and it shouldn't look ratty if I skip shampooing one day.

I'll have to give it some thought...

Well I was in the 'buzz' crowd until Richard Harris died and I decided the world needed another insane Irishman* with equally insane Elder-Hair! (See the lower picture here; it's Richard as Marcus Aurelius. http://www.theastralworld.com/ghosts/richardharrisghost.html)

My wife looks at my wind-blown insane Elder-Hair and calls me "Aieolo" the Roman god of wind. (Well OK, for a few other wind-related reasons, too.)

Cycling content? I'm pretty sure no Roman Emperor ever rode a bike, nor Consul, nor Censor either. Mind you, I'd wouldn't mind seeing Cleopatra on a nice cyclocross.

* - I'm Italian extraction, but what the heck, they're both lyrical peoples.

I did the whole cue ball thing last summer. Even Bic'ed it a couple of times. But then Mother Nature has done half the job for me already so it wasn't anything traumatic.

Got lots of compliments and was told I even looked younger. But I checked to make sure that the shape was nicely melon like and that there were no Elvis shaped birthmarks under what was left first time around.

A few years ago going cue ball had some stigmas attached to it what with the skinheads and other issues. These days it's just another fashion option that works for us when we reach the severly follicle challenged point in our lives.

Besides, as I was often told in my youth "the difference between a good and a bad haircut is about 4 weeks". If you don't like it then just let it grow back.

I'm keeping all the hair I can keep.

Now if there was someway of keeping the Ear Hair permanently trimmed????

+1. I can almost do a comb over.

Oh LORDY yes.... Once they come up with a procedure for transplanting ear hair to our scalps male pattern baldness will be a thing of the past for sure.... :D

buzz: #1 and done here.

I think I have every single strand I had in my twenties.......except instead of it being a nice brown color is is pure white. Even so, would like to do the BC just for the ease of maintenance. Just imagine the bike accessories I'm spending on my locks......

I think I have every single strand I had in my twenties.......except instead of it being a nice brown color is is pure white. Even so, would like to do the BC just for the ease of maintenance. Just imagine the bike accessories I'm spending on my locks......

Wannabe! :rolleyes:

I go one step further for low maintenance and use my beard trimmer at the closest gaurd setting for my beard and hair. Keeps everything nice and tidy and cool. The short stubs of hair hold just enough perspiration to act as an air conditioning system as it evaporates.

Oh LORDY yes.... Once they come up with a procedure for transplanting ear hair to our scalps male pattern baldness will be a thing of the past for sure.... :D

I remember hearing one of those commercials on the radio where they would "Take hair from where you have it and don't need it, and put it where you need it and don't have it."

I thought, cool, but why would I want a forehead full of butt hair to look at every day? :o

I started shaving my head 1 1/2 years ago. I started shaving to join my wife due to breast cancer chemo treatment. She has hair again, but likes mine shaved, so I have stayed with it for her. I shave about every day. Time consuming, but it is OK.

During chemo I lost most of my hair, and I cut the remainder short. The down sides are (1) sunburn, (2) scalp grease on the pillowcase, and (3) sweat in the eyes during exercise. I prefer having hair.

I stared my male pattern baldness in the face (as it were) and went with a #1 blade like others in here are doing. But I had some trouble getting a nice even cut on the sides (they tended to come out much shorter than the back), so to even things out I started shaving last fall. I still do it. I use one of these (http://www.headblade.com/)- it's really simple and pretty foolproof. The hard part is resisting the temptation to put pressure on the blade, but once you get over that, it works better than a regular razor. Whatever you use, be sure to shave with the grain when you're starting- you can avoid the dreaded bumps that way.

Edit- invest in a couple HeadSweats, especially as summer is coming- it will keep the sweat out of your eyes, and prevent the weirdest sunburn you've ever seen :D.

I don't have much on top, but have a full beard because I dislike shaving--there is no way I am going to spend time shaving my head-- although I have a few friends that shave it all daily and they love it--

"God made a few perfect heads--the rest he covered with hair"

train safe-

I've been mowing mine for a year or two. I use a set of wahl clippers w/the thinnest comb. I use my electric razor's pop-up trimmer on the back of my neck. Once a week is plenty. Headsweats/doo-rags are a must, but I'm a heavy sweater, so they were a must anyway.

There is a negative... in cold months your head gets cold. I wear a wool cap all the time, even inside.

Wow! I'm glad I don't have these types of decisions to make:D

I still have plenty of hair on my head and the leg hair quit growing as I got older. It appears the shaving problems might shift to the males after 50:)

I hadn't thought of that as a perk of aging, but come to think of it, the leg hair is growing more slowly.

I don't shave my head but use a set of clippers. This keeps it short enough. It may not be pretty but it 's a lot easier to care for and a lot cheaper than going to the barber, no offense intended to the barbers who bike. I don't worry about shaving the legs as that would recquire me to have hair there in the first plaace.

http://www.headblade.com/

I did it last year....never looked back.

I shave every few days or every day if I feel like it.

One intresting thing you save on shampoo but spend more on sunscreen. No more haircuts....woooohoooo

As others have said, #1 and done. Low maintenance!

Headsweats or a bandana under the helmet and all's good, the sun is blocked and the damp cloth provides great evaporative cooling at 15 or so mph . . . even at 90 degrees and 80 percent humidity.

I buzz my head to about 1/4" in summer and let it grow a little longer in winter, but still short. I also stopped washing it - I just rinse it when I shower. Without all that shampoo, my forehead stopped scaling, my hands stopped cracking all winter and my hair doesn't get greasy a day after rinsing it. I think shampoo is an addictive product. Shampoo every day and your scalp pours out grease to replace what you've lost and within a day your hair is greasy so you have to keep shampooing. Stop shampooing and in a few weeks or months your scalp adapts. Of course you have to start that when your hair is buzzed so you don't have to walk around with greasy hair for the first while.

I don't have any choice on the middle of my head but I do shave the sides. I were a "Buff" under my helmet when I ride.

Self buzzcut for me.:) The shorter I cut it the less I have to cut it. That way I can spend more on bike stuff.:D

Wear a skull cap and/or use sunscreen.

Pics or it didn't happen.

The thick forest of hair that I knew and loved in my 20s, 30s and even into my 40s is growing thinner by the day. Yesterday, finally dawned on me, that it may be time for the buzzcut. Anybody else in the shaved head club? Any negatives?

I have always gone for the 'number one'.. as close as you can without shaving. But last year I went the whole nine yards and shaved my head. My wife thought it looked pretty damned hot, which was a boon for sure. But it did have a drawback.

I hike a lot, and when climbing a very steep hill I had sweat running into my eyes, and this was with a Tilly hat with a sweatband incorporated. There was no hair on my nogging to hold it.

On my bike it was okay, except when it was cold.

I shaved mine last summer and really liked it although I'm not sure how the wife liked it although she used to stop and rub my head I don't think she liked it but she never said so. Quite a few of the younger ladies at work really like it maybe a bit too much for comfort. I got more than one comment about how sexy it looked. I let it grow out for the winter. I'll shave again probably in May when it gets hotter. I use a headsweat to keep the sweat out of my eyes in the summer. I have quite a bit of hair but a bit thinner in the crown than when I was a young man.

I buzz my hair to about 1/8" during the warmer months and it helps keeps me cool. I leave the eighth of an inch so that I don' get a weird helmet tan.

At 51, I don't have any signs of balding yet, thankfully, but I do cut my own hair with Wahl clippers. I'm single, so the only haircut I can give myself is the 3/8" all over job. The next day in at work I get a lady friend to straighten up the back :) I've never felt the urge to shave completely though.

Shave it! I've had mine shaved for 4 or 5 years. Zip, zip with a razor in the shower a couple times a week is all it takes. I ride with a surgeon's cap under my helmet to prevent sunburn stripes.

I started doing the "BIC" thing about 2 years ago...I got comments like "have you lost weight?" and "you look so much younger". I started to let it grow back at my wife's request and it looked horrible after about a week...shaved it again and now I can't imagine not shaving...the head that is...legs are still au naturel ;)

No head shaving here. I think shaving my face once a day is enough! I'm not balding just all gray. I have my hair buzz cut to a 21. Two comb top, one comb sides. If I have to comb it with anything more then a washcloth its time for another buzzing. At 50 something I like to keep my life nice and simple.

Ciao,
Timothy

I buzz with a #1 or #2 once a week to avoid having to shave completely on a daily basis. I like the low maintenance aspect of it, quick drying with a towel after a shower, no problems with the wind messing it up, and I save a lot of money not going for haircuts anymore. I wish I had done it sooner.

I don't have much on top, but have a full beard because I dislike shaving--there is no way I am going to spend time shaving my head-- although I have a few friends that shave it all daily and they love it--

"God made a few perfect heads--the rest he covered with hair"

train safe-

+1
My feelings exactly.

Another round of chemo or two, and I won't have to worry about shaving my head.....

Another round of chemo or two, and I won't have to worry about shaving my head.....

That sucks, Bud. But now you know that if you do lose your hair, you'll have lots of company in this group! I've learned stuff reading this thread that I never thought about. And you might consider getting a job where stringbreaker works. ;)

I have been shaving my head with hair clippers for the last 5 to 6 years. I use the lowest setting and shave every week. I sometimes wet shave but I need to be carfeul of nicks since I am on blood thiners and the nicks don't want to stop bleeding. The one thing that I like about wet shaving is tha taut feeling that it gives. I alway ride with a bandanna which negates the sunburn.

Shave it all off,wear white slacks,white t-shirt,and 1 gold ear ring.
The housewives are wild about this look.

Absolutely not!

You need to have enough hair, preferably halfway down your back or longer, to pull through the vents in your helmet.

This will turbulate the airflow over your back and trip the laminar flow, preventing a large vacuum bubble from forming and slowing you down by increasing your profile drag.

Of course, if your hair is as long as mine, drag could be the operative word. Thankfully I also maintain a full beard.