Going Bald, part 2
Yesterday I wrote about going bald. To be clear, I don't mean "going" as in, "I'm shaving my head tomorrow." I'm talking about the normal, natural condition of gradual hair loss that's been playing out for, at this point, a few decades.
Anyway, after posting that blog entry yesterday I saw a feature about going bald in my newsfeed this morning. It's "The art of growing bald gracefully", posted on CNN.com. My guy response was, "Oh, great, I post a blog about baldness and now all the advertising spyware that's on major websites chooses to show me articles like this." But a quick click through to the article shows it was published today. So, yes, it's genuinely in CNN.com's feed, it's not something they dug up and fed to me because they (or their advertising platform) are able spy on my web browsing.
The author of this article, Oscar Holland, has gone through a situation similar to mine, though he's farther along it than I am. He proposed that there are "three important dates" in every balding man's life:
There are three important days in every bald(ing) man's life: The day you realize you're losing your hair, the day you realize you should shave off what remains, and the day you finally do. Growing bald gracefully is about reducing the gap between these milestones as far as possible.
I agree. I actually came to the same conclusion back in my mid 20s when I first noticed the creeping hairline and the strands of hair left in my hairbrush every morning. I resolved even then that I would age gracefully, not vainly. As I asserted in yesterday's blog, I would not comb my last three strands of hair sideways over the top of my head. I'd shave it all off first.
Thankfully it's not yet time to shave. Per the 3 days Holland describes, I'm still between #1 and #2. I've had a much longer run from #1 to #2 than I expected. My hair still looks good from the front. But at the same time I know that day #2 is closer than ever before. Day #3, when I choose to be completely bald, will not follow far behind.
Anyway, after posting that blog entry yesterday I saw a feature about going bald in my newsfeed this morning. It's "The art of growing bald gracefully", posted on CNN.com. My guy response was, "Oh, great, I post a blog about baldness and now all the advertising spyware that's on major websites chooses to show me articles like this." But a quick click through to the article shows it was published today. So, yes, it's genuinely in CNN.com's feed, it's not something they dug up and fed to me because they (or their advertising platform) are able spy on my web browsing.
The author of this article, Oscar Holland, has gone through a situation similar to mine, though he's farther along it than I am. He proposed that there are "three important dates" in every balding man's life:
There are three important days in every bald(ing) man's life: The day you realize you're losing your hair, the day you realize you should shave off what remains, and the day you finally do. Growing bald gracefully is about reducing the gap between these milestones as far as possible.
I agree. I actually came to the same conclusion back in my mid 20s when I first noticed the creeping hairline and the strands of hair left in my hairbrush every morning. I resolved even then that I would age gracefully, not vainly. As I asserted in yesterday's blog, I would not comb my last three strands of hair sideways over the top of my head. I'd shave it all off first.
Thankfully it's not yet time to shave. Per the 3 days Holland describes, I'm still between #1 and #2. I've had a much longer run from #1 to #2 than I expected. My hair still looks good from the front. But at the same time I know that day #2 is closer than ever before. Day #3, when I choose to be completely bald, will not follow far behind.