it used to be long and plush and thick

February 1, 2017 8:26 AM

I've been balding somewhat and after a few years of just shaving my head at home I'm going to get an Actual Haircut at Actual Stylist and I have no idea what to ask for.

I am something like a II on this male pattern hair loss scale headed toward IIA (the widows peak area is visibly thinning out) and III Vertex (scalp not visible yet but absolutely thinning out).

From like 2004 on I usually had some semblance of a low-effort pompadour/long-on-top-shaved-sides-and-back but for numerous reasons (mainly hair thinning out up front and also the alt-right) I can't really do that anymore.

Anyone have ideas? Google searches for "thinning hair men's haircut" basically just leads to a bunch of photos of Jason Statham's mostly shaved head.

NB: A number of my male friends have been getting this haircut where there's just a flap of overly-long hair covering up the front to make it look less balding like some sort of hair-skort. It works for them but I extremely do not want that.

posted by griphus to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total)

This isn't going to be super helpful but I just told the guy I was looking for a haircut that would work well and reduce the appearance of the thinning and he went to work and did a great job; he also spec'd out some stuff that added some thickness and especially some matte-ness to reduce the shiny scalp effect. I think if you go to a fairly high-end place (I went on accident but now there's no going back) they can hook you up without doing anything tacky.
posted by ftm at 8:37 AM on February 1, 2017

As ftm said. Ask the barber/stylist what would work for you. It's there job and they don't mind you asking. And if it doesn't work out, it's hair, it'll grow back.

(You do know that a lot of guys look real hot with shaved heads?)
posted by james33 at 9:30 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty similar to that IIA. I usually ask for my top a little longer than finger length (~1.5 inches), and then a #3 clipper on the back and sides. But I wear a baseball cap most of the time, haha, so take it for what it's worth.
posted by kevinbelt at 9:31 AM on February 1, 2017

Former II->III Vertex here. The canonical haircut for that sort of pattern is what's called a Caesar cut, which you can do yourself if you own buzzers. The advantage of having somebody else do the work for you is they can fade and trim the neck line in a way you can't, but I eventually got to be OK at trimming that myself. If you have somebody do it you can specify a guide number (I started with a six, then went to a five).

Somewhere between IV and VI I just started shaving with a blade. My determining factor was that there was a patch of hair on top connected to the sideburns with a thin line they don't really illustrate there. The line itself started to thin out and I decided that if it formed a break wider than a pencil, it was time.

That time came twelve years ago.
posted by fedward at 10:04 AM on February 1, 2017

I'm (third?)ing ftm; find a stylist who will discuss what you want to do and let them know that you're aware that you're losing hair and want to find an appropriate haircut. This may be a bit more expensive than you might be used to; I actually had somebody at a cheap place tell me "Oh, you're thinning on top so I cut it really short" as she ran clippers over the top.

I'm also on minoxidil, which is annoying but not terribly expensive.
posted by Comrade_robot at 2:09 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]