The strange thing about being bald is that it brings to your attention the whole aspect of self image. Before having Alopecia self image was not something that I thought of very much, I was how I was. Having lost my hair I am in a position of having had a before image and a new image. As such it has drawn my attention to the way I look now and to how I feel about myself.

I look at other people more now with a thought of what they are like in relationship to their self image and how that image affects them as people. No matter what that person is like it is clear that much of the person’s personality is governed by their own confidence that is gained by self image. Some people are confident and some are not.

Obvious!!!!!!

As a long haired youth in the 70’s I saw bald people as being old or not likely to be as dynamic as someone with long hair. After all was there any guitar hero at that time without long hair? Clapton had so much hair and he was classed as a God. Clapton is still up there writing, recording and performing whilst Tony McPhee of Groundhogs fame who with hair in the 70’s was rated up there with Clapton has faded perhaps not into obscurity but certainly to the back shelf of Rock n Roll as his hair has left his brow.

Growing older and having slightly shorter hair than in my days of never seeing a barber, I rarely gave hair or my image much thought. I was me and that what was important to me. Rarely did I want to be anyone else as I was happy. Quite out of the blue I developed Alopecia and my hair was falling faster than the leave in autumn (fall to our cousins across the pond). The very thought of being bald was horrific and I was in a state of shock. How could this happen to me.

But it did!!!!!!

Having taken the bold step of shaving my head I found that I really liked my new image. I started to feel much better about myself than when my hair was falling out and I was showing bald patches in random places about my head. Not only did I feel better about myself than when my hair was falling out, I realised that I was feeling better about myself than when I had hair.

How could I?

Well self image is very strange because it is not how you look but how you feel about how you look. I feel great because I feel that my new image is better than it was when I had hair. It is now not necessary for a guitar hero to have long flowing locks or for any other man to be judged by the hair on their head. Society has accepted that bald is good. It is strong and accepted as a fashion statement. Today many men purposely shave their heads for the masculine image of having a shaved head because that is what they want.

Although my hair is re-growing, I still shave my head most days because I like it that way.

I just wish that Tony McPhee would shave all of his remaining hair off because he would look better than just having a receding hair line that is now nearer to the back of his head than it is to his front.