Every time I'm in a new environment, like a new job, a new apartment, or starting my masters program, I inevitably get asked, "hey so why do you cut/shave your hair like that?" or "so when are you going to start letting your hair grow out again?" Admittedly, when I was younger and I first shaved my head, I told most of my friends that I shaved it off for some reason or another, I forget. I was still very afraid and almost ashamed to come clean with my friends and say "Hey what you thought was my hair wasn't real and I just got tired of it!" Also, unfortunately I shaved it all off right around the time Britney Spears went crazy and shaved hers off too. So some people thought something similar was going on (haha). I understood back then why people would ask those questions. Why is this kid bald? Is this a phase he is going through?

But now I'm in my mid-twenties and it's not uncommon for guys my age to go bald. At the school I attend now for my masters there are a couple of other guys that shave their head too. I don't know if they get questioned but I have had to explain myself several times since I came here to Boston. Now before I continue I don't want to discourage anyone from going out into new environments. These questions have not been a negative experience for me, it just intrigues me and sometimes I try to have fun with it. But what amazes me is many people still don't understand I don't have hair. Most recently, my new roommate and I had this exchange.

new roommate: "why do you cut your hair like that?"
me: "what hair?"
new roommate: "wait what do you mean? I saw your facebook pics and you had such great hair!"
me: "that was years ago" (I didn't want to tell her that some of them are most likely not real hair)
new roommate: "wait... I don't get it"

Other answers my friends and I have given to strangers in the past include:

"I'm training to be a monk."
"I'm going as Bruce Willis for the latest Die Hard movie."
"Et Cetera, Et Cetera!" (The King and I)
"He is in the air force" (which landed me a free dinner at a restaurant)
"My ex-girlfriend was my hair dresser"
"I'm actually 40 years old my face just looks really young"
"When you have "the face" you don't need no hair."

Now I haven't used these answers in a while but I learned that most people don't ask a follow up question after that (most of the time).

Hopefully its not because I still look very young, in which case I am promptly going to the gym to bulk up to try and look my age.

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