Going bald is a life-altering experience to be sure. You’ll most likely experience a good amount of grief, and you’ll probably go through the 5 stages of grief. Despite all that you can overcome the grief and start building your confidence. Helm will help. That’s why we’re here — to guide you on your journey to becoming bald, bold, and badass.
The first, and most painful obstacle you’ll have to overcome after you’ve accepted your hair loss is the loss of your confidence. It’s rough, it’s inevitable, but it’s conquerable.
Over the years I’ve learned a few ways of winning the battle to regain my confidence after going bald.
Here’s five of them:
1. Own It
Stop running from it. Stop ignoring it. Just stop. I see it EVERYDAY. Men who have hair on the sides and leave it, men with a giant bald spot on the crown of their head with scraggly hair in the front. CUT THAT S#$%
No more the comb-overs, No more thinning slick back, No more just cutting it short. Go shave it.
Seriously, If you haven’t already done it, go shave your head. Even if you just use the clippers with no guard, do yourself a favor and buzz it. And if you are really balding, go to the barber and have it shaved clean off. Right now. Like, get up, go to the barber and then finish this article while you’re waiting to get your head shaved.
If you own it, YOU are the one in control of being a bald badass. Not your friends, not some person on TV, not some random person on the street. YOU. And it shows you are confident without running around saying that you’re confident (which sends the signal that you most certainly are not).
2. Get A Bald Role Model
Do you remember those W.W.J.D bracelets? They stood for “What would Jesus do.”
Well, replace the J with the first initial of a bald badass you admire — Helm’s Instagram has a ton of guys that have owned being bald and are all exceedingly badass — and then ask yourself what that Helm man would do in any given situation. Would Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have kept a balding head of hair? Not at all.
It doesn’t matter who you choose one or if you choose a bunch of different Helm guys to have as a role model, but I highly suggest choosing at least one. The next time you’re out and feeling a lack of confidence ask yourself “What would _______ do?”
3. Focus On What You Can Change
As much as you can’t control the fact that you’re bald, you can control other aspects of your physical appearance.
The three main things you can affect a change in are your physique, your skin, and your style.
You don’t have to be built like Terry Crews, but getting your body in better shape will make you feel and look better. Go look at the Helm Instagram. You’ll find pretty much all those men are fit. They don’t have to be bodybuilders, and some are most certainly not that, but they are all healthy guys.
As for skin, since it’s front and center you need to take care of it.
Use a hydrating shampoo on your head even though you don’t have hair anymore. Body wash can dry out your scalp and face. After showers use a moisturizer on your scalp, and if you are going to be out in the sun or live in warmer climate, use sunblock or wear a hat while out in the sun for long periods of time.
Now for style. You can dress however you want but having nice (not necessarily expensive), well-fitting clothes will boost your confidence to the moon. This is another fact you can learn from the Helm Instagram: All of those men dress well. Some of them are even fashion icons.
4. Dealing With Insults
I think a lot of men are concerned about this. Men who are going bald get made fun of for going bald. We see it in movies and TV all the time. If a character is bald or balding it’s almost a guarantee that they’ll be made fun of for it.
When my hair started thinning it was one of the first things I was concerned about. People using it as an insult or to test my mettle.
You don’t have to be afraid of insults though. There are a few ways to handle them.
You can ignore them. Because you're bigger than that. You can just shrug your shoulders and laugh and say “Yeah? So what?”
You can be preemptive and use slightly self-deprecating humor to get out in front of the situation. Self-deprecating humor telegraphs confidence by showing that what you're joking about doesn’t bother you that much. It also takes away the power of someone else trying to use it against you.
The last thing I have to say about insults kind of reinforces my first tip, “own it.” If you try to hide a balding or bald head, it sends subconscious signals that you're insecure about it and other people WILL use that against you. So this is just another reason for you to just shave it and own being bald.
5. Fake It Until You Make it
You may not be confident about being bald right away, and that’s okay. A lot of us aren’t. To deal with this you have to, as cliché as that might sound, “fake it until you make it.”
I’m sure you’ve heard that advice before about one thing or another, but it definitely works here.
While you’re working on all the above tips this one will help you stay on track while you're working your way to becoming a Helm man.
To share your tips or get tips from your bald brothers, go to our private Facebook group here.
Now, go shave your head, be bold, be badass, and take the helm.