shave my head

I’m further away from this now than I have been in a while.

I’ve been letting my hair grow out a bit over the last few months, partially because I just haven’t had a chance to get it cut, and also because it hadn’t looked half-bad.

But, I’m starting to remember why I began buzzing it in the first place, and why I added this goal as long ago as I did, and I think it’s about time to start pursuing this more actively again.

In all likelihood I’m getting a buzzcut again this weekend, and I should be able to maintain it now that we’ve brought the clippers back from our house in Ohio. Towards the end of April/early May, we’re going to have the house to ourselves for about ten days while the in-laws are on a cruise. I figure this gives me plenty of time to let my hair grow back just enough should it look particularly bad. But, hopefully I won’t have to worry about that!

Well, this was supposed to be the weekend that it was all coming off, but due to circumstances beyond my control, it’s going to be somewhat delayed for now.

However, my hair is at about 1/12 inch these days, and I’m re-buzzing it myself about every second or third day, so I’m still about 99% of the way there now. If you look at me from a distance, you might not realize I still have hair on my head!

I’d say I’m about 99% done with this now.

There have been two drawbacks thus far—first, I have two or three scabs on my head from when I was four years old and had a severe case of chicken pox. Also, I seem to have a bit of a dry scalp.

But, my wife (who ran the clippers) likes it, and I think has just about talked herself into the possibility of shaving it completely for me!

Despite my wife’s misgivings, on Friday night she gave me a trim without the guard on the clippers. The clippers are still at their highest setting, but her reaction was still “Omigod! That’s really short!” as she plowed through. Even I was a bit shocked when I looked in the mirror. But, the shock soon wore off for both of us. After an initial pronouncement from my wife that I now looked like Mr. Clean, she decided that perhaps it looked very nice after all.

And, I also realized that this seemed to act as pretty decent foreplay for us, too—an extra and unforeseen benefit! I’m hoping perhaps tonight she might be willing to give me a trim, at the next clipper setting . . .

So, I’m definitely closer to marking this off as complete these days!

The date is set.

I’ve decided to take the week off following July 4, so essentially I will have ten days during which I will not be going into the office. And, combined with the fact that most of my familial obligations will have been met by then (a wedding in my wife’s family at the end of May, a reunion on my side of the family at the end of June), July 4 sounds like a good day to become completely independent of hair.

In the meantime, in preparation for this, my hair is now shorter than ever and we bought clippers today, so my wife can touch me up when she or I feel it’s getting a bit too long (and so I can go even shorter still leading up to no hair). And we are ignoring my wife’s friend, who, upon hearing I was planning on shaving my head, told me she wasn’t sure I had a good shaped head for it. At the very least, if she’s right, I’ll have ten days or so to let it grow out!

I really hadn’t given this too much thought since I went from longish hair to a buzzcut last July. But yesterday, I was looking in myself in the mirror after having gotten my hair cut again, and I realized that with the little amount of hair still on my head these days (about 1/4” on top, 1/8” back and sides), there is not much of a difference between this and taking it all off (especially since once it’s warmer outside I’ll probably be taking it down to 1/8” all over, anyway).

So, I just sort of mentioned it in passing to my wife—sort of a “Hey, what would you think if I shaved it all?” to her. And, unlike last summer, she didn’t give me the scornful disapproving sound like she did last time. So, maybe this summer after all. I’m just now of the mindset that the less hair on my head, the better . . .

My company is doing a cut-a-thon sometime next month to support breast cancer research. I will be getting my hair cut at this point, though with it being early November and rather cold here, I’m hardly going to move much more forward on this goal just now.

However, if they’re doing this, I would think they may sponsor a team for St. Balrdick’s Day, or perhaps could be persuaded to do so. I think I may check this out . . .

However, I did get it cut today a bit shorter than usual. This is probably the shortest my hair has been in eight or nine years. I think I’ll keep this short for a while. It probably won’t be getting any longer!

This is pretty far down on my list, and will probably stay reasonably far down on my list as I add/remove items. It’s not that it’s not important—it’s just not something that’s probably going to happen anytime soon.

It would be easier if I were balding and had thinning hair. I don’t. Not only do I have a full head of hair, but it is incredibly thick, so it probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. And it looks good. I’m just curious as to what I’d look like without it.

Perhaps I can chalk it up under a Zen/Buddhist type-thing—shave it to “simplify” my life. But the thing is, I spend absolutely no time styling it now (other than to comb it after I get out of the shower), so shaving would actually complicate things should I decide to keep it shaved.

I just think it would look neat. I’ve buzzed my hair before and it looked good. I’d really like to go the next step and get rid of all of it. I’d like to feel the razor on my scalp. I also have this interesting picture in my mind of a woman (probably my wife) in red lipstick kissing my bald head and leaving her kiss prints as “tattoos” of sorts . . .

I’ll probably start the process next spring/summer, maybe. Maybe I’ll cut it a bit shorter than usual in the summer, and just gradually let it get shorter and shorter. Or, St. Baldrick’s is active in my community—perhaps I’ll give them the honors for charity. We’ll see.