I’ve always wanted to know what I’d look like bald, so I shaved my head. I didn’t leave a quarter inch of follicle. I took it down to the scalp.
The first few days I was in the “I am bald” shock-phase and wore a baseball cap everywhere. I needed time to adjust and brace myself for what friends might say. I feared the “You look like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family” comments, though, when I think about it, Uncle Fester did have a charm and sexiness about him.
I gradually took off my baseball cap while driving. I’d look in the rearview mirror and see a reflection I’d never seen before. I was tough-looking, like a recent parolee from prison. It gave me a boost. I accelerated the gas pedal with a “don’t mess with me attitude.”
I then started slipping off the cap while walking the neighborhood. I’d catch a glimpse of myself in the storefront windows. Yeah, I was looking badass.
The first thing I noticed about being bald was the chill, the cold skull. If a gentle breeze blew around my scalp I felt a chill, a tickling. It made me rub my head. It felt good.
I also noticed I have a nicely shaped head with hardly a bump or a valley, though there is one blood vessel that seems to be prominent just above the hairline.
With a slight beginning of follicle growth my baldness looks like an atlas, like the map of South America. If I’m ever lost in the southern hemisphere all I’ll need is a mirror to find my way around. And that protruding blood vessel looks a lot like Peru.
The good bald news is I can stand tall and proud and proclaim I’m contributing to saving water during this California drought. Shower times are much shorter because I don’t shampoo, rinse, repeat, condition, and rinse.
This bald head is here to stay… for the summer at least. As winter approaches I might need to grow it out to keep me warm… or I’ll invest in a few battery powered heated knitted hats. I’m sure I can find them online, maybe on Amazon.
But for now…
Bald is beautiful… and badass… and so am I.
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