(credit)
Katakana is a version of English Japanese use to avoid actually speaking English, and someone decided for all of them that bald people are called skinheads regardless of how horrible and offensive the term is. So, Japanese people believe all English speakers, rather than just Brits, call bald people skinheads.
They have other terms, but this is the agreed upon one everyone uses.
A few times, I've told Japanese friends, "Just say bald."
"That's offensive," for some reason, they believe.
"No," I would argue as someone bald and Jewish. "Calling someone a nazi white supremacist is offensive."
It's so difficult to explain
this is a skinhead:
(credit)
This is a bald guy:
(credit)
(link)
Gave 'em this kind of gaze:
(2012)
(Early 2013: smoking a Cuban in Costa Rica)
(Late 2013)
Survey says women generally find bald guys attractive.
A few times, I've told Japanese friends, "Just say bald."
"That's offensive," for some reason, they believe.
"No," I would argue as someone bald and Jewish. "Calling someone a nazi white supremacist is offensive."
It's so difficult to explain
this is a skinhead:
(credit)
This is a bald guy:
(credit)
These are thirty-minute conversations that often still go misunderstood. The listener's mind is blown, and they still say "su kin he do," in Japanese like it's not offensive.
Plus, there’s a stigma that comes with bald men: We all have low self-esteems about it.
My friends cackled as if they had me there or something.
No worries. It’s what guys do in groups for good fun.
Point is, however, to make jabs at me my pals decided to go after
something I genuinely don’t care about; because they have
this misconception that all bald guys hate not having hair. For me, it’s quite
the opposite.
My journey started when I was twenty-six years old. I had complained to my brother about character defects of mine and added, “What’s
next, I start losing my hair?”
I laughed. My brother didn’t join. Instead, he
dramatically touched my shoulder, “Actually your hair is thinning in
the back.”
Big bro acted as if he’d just told me I had a fatal disease.
First, I denied it was happening at all. Then more people made comments about my hair loss. For example, I saw a guy with a Mohawk
and said to a friend, “I could grow one of those. Give myself a cool new image.”
“Not with what you’ve got going in the back,” he
replied. “You should shave it off,” was his unsolicited advice.
I ignored him, thought he was just picking on me. No way
I was losing my sacred hair.
(link)
When I was seventeen, my
hair touched my shoulder blades and still would if I wanted it to do so.
(Late '90s)
I got it cut short at twenty to look more professional.
(early 2000s)
But I wore newsboy caps all the time and walked around in the rain
without an umbrella. Plus, I smoked for fifteen years.
To my knowledge, there’s no scientific proof that any of the factors cause
baldness, but there's far and wide speculation. Anyway, I took my hair for granted and started to pay the price without realizing what was going on.
(2011)
When I noticed, perhaps a little . . . tiny . . . minor . . . miniscule bit
of thinning, I tried to save my hair, pleading for tips from family and friends on how to keep my precious where it was.
(link)
My hair was so rad, others would ask for treatment tips.
Reflecting, it was actually too pretty for a guy as manly as myself.
Reflecting, it was actually too pretty for a guy as manly as myself.
Nonetheless, I tried to save my waves in demanding from my
doctor hair treatment prescriptions.
Then, I spent hundreds of dollars for two years on baldness prevention products.
Still, I denied that my hair was actually thinning.
Then, I spent hundreds of dollars for two years on baldness prevention products.
Still, I denied that my hair was actually thinning.
At 30, I got a terrible haircut and yelled at the stylist who mutilated me because he went shorter than I'd ever had it. But I still paid
and tipped out of guilt for my attitude. I was truly upset because that was the
first time I saw for myself what was happening to me.
January 19, 2014, I turned 31 and went clothes shopping. There
I was, in the changing room, with mirrors on all three walls, and finally got a good look at
the back of my head. Indeed, I had begun to form what’s known as a balding crown. And
I was much like the Naked King, because it was obvious to everyone except me.
So I went to the nearest clipper joint.
My intention was to get
my hair short enough so to make the thinning appear unnoticeable.
Only, no matter how
short the poor lady trimmed my dead cells, it was clear I was still
losing stuff up top.
Told her, “Shave it all off.”
Never seen someone so terrified. “Are you sure, sir?”
“It’ll grow back if I don’t like bald, right?”
“Um, I think so,” she replied not so reassuringly.
“It’s only hair. Do it.”
You know what, my head’s never looked
so good. I was meant to be bald. It’s now difficult to wear newsboy caps, for which I once never went without, because I enjoy showing
off what I’ve got.
(2014-15)
Yet, for some reason people think it’s negative that I don’t
have a head of flourishing hair. If I wear a hat, friends of mine assume it’s because I want to hide
the fact that I’m bald. Most notably, someone asked, “Did you wear that cap the
other day because you’re embarrassed about, you know, being bald?”
“No, it’s because I’m freaking cold up there sometimes.”
My brother made a wish—he’d trade hairstyles if it were possible because he views baldness as a problem.
“But, I love being bald.”
Shaving's also fun now. I went all out and bought a
special badger brush and a Heavy Duty Double Bladed Safety Razor for guys like me who
are serious about what they use to shave.
These days, instead of people asking me how I got my hair to look so good, they say, “Bald looks amazing on you.”
Plus, there are studies that say men lose their hair because
they have tons of testosterone, which leads to longevity during intercourse.
Meaning statistically, as a bald man, I last longer in the sack than your
average guy with radiant hair.
Sorry, folks, but what’s there to have a low self-esteem about in
this case?
Want to talk about how women feel about bald men, as my friends did the other day?
Survey says women generally find bald guys attractive.
Talking the Mister Clean
style shave, not Crown and Glory.
(link)
Word on the street is a lack of confidence is a turnoff, not a cleanly shaven head.
There’s a lot about my looks I’d change if possible.
Being bald isn’t one of them.
Being bald isn’t one of them.
Personally, I’m stoked to be in the same club as bros like
Patrick Stewart 
,
,
Vin Diesel
,
,
Bruce Willis
,
,
Jason Statham 
, and basically the entire male
cast of Breaking Bad 
.
, and basically the entire male
cast of Breaking Bad 
.
To top it off, one of my greatest mentors happens to be bald. For this reason, I correlate baldness as a positive trait.
Future reference to my bar buds, et al., if you’re going to
tease me about something, bald-bashing is only confusing—as there’s nothing
wrong with having a shaved style.
