Saying goodbye to my hair

When I was a kid, I had the longest hair of all the kids in my street. I wasn’t a girl, but you would have to do a double take when you saw my long locks! I was always proud of the thick head of hair I had and didn’t care when I was teased at school for it. In my teens, I would tie it up but let it loose for rock concerts.

I got married in 1972 at 23 years old and at the time, I had a brilliant shoulder length mullet. I hoped this would distract from the fact I had a receding hairline, but when I look at the photos, I cringe at how horrible I looked next to my radiant wife. I continued to deny my pattern balding until I was well into my 50s. I think you can imagine just how much hair I had left but it was affectionately referred to as my halo. I had grown one side longer to cover the patch but at long last, when I was 54, I decided it was time. It was time to admit I was a bald man.

And this wasn’t the easiest thing to admit – I didn’t want to say goodbye to my vanity or what little hair I had left. But I chose to embrace the baldness and poked fun at myself. I thought it’d be funny to have some friends around so my mates could shave off the few sprouts I had left. I still keep my last hairs in a ziplock as a reminder.

One thing they don’t tell you in your lad’s magazines is that when you lose hair on your head, it comes out your ears. It’s like it slipped back into the follicle and teleported 20cm down! I have hair in places I never thought you could grow hair – the top and sides of my back, my eyebrows, my nose and my arse – everywhere was growing like crops in high season. I don’t have enough beauty products in the house to control the growth so I’ve had to take pride in what I’ve been given…a topsy turvy body. When I was in my 20s, I had hardly a hair on my body but luscious hair, and now, 40 years later, I could be mistaken for Bigfoot!

The wife loves the hairy chest but stays quiet on the rest. I have a feeling many other men are in my position! Or maybe women too? Oh well, I say, embrace your hairy or non-hairy self. I saw a young woman on the news last year who had a beard and she embraced the skin she was in. I wish I had done it sooner! It really makes you put life into perspective when you get worried about hair.

Have you had to say goodbye to your hair? What did you do? Tell us about it below.