“I just felt like I was one haircut away from it never growing back,” said one of my best guy pals after making the decision to go bald. He started thinning around the age of 25 and shaved it all off at 27. For women, it’s the fear of gaining weight, but for men, that receding hairline is not the plus one you want to take to your high school reunion. 

Along with anxiously climbing up the corporate ladder and sorting out matters of the heart, young Black men also have to grapple with losing their full, thick heads of hair.  “Emotionally,  it's weird, because as a man – well, maybe just me – you don't expect to have to deal with thinning hair or a receding hairline in your late '20s. That's something you'd expect in your later years,” says Bryan, 28. 

The droves of fellas hanging on to their fading cuts definitely support the idea that hair is important to everyone. Celebrities, in particular, go through great lengths to give the false appearance of a perfect hairline and lush head of hair. I once asked Laz Alonso how it’s possible that that every Black actor in Hollywood has sidestepped baldness, and he laugh heartily and replied, “I don’t know if it’s hair plugs or what, but they’re doing something!” 

Is a loss of hair a loss of masculinity?  “I don’t think I would feel like less of a man,” says Tim, 29, but admits that he’d be “mad as hell” if he started losing his hair. “I’ve had it all of my life and I would look awkward without it.” 

So how does one gingerly persuade a guy that hasn’t even turned 30 to go bald? “You could suggest he try something new or just simply suggest he try to go bald,” Christa, 31, advises women to approach the subject with the men they love.  The wife, who says her hubby’s hair choices are his own, would only feel the need to say something if things got out of hand. 

With studies showing seventy-five percent of all men suffering from some form of hair loss, here are three good reasons to be bold and go bald:

1. It’s sexy. Most women will be moved to caress a smooth, shiny head.

2. It relieves the stress of worrying about losing your hair. When it’s gone, it’s gone. Let it go and you won’t have to worry about what people are thinking. 

3. It plays up your facial hair. Go ahead and grow in that thick beard and mustache.