I shaved my head seven months ago:
And then I shaved my beard into a goatee, and of course most of the time I still wear my hornrim glasses, which gets me back to looking like this icon of myself that I created in 1995 or so:
And so I braced myself for the inevitable question: Why did you shave your head?
I prepared a few snappy answers:
- Lice.
- I didn’t shave it. The radiation therapy finally kicked in.
- To express my solidarity with Ray Nagin. Or Mitch Landrieu. Or the Superdome.
Much to my surprise, no one asked the question. This was a first. Every time I’ve shaved my head in the past, people asked the question. Why not now? I think it’s just another indication that we’re all in a post-levee-failure funk round these parts.
Anyway, I kept my head shaved all summer long, but I let my hair grow once the weather started cooling off. After one month I looked like Curious George:
After two months I looked like hell. Truly embarrassing hair. I took a picture to document just how bad it looked, but it was so painful to behold that I deleted it. I couldn’t go out in public.
Again I faced the dilemma: My barber Lou Claverie, to whom I was insanely loyal, got flooded out and has not returned. Here’s what i looked like after my last visit to Lou:
Lou was the best. I feel it’s a betrayal to get my hair cut by anyone else, but I don’t want to look like a jerk.
And so, again, I go to the Monteleone Hotel Barber Shop. Pat is kind of an asshole (sorry Pat) but at least he knows how to do a decent flattop.
For most of my adult life, I’ve shaved either my head or my chin. I don’t shave both because I look like a skinhead. And I don’t grow a beard while I have a head of hair because I look like a fuzzball. But Xy says she likes the beard. (Dad tried to get me to shave the beard three times during his visit. Sorry Dad.) I am keeping the beard for now, with the head hair, and with some reservations.
So if you see me around New Orleans with a goatee and a flattop, feel free to chime in with your opinion. And feel free to recommend a centrally-located barber.
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Thanks for the hair history. Btw, I know several women who wonder why you shave your head. They think you look better with hair. That’s all I’m saying. It’s up to them to…um… come clean.
After having gone bald involuntarily, I just assume that the voluntary bald like washing their hair with the Garden hose.
That was the best part of it. Cause the worst is head sweat. I hope to never be bald again.
You, on the other hand look like an FBI agent in the 50s
She only made a few perfect heads…the rest have hair…
I really only miss hair when it’s cold and rainy…like it was Christmas Eve…it’s hard to find the right hat to wear w/ dress clothes and not look like your high school principal…or a detective from the old “film noirs”…
oh, well…all the barbers I knew flooded as well…
there’s always the Flowbee
I’ve never seen you with hair, B. I think it looks okay. In fact, there is something oddly compelling about the raised eyebrow shot. I don’t know for sure, but I think it reminds me of Daddy (who was by the way not far from an FBI agent in the 50s – OSS in the 40s). I want some horn rimmed glasses too. Years ago I had some green ones, but I lost them and have been too poor to get them replaced. I’ve been walking around blindish ever since so you might want to take my positions on all things visual with a grain of salt. (Hmmm…. too much information, I suspect). Peace, darlin’. I think you look great. Tell Zy I said to behave.