There are plenty of ways for guys to get a new look. If you’re balding or are already there, you can shave your head and grow a goatee. It’s a good way to deal with baldness without looking for a costly and potentially embarrassing hair replacement or transplant option.
And growing a goatee is a great way to balance your newly shaved head. Some guys can pull off the bald head and bald face look. Some guys look better with facial hair. Plus having facial hair tends to draw attention away from your head to your face.
Here’s how to shave your head and grow a goatee at the same time.
Shaving Your Head
Here are some thoughts on shaving your head:
When is the best time to shave your head?
If you still have hair, anytime is good. If you’re going bald, once you realize you’re going bald is a good time. The next best time is today. The sooner you deal with your baldness, the sooner you can forget about it.
You get a number of benefits when you shave your head. One is that it makes hair loss less noticeable.
Hair grows 1/2 inch per month
Hair tends to grow about 1/2 inch per month or 6 inches per year. So you can use that as a guideline to figure out how long it’ll take to grow back to the length you had before you shaved it. Hair grows in cycles and you can also learn more about the hair growth cycle if you like.
It’ll grow back – the hair that you still have – if you don’t like the look. So you can give it a go without worrying too much about it being permanent since it isn’t. The first time I shaved my head, I did it over the Christmas holidays because I figured I’d have 2+ weeks off for the hair to grow back at least a bit if I didn’t like the look!
On that note…
Try clippers first
If you’re unsure about the whole head shaving thing, why not try a shorter haircut first? Before I first shaved my head, I used hair clippers to gradually shorten my hair to see if I liked the look.
Get a pair of hair clippers and use the longest attachment that cuts the least amount of hair off and trim your hair. Are you happy with the look and the length? Leave it as is. Would you like to try a shorter look? Use the next smallest attachment and cut your hair shorter.
Keep going until you’re happy with a look you can live with.
Eventually you’ll either find a hair length you like or you’ll shave it right off.
Growing A Goatee
As mentioned, growing a goatee or some other facial hair option is a nice way to balance out your newly shaved head. There are certainly plenty of styles of modern facial hair to choose from. A goatee offers a number of advantages:
Easy to maintain
Basically once you stop shaving the area you’re growing the goatee (or other facial hair) in, it’s just a matter of trimming it with clippers as frequently or infrequently as you like.
I’ve had a goatee since 1995 and I’ve never bothered with beard oil or any facial hair-specific moisturizer either. Perhaps you will but I’ve never bothered personally.
No cheek hair required
A goatee historically referred to facial hair that only extends around the chin area with no hair above the lip. Today a goatee effectively refers to facial hair that encircles the mouth area generally including above the lip. So if you have trouble growing facial hair on the cheeks, no problem. A goatee doesn’t require any.
Draws attention to your face
As mentioned above having a goatee or other facial hair draws attention to your face and not your shaved head. A guy who is balding and tries to cover it up does the opposite: Attention is drawn to your baldness. Or toupee. Or bad hair transplant.
How to shave your head
I wrote a post awhile back outlining the steps to shave your head for the first time. In this post, I specifically refer to using a razor as opposed to an electric shaver. You can use both of course, one or the other. I choose to use a razor because it’s quicker and more efficient than using an electric shaver.
You can read a comparison between shaving your head with a razor and electric shaver by clicking here.
Conclusion
- An easy way to deal with baldness is to shave your head and grow a goatee. It’s also a great look for many guys who aren’t going bald.
- Research shows women find men with facial hair to be more (!) attractive.
- Growing a goatee along with your shaved head is a great balance between no hair on top and some facial hair. Plus the facial hair tends to draw attention to your face and away from your head.
- While I use a razor to shave my head you can also use an electric shaver. I just find razors to be quicker and more efficient.
- Here are some shaving hacks including a clever way to shave your Adam’s Apple.
Do you shave your head? Do you also have facial hair? Let us know your look in the comments below.