I think the first time someone made a crack about my receding hairline was over the winter break my freshman year of college. That would have been December of 1994 and it was probably my dad who pointed out my “thinning” hairline. When you’re nineteen the last problem you want to have is a receding brow.

Over the last fifteen years my brow has continue to race back to my crown – which has been busy spiraling out a nice bald pate itself. This has caused me a small amount of stress, especially because every single male on both sides of my family all have luxuriously full heads of hair.

Friends and family alike have always “gently” ribbed me about my bog-standard male pattern problems and it always bothered me. I think it’s mostly because every television show, magazine ad, or billboard shows men in their 30s living life to it’s fullest with a full head of hair. The overwhelming message sent is; if you’re bald your worth a lot less to society (or you play a bad guy on TV).

So I’ve always tried to brush off comments and convince myself that my thinning wasn’t too bad. But in the back of my mind I always thought I had a terribly shaped head and was dreading the day the last follicle shut down for good leaving me with a full Telly Savalas. My wife would leave me, my friends wouldn’t talk to me, my job would be lost… This was my fear.

I’ve always worn my hair short – it helps hide the thinning a little – and about a month ago I got a little close with the clippers. My hair was shorter than it had ever been before and you know what? It didn’t look terrible. Maybe I had been wrong?

I decided to challenge myself and bare it all. I figured if it was the worst decision of my life, the long 4th of July holiday would help hide my mistake by Monday enough that no one would ever notice. My wife was out with friends Thursday so I decided to take the plunge – face my fears – and shave my head.

And you know what? It actually wasn’t bad at all. When my wife got home the first words out of her mouth were, “Hey, I like your hair! I mean, your non-hair!”

I’ve gotten compliments from other people too. So all the time I was worried what would happen when my hair finally was gone was for not. I think it’s actually a pretty good look and others seem to agree too. In the end it was a silly fear to have.

I wonder how many other fears I have are just as silly? When you face your fears head on (so to speak) you may find they’re nothing you should have been afraid of in the first place.