Making choices

The Pittsburgh Valley News Dispatch has an article about headshaver Ric DeTorres and headshaving in general. Ric is 47, and shaves his head because he was losing his hair.

He made up his mind early that he would not become a member of the Hair Club for Men.

"No to hair plugs, no to over-the-counter hair-growth treatments," DeTorres says emphatically.

But if hair plugs and over-the-counter tonics were not the answer, what about a toupee?

"No way!" he exclaims. "I would not be that vain to wear a toupee that looks like something out of the back of a comic book."

The article also offers some general impressions of the bald-by-choice and why we do what we do.

During the past several years, more men who are losing their hair have fancied themselves in the image of stars such as Michael Rosenbaum, who plays Lex Luthor on "Smallville," basketball star Michael Jordan or Proctor & Gamble's rugged 6-foot-3-inch, earring-wearing sailor, Mr. Clean. The strong, confident images those men portray provide assurance that bald men can be sexy.

Personally, I've never thought of myself in the image of any particular celebrity, but the idea that bald-by-choice men look confident and self-assured is one that I've heard many times from a variety of sources.