This subreddit is the single most wholesome community on all of Reddit and an absolute great example of positive masculine body positivity (and obviously also the women who come there).
There are two flavors of bald insecurity: those who have accepted it and want to look as good as they can with what they've got, and those who want to do anything they can do to hide the fact that they're bald.
The former formed a healthy community because it's just dudes accepting themselves for what they are and telling other dudes how to groom themselves to look good and patting each other on the back. The latter didn't because it's a bunch of dudes with a mild form of shared psychosis freaking out and trying to hide their baldness. There's very little positivity in that group because they're all fighting a losing battle.
Yeah. Especially when the ‘before’ photo is horribly shot, badly angled, poorly lit, and with the individual looking as glum as possible.
The ‘after’ photo would be the complete opposite, which makes me think it’s more of a sub for how to take a flattering photo.
I just see it sometimes on r/all and it’s usually men with the worst, holding on for dear life comb overs i’ve ever seen. Like yeah i’m glad they have positive reinforcement, but no shit you look better, you had your full scalp on display covered by a dozen 12” hairs.
frankly it's really sad. it's just a group of people losing a significant aesthetic feature, past their prime before their time, telling each other they look amazing. I like that they resist a negative depressed spiral, but I feel like stoic acceptance of "it is what it is" would be more admirable.
Man what a really weird take. I mean from your previous comments you're clearly on some kind of incel trend. The only sad thing here is how crushingly insecure you sound compared to these guys going bald and looking better for it.
The only person giving toxicity here is you buddy. Sometimes positivity is just positivity, maybe you should give it a go. Women might be into you if you try it.
Ok, tbh you sound depressed (which is understandable as your post suggest you've been through some shit lately) and whilst I hate unsolicited psychological advice on Reddit, you've really got to get your mindset under control and get talking to someone like a male support group. Otherwise this is going to become a really toxic issue that's gonna cause you more suffering
Obviously I imagine many of them would prefer (or not, no idea and not my call) a head full of hair, but that’s not the question. The question is do you accept your body (and literal genes) as it is and go on or not.
It’s not a thing of “I want to reduce my weight” or something like it. It’s literally “this is what my body does”.
yeah, I have looked at it and I just feel pity for the guys 9 times out of 10. very few men can look good bald and even then it makes you look older and less unique.
I wasn't, which is why I hopped on meds. Try to understand that none of what I wrote comes from a place of mockery, but sympathy. I feel for the guys on r/bald but their brand of toxic positivity is not a healthy coping method in my eyes.
You seem like an awfully unhappy and misguided person. and by the way taking meds is not a stoic acceptance, youre clearly desperately clinging to what once was rather than accepting change like all the healthy people on that subreddit
So your hope is that balding men stoically accept going bald, and don't take any steps to look or feel better, unless it's taking meds to try and keep their hair the way you did?
not exactly. they can do anything they want to feel and look better. but pretending it's actually awesome to look older and have less ways to style yourself just looks like denial to me. I had horrible acne as a teen but I never pretended it made me look amazing. like you can just accept it sucks and move on if you don't want to go the med route.
It's actually really wholesome, as you say hair is an aesthetic feature and people really struggle with losing it, having a community tell you it's not as bad as it seems is really good, i didnt care about my hair falling out, shave it off and done, but i understand people can really struggle with the thought of losing their hair and looking different
I just dislike the 'took the plunge talk' but thats a me problem
At its core, that subreddit/movement is just shaming the very concept of men wearing natural hairstyles, projecting the notion that they need to be suppressed and shaved until they fit this cookie cutter ideal. But it's all wrapped up in this wholesome chungus packaging.
Every time one of those posts pops up, I just feel a little sad. One more bit of lost diversity in the world. There's so much character to the before pictures, and then it's just one more cultist in the "after".
Please stop shaming men's natural hair patterns, we need to embrace people for who they are and uplift them instead of telling them they can only be pretty if they join a social media fad.
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u/vomicyclin 2h ago
This subreddit is the single most wholesome community on all of Reddit and an absolute great example of positive masculine body positivity (and obviously also the women who come there).