Decision to shave or not to shave

Decision+to+shave+or+not+to+shave

Lojuanda Weary/The Lion's Roar

Among the nonessential businesses that have closed due to the coronavirus outbreak are barber shops, which has led many guys with an important decision to make: should I trust my amateur skills and attempt to cut my own hair, should I just let it grow out or shave my head?

Whether it be out of pure curiosity, boredom or an unwillingness to deal with long hair, recent shutdowns have caused many guys to shave their heads, including myself.

Personally, my reasoning was simple: there is no way I can give myself a regular haircut without messing it up, and I’m not going to see any of my friends for a while, so why not just shave it all off. I also knew that I was inevitably going to get tired of growing my hair out and attempt to cut it myself, so I figured why not get it out of the way.

This also is not the first time I have shaved my head, so part of my reasoning was to relive my previous experience, which, besides the unwanted nicknames, was positive.

Seeing a lot of my friends share pictures of their freshly shaved heads has made for a funny collection of images. Dominic Marino, freshman management major, explained why he decided to let his sister shave his head.

“I wanted to shave my head mostly because I was bored being trapped in my house,” said Marino. “I saw other guys I knew starting to do it so I thought ‘Why not?’ I am just going to let it grow, and when the barber shops reopen, I’ll go back and get my regular haircut.”

Dominic and I agreed that, for guys, letting your hair grow out is more of a burden than having an egg-head for a couple of months.

“I just felt like letting it grow out at some point, it would be a pain because my hair would get so shaggy and messy, so I thought the sooner I cut it the sooner it would grow back,” shared Marino.

Parker Costanza, freshman management major, explained why he decided to shave his head.

“I neglected to get a haircut most of February, and this lockdown came into effect suddenly in March,” said Costanza. “Therefore, I was stuck at home without a fresh cut. Eventually my mom grabbed the clippers and pressured me into it.”

Given that everyone is isolated right now, the shutdowns offer an opportunity to try something new without becoming self-conscious in public.

If you need a haircut and want to go the safe route, giving yourself a buzzcut is pretty difficult to mess up. It feels great, and who knows, some guys may like their new cut and never go back to their old one.

As B.J. Martino remarked on Twitter, “In the land of no barbers, the bald man is king.”