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 By Anthony Baldero Men, can we talk about a very "guy" subject -- one that can threaten our sense of being men? No, no -- not the Viagra problem. No, I'm talking about hair loss. I know, I know: few of us would admit how upsetting it is, but since hair replacement surgical procedures, herbal formulas, prescription drugs, wigs and weaves are a multi-gazillion dollar industry, I'm going to assume a good number of us aren't too happy about it. Losing my own lovely locks (I am now what they call "balding" but not yet "bald") didn't concern me a bit at first. Nope -- I was in complete denial that my hairline was receding, though my wife pointed it out (thanks, honey). That shiny spot at the back of my head in a photo someone took at my son's birthday party? Just a trick of the light. I mean: just because almost all the men in my family lose their hair didn't mean I was going to.
It must be worse for guys who lose their hair for other reasons. The somewhat mysterious disease, Alopecia areata, can make you lose all of your hair over days or weeks. And chemotherapy can do the same. I guess I should have considered myself lucky to simply have the slow-moving, hereditary type of hair loss. But somehow that thought didn't help me much.
Stefan Ball in Bach Flower Remedies for Men goes straight to the heart of the problem:
"...[T]he best solution is to learn how to accept yourself for what you are and get the loss of your hair into proportion. You are still the same valuable person you always were... By helping to remove the unnecessary negative thoughts that are so often felt by people losing their hair, [the remedies] can also reduce the likelihood of stress making the problem worse (p. 150)."Here are some essences my wife and I recommend to try:
 After using essences, do I now consider myself as sexy as Kojak or Jean-Luc Pickard, each bald as an egg? Well, no. But I no longer wince when I comb what is left of my hair. In fact, I don't even think about it all that much any more. Losing my hair was an unavoidable part of my life. I have not exactly learned to LOVE it, but I find it doesn't preoccupy me the way it used to. I even toy with the idea that it makes me seem "distinguished." Well, and maybe even a little bit sexy. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anthony Baldero -- in case you couldn't already guess -- is a pseudonym for the spouse of a frequent Vibration Magazine contributor. Other than that, he says he's just a regular guy, trying to make his way through the world like the rest of us. ART CREDITS: Hometown Websmith and Art Today.
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But once the problem became undeniable, I was shocked. I felt I was losing my attractiveness, my manliness, my youth. At one point, I even had trouble looking at myself in the mirror. If the truth be told -- and this is difficult for me to admit -- I felt I was a jerk pretending to myself it hadn't been happening all along. I knew just how Samson felt after Deliliah went after him with that pair of scissors.
My wife, a flower essence enthusiast, did some research about remedies to help my attitude -- not that I was ready to admit that I HAD an attitude about my hair loss at that time. She convinced me to try some essences for "stress". Yeah, I guess I had that. It took a while and several different ones, but I'm feeling much better about myself now. In fact, well enough to write this article which was really a big challenge -- but not yet good enough to use my real name.