#BestAdvice: The Secret To Never Losing Your Hair

(Another blog on the #bestadvice I've received over the years)

Stretching before a race. Photo: Veer Hossain.

When I was in college, I decided I wanted to learn how to cut hair.  I didn't want to actually go to hair cutting school or whatever they call it.  I was just curious to learn how the process was done.  The woman who owned the place near campus assumed this was an attempt by a poor college student to get a free haircut, so she gave me one (that wasn't my intent, but I still took the free haircut :).  The offshoot was that in ensuing visits, the folks who cut hair would tell me different tricks of the trade- cutting a guideline, the pros and cons of clippers, etc.  It was actually quite interesting, and I may have ended up learning the secret to never losing my hair. 

Photo: Sitcoms Online

The 'Best Advice' I received was from a tattooed former marine-turned-barber, who was a dead ringer for the guy who played Major Dad. He said he had the secret of how to never lose your hair.  The reason why it wasn't well known was because it was very simple and you couldn't make money from it, so no big companies advertised it.  Being too blunt for my own good, I asked him why his hair coverage was fading, and he said it was because he'd learned the secret too late- but, he'd told many people since, and their success had proven him right.

"Well, what's the secret?" I asked.

"Claws," he replied.  Claws???

"Every time you wash your hair, turn your hands into claws and dig in like crazy as you go through the shampoo and water.  It helps the circulation, which helps the hair grow. Which means, of course, that you never lose your hair."

I'm supposed to lose my hair.  My dad and both my grandpas either thinned out considerably or lost their hair completely.  (There will still be those who will somehow have missed the last sentence and say "What about your maternal grandfather?  Did he lose his hair?" And I'll just refer you back to the previous sentence, in which that's covered by the words 'both grandpas'.)  I figured that this didn't cost anything, it wouldn't cost me any time or money, so I'd do it.


After college, I went back home during the holidays and got a haircut from the barber who had cut my hair all the way from elementary to high school.  The first thing he said was, "Wow, I think your hair is actually thicker than it was before college!"And years later, I still get comments on how freakishly thick my hair is whenever I go to a new place to get my hair cut.

Tangent: I told this to my wife shortly after we got married, and, wanting her husband to have hair forever, she was all for it.  In fact, she decided she'd try to give me a scalp massage every time we watched TV just to make sure- and I was all for that.  One day I suggested she give me a back scratch, too, and she replied, "Your back doesn't need any more hair."  Epic. Backfire.

Of course, this could all change (especially when my girls hit dating age), but for right now, its working well. I hope this piece of 'Best Advice' helps you out- it doesn't cost anything, and doesn't take any extra time, so why not try it? 

Do you think it will work for you?  Comment below!

PS.- If you like this blog and want to say thanks, please help BRING BACK THE CHICKEN!- an effort to help a group of impoverished kids in the Dominican get the nutrition they need.  Thanks!