A positive outlook on balding.
Getting old is never fun. Your joints get achy, the hangovers hit harder, you can’t go at the rate you used to go at, and you have to embody all the responsibilities that come with adulthood. And for men, aging comes with the fear of losing their hair.
It’s a natural part of aging as a man when your hair begins to thin or you start to develop bald patches, but what you do with it really changes your outlook on life. You can embrace it and rock what the good Lord has intended for you, go through treatment options to stimulate hair growth, or embrace the bald way of life.
Kenny Chesney, who often sings of enjoying life on the water, is no stranger to slathering his head in SPF. The “Sun Goes Down” singer is frequently sporting a hat of sorts, but under that is a smooth, bald noggin.
Chesney, whose mother was a hair stylist, shared that he was often her guinea pig growing up, serving as a test subject for new dyes and other products.
“My mom went to beauty school — my God, she’s going to kill us (for this story)— and I was her guinea pig on how to do stuff. And I’d go to school smelling like all these chemicals.”
Chesney shared with People, touching on a story he also shared in his forthcoming book “Heat Life Music.”
Although Chesney was his mother’s test subject, that time was short-lived, as he began experiencing hair loss at the young age of 19. In his novel, he recalls his hair falling out in clumps at one point.
“When I got older, I remember playing high school football, and I’d take my helmet off, and I’d see all this hair in there, and I was freaking out! Now, though, in my life, I’m really glad that happened early because I have friends my age who are losing their hair, and they are really freaking out.”
Kenny Chesney began to lose his hair at the age of 19, so his reaction of freaking out was very valid. No 19-year-old imagines their hair loss beginning that early. However, as Chesney said, he’s glad that it happened early in his life, and now he has a unique perspective on aging because of it.
“In ways, I don’t really age. I kind of stay the same because of it!”
While Chesney admitted that losing his hair at such a young age was socially traumatic, his life changed for the better just a few short years later when he was discovered at the age of 23 by BMI’s Clay Bradley.
Things always do work out the way they are supposed to, eh? And if balding were the small price that Chesney had to pay to get the career he has, I’d say he’s doing just fine.
Although Chesney has fully embraced the bald way of life, he has not let his mother off the hook for her role in his balding. Chesney joked with the magazine outlet that his mother does not think her testing chemicals on his hair caused it to fall out, but Chesney sees it otherwise.
While it’s fun for Chesney to poke a little fun at his mother for this, he says her love for “feel-good” music inspired him creatively and made these traumatic childhood events burn a little less. No matter what caused his hair to go, I don’t think we’d have the straw cowboy hat-wearing cowboy we do today without his bald head. And let’s face it, that’s a massive sell of his image and vibe.
Fire up one of his feel-good songs while you’re here:
