FASHION Brave enough for bald

Hairless heads have the advantage of making you look.
By LaMONT JONES
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Bald is beautiful.
When worn with confidence, a completely shaved head can be intriguing, beguiling, alluring.
Consider the pantheon of entertainers, athletes and other celebs known in no small part for handsome hairless heads: Telly Savalas, Yul Brynner, Patrick Stewart, Ving Rhames, Damon Wayans, Samuel L. Jackson, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Andre Agassi, Michael Jordan ....
In the mid-'90s, supermodel Tyson Beckford single-handedly elevated bald beauty to a new height of popularity in ads for designer Ralph Lauren. The look was so captivating that when Beckford's stint with the label was up, Lauren hired a model who was strikingly similar -- right down to the bald head and cocoa skin.
Bald is a preferred look among men of various ethnic backgrounds, and some women have pulled it off as well. Rocker Melissa Etheridge, a breast-cancer victim who recently lost her locks to chemotherapy, sported a stunning, sexy bald head at this year's Grammy Awards.
Whether by choice or consequence, the shaved-head look may be hipper among American men than ever before.
Decision time
Fashion designer Carmen Marc Valvo, who once wore a pony tail, decided to go bald several years ago.
"Mother Nature pointed me to that direction," said Valvo, 51. "I chose to embrace it because I preferred it to the other choices out there. I think there's definitely something sexy about a bald head."
A bald head is "a stylish choice to make a masculine statement today for young and older men, men of every color," observed Tom Julian, a New York-based fashion and style trend analyst with Fallon Worldwide.
"It goes from the sports world to Hollywood to the MTV generation. Why now? Again, personal style statement. Men may not want to live with receding hair, may not want to show gray."
Christopher Rue of Knoxville, Tenn., who has worn close-cut styles, cornrows and short twists, had his head shaved in early January.
"I just like it because of maintenance," said Rue, 23. "It doesn't take long to do. I got tired of having people do my hair, and it was getting hot in the summertime. ... I don't want my hair looking a mess. I'm liking it bald, so I think I'm going to keep it bald."
Going bald also eliminated early signs of a receding hairline, Rue confessed.
"Everybody pretty much liked it when I got it done," he said, adding that women frequently want to touch it.