# Eyeglasses for Baldies?!



## Pr B (Jan 8, 2009)

What should one be thinking of in selecting new eyeglasses when one is bald or balding?

I understand the usual advice about head shape and hair color. 

As a balding man, my face has so little contrast: just a wash of pink, from the top of my head to my chin/s! 

I would think frames that offer some contrast in shape (to head shape) and in color (to that wash of skin tone), but not too much? Any advice or thoughts on what would make frames complementary for us baldies?


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## Geometry (Oct 21, 2009)

Pr B said:


> What should one be thinking of in selecting new eyeglasses when one is bald or balding?
> 
> I understand the usual advice about head shape and hair color.
> 
> ...


The writer Andrew Klavan has been wearing glasses in his "Klavan on the Culture" videos. I think he looks great in them. I don't know how to describe these, but here, take a look:


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

My general sense is that you've got to decide whether you want the glasses to be unobtrusive or be a focal point. Then committ to that decision, and don't try to split the baby. Either get clear, or very thin wire, frames, or even rimless to make them disappear. Or go whole hog and make your glasses the first thing people see.


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## Salieri (Jun 18, 2009)

I know most people will shout at me because they have very little style, but I've always really liked this bald specs-wearer's specs:


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## Pr B (Jan 8, 2009)

Geometry said:


> The writer Andrew Klavan has been wearing glasses in his "Klavan on the Culture" videos. I think he looks great in them. I don't know how to describe these, but here, take a look:


Concur, they look good on him, offer a contrast to the roundness of his head, and tie-in with his post-modern attire.

I suppose my current frames (Tag Heuer Reflex 3201 (Semi-Rimmed)) are like that? https://www.framesdirect.com/framesfp/Tag_Heuer-tcsisg/r.html But doesn't such a post-modern design create a juxtaposition with traditional clothes?! Probably the only reason I wouldn't just fill these frames with my new prescription is they are so short for top to bottom. There is so little room on the lenses for my progressive trifocals that I have to move my head, not just my eyes, when reading!

I had classic frames (e.g., Ben Silver's Pantheon shape) back in the early '80s (https://www.bensilver.com/Lafont-Amber-Pantheon-Frame,3813.html). They looked sharp then, but I had Robert Redford-esque hair then too, and the world was all a prep.


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## Pr B (Jan 8, 2009)

CuffDaddy said:


> My general sense is that you've got to decide whether you want the glasses to be unobtrusive or be a focal point. Then committ to that decision, and don't try to split the baby. Either get clear, or very thin wire, frames, or even rimless to make them disappear. Or go whole hog and make your glasses the first thing people see.


Hmm, smart! Right now, my glasses are so unobtrusive, they blend in with my great wash of tan-pinkness. So, yeah, the first impression is, "He is bald."

So then, maybe glasses that are a focal point. Albeit without being silly. Good thoughts!


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## Pr B (Jan 8, 2009)

Salieri said:


> I know most people will shout at me because they have very little style, but I've always really liked this bald specs-wearer's specs:


If Larry David wasn't so filthy rich he doesn't care what people think, I would say he was some aging hippie who is still wearing the same glasses he wore in college!


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## godan (Feb 10, 2010)

CuffDaddy said:


> My general sense is that you've got to decide whether you want the glasses to be unobtrusive or be a focal point. Then committ to that decision, and don't try to split the baby. Either get clear, or very thin wire, frames, or even rimless to make them disappear. Or go whole hog and make your glasses the first thing people see.


As a volunteer baldy with a shaved head, I think this is a practical guide to selecting glasses. I chose the thin frame/rimless option in consideration of the visual weight of my eyebrows and moustache.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

I recently got glasses and they're huge and squre and dark tortoise shell plastic frames with tinted lenses, because I want my glasses to be seen i.e. the Michael Caine or Peter Sellers look.

I really disike those very thin metal-framed or frameless glasses of so a small size that they almost look invisible.
To be..(seen )or not to be...(seen)..that is the question. Decide on that first. Then think shape, size, colour.

This to me for a shaved head looks far better than narrow (top to bottom) glasses or thin framed or rimless glasses.
https://fc01.deviantart.net/fs48/f/2009/201/f/5/baldy_bald_bald_by_Neeycko.jpg


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

But do you know who that is? He is a national icon, a British treasure! Not sure if he's still alive though.

He looks rather different here in 1960 




A look back 




I like that at 54 seconds in this second link and at the beginning of it he is still wearing the RAF tie he is wearing in the B & W link from 1960.


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## RomeoDandy (Apr 1, 2007)

I wear these

The great JK Simmons wears a pair strikingly similar in the recent Farmers ads 




I think it's a mistake to try to fit clothing and whathaveyou to ones "Baldness", turns out me, Simmons, Sean Connery and Ed Harris don't feel a need to apologize for it, just keep it trimmed, Larry David is a poor representative.


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## VictorRomeo (Sep 11, 2009)

Unlike EoO, I only ever wear super light frames. I've worn specs since I was a teenager and my eyesight is terrible. I have a very high prescription and can't abide larges frames because the lens will end up too thick - even with the highest index lens.

I wear a titanium Lindberg frame with a 1.74 lens - it's super thin(for me) and really light. Lindberg are the company that developed the rimless 'Air' frame. Of course they use acetate for the 'tortoise shell' look.

EoO - He's still alive....!


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

VictorRomeo said:


> EoO - He's still alive....!


Go riabh maith agat mo chara!

Agus cuimhnigh i gconai, is fearr Gaeilge briste, na Bearla cliste!


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## Douglas Brisbane Gray (Jun 7, 2010)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> But do you know who that is? He is a national icon, a British treasure! Not sure if he's still alive though.
> 
> He looks rather different here in 1960
> 
> ...


Sir Patrick is still alive aged 87, despite writing the worst Sci fi book I have ever read and being a vegetarian.


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## Finian McLonergan (Sep 23, 2009)

Douglas Brisbane Gray said:


> Sir Patrick is still alive aged 87, despite writing the worst Sci fi book I have ever read and being a vegetarian.


Not only is he still alive but he still presents The Sky At Night, a monthly programme for amateur astronomers and next month he will present the 700th edition. By a long shot the longest running programme to be continuously presented by the same presenter in television history.

I had the good fortune to sit with him at a conference more than twenty years ago and found him to be a wonderful character.


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## VictorRomeo (Sep 11, 2009)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> Go riabh maith agat mo chara!
> 
> Agus cuimhnigh i gconai, is fearr Gaeilge briste, na Bearla cliste!




"We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English."
- Winston Churchill


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## PJC in NoVa (Jan 23, 2005)

godan said:


> As a volunteer baldy with a shaved head, I think this is a practical guide to selecting glasses. I chose the thin frame/rimless option in consideration of the visual weight of my eyebrows and moustache.


I go much the same route--Sergio Tacchini (sp?) steel frames in a compact, basically rectangular shape.

But I'm in the market for something new. I might go rimless.

Can't stand the Larry David/Sir Patrick "bald on top, shaggy 'round the edges" look, which is why I shave my whole head. (Not to pitch this into Grooming Forum territory, but the Schick Hydro 5-blade is genius! I recently switched from a Gillette Mach 3 and can't believe how much better the Hydro is.)


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

Douglas Brisbane Gray said:


> Sir Patrick is still alive aged 87, despite writing the worst Sci fi book I have ever read and being a vegetarian.


I started dabbling in amateur astronomy in the early 60's and the first book I bought on the subject was Patrick Moore's _The Amateur Astronomer_. After all these years I still enjoy taking it off the shelf every so often and thumbing through it because it takes me back to another place in time.

Cruiser


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

VictorRomeo said:


> "We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English."
> - Winston Churchill


I hope that is just another quote & not a translation  (only joking )

"And always remember, broken Irish is better than clever English!"

Is mise le meas
Séamas


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## VictorRomeo (Sep 11, 2009)

I got your proverb all right! Haven't heard it in years mind you.....

It might interest you to know that it is said that the word 'Béarla' was originally 'béalra' meaning literally 'mouth speak' or gibberish..... Funny, eh?!


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

On the subject of mouths, did you ever read An Béal Bocht, by Brian O'Nolan writing as Myles na gCopaleen? All his other novels he wrote as Flann O'Brien?
_The Third Policeman _and _The Brother_ were my two favourites.

Oops, sorry about the highjack there. Back to glasses for ballheads!


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## Salieri (Jun 18, 2009)

Still, I do like Larry David's glasses. They're very honest. Maybe I have some kind of complex but I like the idea of a pair of glasses that references its own medical and utilitarian purpose. A couple of years ago I got some prescription lenses put into a pair of refurbished 1950s NHS tortoiseshells and have never looked back. A lot of the sharp designs you see around now make me think of pretentious car concept adverts rather than optical aids.


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## Jonathan nelson (Mar 17, 2017)

I had contact lenses for years because I was bald.Shaved shinny bald. I never wanted to look like a bald headed "nerd" with glasses. Those ears, no hair, and glasses too. I always had a thing about my ears too. I thought they looked funny. The glasses might make them look worse I thought. Then my eyes got worse and the eye doctor said glasses were better for me instead of contacts. "We can't make you see close and far with contacts anymore," he said. Oh no! I decided to go for the larger black frame 1960s style glasses. I braved them out one day at work and loved them. Its been great. Many compliments and so much easier than contact lenses. People said I looked better with the glasses.I can see better too. No more hassles in the morning. If you're bald no worries get glasses if you need them. It turned out cool, and not nerdy. It makes the ears stick out just a bit more, but I got used to it.


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## Jonathan nelson (Mar 17, 2017)

I agree! If your balding, just get rid of it all. The gray goes off too. It looks more even, no fuzz. I recently found shaving with an electric face shaver works good on the head too. Shave your face and anything left on your head at the same time.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

I don't know about shaving one's head, but will tell you from personal experience, wearing a pair of aviator framed Rx (or sun) glasses, with your hair closely cropped (read, 'high n tight') looks so much better than pairing same with a longer haircut! Hippies should not wear aviators. Nuff said. LOL.


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