Justin Bieber's Haircut - is it Really a Big Deal?

After seeing photos of Justin Bieber's newly-shaved hair, a jealous teen family member grumbled, "Yeah, he looks much older, maybe now about 13 and a half."

When in school, I had similar big hair. Every night I doused it with gel, shampoo and lots of other goo to keep it almost as big as a beehive. Whatever after-hours social success I had while a high school student, I credited it to my fluffy mane. Girls just loved to run their fingers through it, that is, if they could actually penetrate the coating of solid gel.

Then, when I was about a year older than Justin Bieber is now, I joined the Navy. At boot camp, my beautiful hair was all shaved down to the scalp. From a swinging teen big hair sensation, I was instantly transformed into something resembling a plucked chicken.

There were some advantages to the hairless condition while training. With 12 weeks of tough day and night marching, exercises and never-ending running, I didn't have any time to take care of hair. However, when I finally got out of boot camp and could meet girls, they just laughed at me and my shaved bald dome. For nearly a year, I never left the ship without my white hat pulled down to my eyebrows.

Justin will do just fine with his new haircut. Teen girls will still love him, and grumbling teen boys will secretly wish they could look like him. Anyhow, no one should criticize Justin's hair, with all the examples of other things on the heads of public figures, such as older politicians, entertainment stars and news anchors. Their badly-designed rugs perch on top like lonesome birds' nests.

Mature men aren't the only ones who try to have younger-looking hair. Older women too often desperately believe dye jobs bring back their youth. Of course, 20-something Lady Gaga is young enough to have her own hair. However, she's not satisfied with it, and shows up almost every day with something wildly new on her head and above it.

As for the new boy teen sensation's hair, let's just let Justin be Justin.

TMZ Staff "Bieber's Haircut: Altering The Course of Reality"at tmz.com