Syd Barrett at Shine on session

[2066]

I wonder why he shaved his head.

Probably because his hair was falling out; just like every other shaven head guy today. See?...Syd was always ahead of his time.

[2066]

And having long hair can bring about early baldness,

Nonsense. Lots of men who've had short hair all of their lives have lost their hair on top. Have you never seen any pictures from the first half of the twentieth century? Have you never seen contemporary men who are balding yet have never had long hair?

[Hudini]

As I was saying (if anyone paid attention guys), maybe his hair fell off because of the strong medication he was using. There are drugs that make a person literally lose every single hair on their body. Including eyelashes. Been there, done that. That would explain the eyebrow thing.

[Keith Jordan]

Indeed, Hudini. Perhaps it all started falling out and he decided to finish it off to try to make it look better or something. Not that crazy if you look at it that way. Quite practical and normal in fact.

[wiped]

Is shaving your head while under "pressure" not seen as defence mechanism ? - a form of escape from your oldself , to an unrecognisable newself ? - or is that just Cornflake Box Psychology ?

[snifferdog]

I guess it can be. Remember Britney Spears?

It could be, as Hudini pointed out, medication. Or he did it himself. I'm not seeing any eyebrows in that photo either. I know lots of blokes who are going thin on top just go and get a very tight haircut or shave it off but I doubt Syd did it for aesthetic purposes.

[Wolfpack]

Hmmm, that leads me to an interesting question? Is there an album of David Gilmour's wedding available for viewing anywhere? If Syd was there, he must be on at least one pic. I mean, he was definitely not just any guest, if he was actually there.

I think this picture is actually from the wedding, on the same day. That could explain the bottles of alcohol at Barrett's left.

How extremely ironic that some people singing "wish you were here" to an old band member, don't allow him to add something to the recording.

[awayandbeyond]

As I was saying (if anyone paid attention guys), maybe his hair fell off because of the strong medication he was using. There are drugs that make a person literally lose every single hair on their body. Including eyelashes. Been there, done that. That would explain the eyebrow thing.

Absolutely a good possibility. Certainly the major tranquilizers/anti-psychotics are quite well known for sudden dramatic weight gain (and diabetes).

Also, Syd was a cat person. The Egyptians worshiped cats and would shave their heads AND eyebrows in mourning at the passing of their cats. But I think that meds are the most logical explanation.

[GilmourGirl]

I wonder why he shaved his head.

Probably because his hair was falling out; just like every other shaven head guy today. See?...Syd was always ahead of his time.

I know right? Barrett was just naturally cool like that. I'm not crazy about this pic. This is when RW said when they were told it was Barrett and not a "tramp", he said he broke down and wept.
What a sad, sad moment.

[Stephen]

I wonder why he shaved his head.

Perhaps he set off to shave just as normal and forgot to stop.Same thing happened to me so you see it's easily done.

[Hudini]

I shaved my head about a week ago since it was extremely hot over here. Some of my friends did think I lost my mind.

[Mr Kite]

"Nick Mason does have some 8mm footage of the 5 man Pink Floyd"

Hadn't heard that before. That would be nice to see.

[danielcaux]

I wonder why he shaved his head. Isn't it viewed as a sign of madness in some quarters? ...I wonder why he thought he was still a member of the band though.

Well, they never really threw him out of the band, did they? And it was his band afterall. And since both Gilmour and Wright had played in his solo records, and Waters had been involved in Madcap too, he must have thought that it was perfectly normal for him to play in theirs, and I would agree with him in that, even if he wasn't an active member of the band then. It's really not that weird, it happens all the time with other bands, having an ex-member playing some part in a song. But The Floyd didn't even consider the idea for a minute. Sometimes I think that they really had a distorted perception of his whole condition and that they chose to believe that he was crazier than what he really was. As that psychiatrist put it, in Mason's recollection of the events: "are you sure this is Syd's problem?"

There's no way to know what was he really thinking when he went to the studio, but it could be that maybe he felt better about his condition and thought that he was now able to get back to playing in a band, finding a motivation, a sense of purpouse in his life, and what better band than his old band. Maybe he shaved his head as a way of "materializing" his desire to begin from scratch, to give life another try, to find a new successful self. It could be that, or maybe he got drunk the night before with some friends and when he woke up he had his whole face shaved.

Didn't Syd shaved his head as old man too? Was he also crazy then? I would say that aesthetic reasons would be the simpler and most probably correct answer, but the fact that he also shaved his eyebrows points to more emotional reasons than just vanity.

I have had "frustration shaves" in my life too. Isn't that big a deal. I don't think is the act of a ooooooh crazy person, but it certainly involves deep negative emotions about some part of yourself or your life, or a least that was my case. You could also shave your head out of boredom or just plain and simple curiosity. Why did Sinead and Peter Gabriel shaved their heads?

[Hudini]

Maybe he shaved his head as a way of "materializing" his desire to begin from scratch, to give life another try, to find a new successful self.

I never looked at it from that perspective, but it actually does make sense. Some Jewish traditions include shaving your head when you convert to Judaism from another religion, as a symbol of beginning from scratch. But I really doubt that Syd shaved his head for similar reasons.

Why did Sinead and Peter Gabriel shaved their heads?

Because they are both stark raving mad!!!

[jamey1977]

Wow the historic significance of Syd's impromptu visit to the abbey road studios that day in june and all people can think to discuss are the virtues of bald vs hair?
People with advanced mental illness are often unable to maintain their hygene and often shave off their hair because they can't deal with grooming it.

He just came in and sat down on a couch in the control room, and as the band were intermittently going in and out from the studio to the control room they began to be more and more aware of this odd figure. But in their insulated enviornment (not just anyone would be permitted past the receptionist to wander the building) they just absently assumed it was someone involved with the record company. But, and this is where I'm improvising the scenario, his odd way caused the band and engineers to begin to take notice. One of the band members, and noone can ever remember exactly who, was able to eventually discern his true identity. Roger, after reckognizing, kind of teased Rick to test him, and kept asking him if he knows who that is and kept him in suspense, before finally revealing to him. David was then gotten to with the information ("bloody hell! That's Syd!", David would recall as his reaction decades later) Syd's appearance got at least two of the band members really emotional. The band would discuss the irony of his impromptu visit just as they were recording the song about him in interviews years later.
Syd made a comment "are you ready for me to put some guitar on" and commented on their incessant replaying of the Shine On track, "why bother, you've heared it once already".
I cannot remember Nicks quote on his rememberance of this encounter, probably because I don't really care for his point of view and imput on Pink Floyd history(One quote of Nicks, "I don't remember being overcome with compassion", by what Syd was going through.)
Rick then recalled how the appearnce of Syd stunned them in such a way that they couldn't bring themselves to get back to working, so they and Syd went down to the abbey road canteen to "have tea". This is where they exchanged banter with him, open to historical debate what was actually said or revealed. Something about how did you gain so much weight, " Well I've got a large fridge at home, and I've been eating alot of pork chops". Then without warning, Syd at some point briefly after, just hastilly stood up and said "I've got to be going, I've got to be getting back to cambridge"
There was then an anecdote telling about Syd approaching different studio personnel asking for a ride, and one dodging Syd to get out of giving him one.

This is the culmination of my understanding of the abby road encounter, definityly not word for word accurate, but pretty darned close. For continuity I did improvise, drawing from memories of several accounts at once.
This encounter will always remain the most bizarre occurrance in Pink Floyd's history.