When Philip Levine first started losing his hair in his early 20s, he didn't quite know how to deal with the situation. He knew he didn't want to wear a wig, but neither did he want to look like so many other men who simply shave their heads.

"I was receding and going bald," Levine said. "I wanted to shave my head but not conform to society's look of typical bald men who all look the same in T-shirts, jeans and trainers."

And then he came up with an idea which would ensure he didn't conform to the normal bald-man stereotype.

"I thought, Why not use it as a canvas? Paint and attach things to my head using the border of where my hair would be," said the 28-year-old Londoner.

He contacted friend and professional body painter Kat Sinclair to help him turn his idea into a reality. After shaving his head to create a smooth canvas, he let her loose with a paint brush.

Keep reading for more amazing creations.

Philip says he was so impressed with the result, that he knew this would become a regular thing. He started coming up with different designs to express parts of his personality.

Since then he has penned dozens of designs, which Kat has re-created on his head. These have ranged from a giant wave splashing over his ears, to his head becoming shrubbery dotted with model butterflies.


On average, the designs take two hours to finish, but some of the more elaborate ones have taken as many as five hours and are therefore reserved for parties. His favorite so far is a time-consuming one where Kat covered his head with 1,000 Swarovski crystals, each individually glued on.

Despite the eye-catching nature of his painted head, Philip says the aim was never to get attention, but to express himself and show that going bald does not have to be a disadvantage.

"My initial message was to take what may be seen as a weakness in humans and use it as a form of creative expression," said the creative entrepreneur.

But as a positive side effect, he says the designs have brought inspiration to people with alopecia and cancer.

"I have had messages from sufferers of cancer, alopecia and general people balding that they are inspired to do something on their head," Levine says. "Unlike a wig where you are hiding what may be seen as a deformity, what I do is tell people to feel special, original and embrace what could be looked at as a weakness and turn it into a strength."


Levine, who runs the Web site PhilSays.com, is now planning an art exhibition to show off over 100 of his dome variations, including visual art films and busts of his head designs.