Last Updated on September 6, 2020 by Robert Price

Elon Musk was balding rapidly when he burst onto the global scene in the late 90s. But he’s not anymore!

Was it a hair transplant?

Or did one of his Space-X astronauts find a cure for baldness in space? Or is it a rug?

What in the world happened to his hair?

I’ll get to his follicular transformation in a minute, don’t worry.

But just in case unfamiliar with Elon, here’s a little background info. He’s the founder of the aforementioned SpaceX as well as Tesla.

A philanthropist and humanitarian at heart, Musk is striving to lower global carbon emissions and make life multi-planetary, so our human race can reduce the risk of a mass extension. His next great challenge: exploring and colonizing mars. Pretty cool, right?

I guess you could say that Elon is sort like the new Steve Jobs, only he’s not a tremendous asshole who likes to park in handicapped spaces. Enough rambling about his back story though. Let’s talk about his follicular transformation.

Did Elon Musk Have a Hair Transplant?

It certainly appears that way to me! And a number of prominent experts agree with me, including Dr. William Yates of Hair Science (source). Below is a before-after shot showing a young, balding Elon and an older Elon with what appears to be a normal, mature hairline.

That’s a major follicular improvement, I must say.

What Type of Hair Transplant Did Musk Have?

There are only two popular hair transplantation techniques in 2020: FUT and FUE.

FUT is a strip surgery that leaves a prominent scar on the back of the recipient’s head.

A “smiley face” FUT Scar. Source. FUT scars typically aren’t visible unless the transplant recipient elects to cut their hair very short.

FUT transplants can give superior coverage vs. other transplant methods. That’s one of the reasons why it’s popular among men with advanced balding patterns — and Elon definitely had an advanced balding pattern in his late 20s. On the Norwood Scale, which measures the seven stages baldness, Elon was probably a 5 or 6.

Given his status as a public figure and the fact that no one’s ever captured a photo of Musk with a hair-transplant scar, I believe it’s more likely he opted for an FUE procedure (or procedures) — assuming he had a transplant, of course!

FUE is a hair harvesting technique, where hairs are taken individually from a patient’s donor area and placed as needed. It’s a less invasive procedure that doesn’t leave a prominent scar.

As I point out in my hair transplantation basics post, neither procedure is inherently “better” than the other. But the FUE method is more popular for a variety of reasons: less recovery time, less painful; Elon is a super busy guy who reportedly can power down a cheeseburger in only a few bites. Accordingly, I believe it’s more likely he opted for the more hassle-free option: an FUE procedure.

Other Possibilities

You may laugh. But modern hair systems, formerly known as toupees, are often completely undetectable. So yeah, it’s possible he’s wearing a rug, but unlikely, in my opinion.

He was clearly balding fast in the picture above, but he probably had enough coverage up top, just barely, to get excellent results with a hair transplant (or two, or three). He was also already worth hundreds of millions of dollars at that point, if I’m not mistaken. So he could afford the best surgeon on the planet, and you probably can’t, so he had that going for him.

Finasteride, Minoxidil, Laser Therapy, or None of the Above?

In other words, is he doing something to help maintain his hair?

I’d venture to say the answer is a likely yes. Hair loss is a progressive condition. Even though hair transplants are usually permanent, most patients continue to lose hair in the areas surrounding the transplant without intervention.

So there’s also a decent chance Musk is on some kind of preventative hair loss treatment program.

Finasteride is, of course, the gold standard in hair loss prevention for men. It works for  9 out 10 guys. Nothing else on the market comes close to matching finasteride in terms of efficacy. It also comes with an array of undesirable, potential side effects, from depression to impotence and man boobs. Speaking of which….

Elon and Trump

Elon Musk used to be on President Trump’s business advisory board, but he resigned after Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord. Trump is reportedly a long-time user of finasteride.

Related reading, The Top Six Shocking Facts About Donald Trump’s Hair!

Does Elon Musk Take Finasteride?

It’s certainly possible that Musk, like Trump, is one of the many celebrity finasteride users,  but there’s no way to say for certain at this juncture. Given the extent of his hair loss, I’d imagine he’d almost need to take finasteride in order to keep his genetics at bay. Or who knows, perhaps his hair loss just stopped in its tracks when he was in his late 20s…

What about Minoxidil or Laser Therapy?

While minoxidil and laser therapy are both useful in treating hair loss, they don’t work anywhere near as well as finasteride. It’s possible he’s using one or both treatments, and maybe they’re helping to some degree.

Elon vs. Joe Rogan

Joe Rogan famously got Musk to smoke marijuana on his podcast. Neither of them discussed their hair loss, or gains though, which was unfortunate in a way. Joe is a famous baldness advocate. Elon obviously took a different course.

Joe Rogan, left, frequently advises balding young men to shave their heads.

Proof You Can Have it All, Too

So say you’re reading this and you’re a balding, 20-something dude. Elon is an excellent example for you.

If you follow your passion and contribute something worthwhile to mankind, you will be richly rewarded. And with a small portion of that reward, you can buy a full head of hair if you want to. Though at that point, it won’t even matter, honestly.

Be great, and people will celebrate you, whether you’re bald, fat, ugly, or even if you also enjoy parking in handicapped spaces like Steve Jobs. And of course you can have a hot wife or two, like Elon has had, as well.

Did He Need the Hair Transplant?

Need is a strong and relative term. Unlike Steve Carell of The Office, Elon Musk did not need a hair transplant. Perhaps you disagree. He could have been a great role model for young balding men everywhere, simply by being his iconoclastic self sans the hair on the global stage.

But Elon wanted hair, so he went out and purchased it and good for him. If you’re balding, you can probably do the same thing if you apply yourself. You could also take the Jeff Bezos approach to balding, let your hair fall out, and focus on making your first billion!

Jeff Bezos, right, is the founder of Amazon, worth about 60 billion dollars, and he’s a member of my personal bald hall of fame!

Elon Musk Hair Transplant – Wrapping it Up

So, do you think Elon Musk had a hair transplant, or did he have some other miraculous, new-age procedure performed? How does the balding Elon look compared to the Elon with Hair? Should he have let nature take its ugly course and let his follicles fall? I’ll leave it up to you.

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Robert Price

Robert Price is a writer, consumer advocate, and hair loss researcher with thousands of hours of experience in the field. His goal is to keep you out of the hair loss rabbit hole, underworld, or whatever you want to call it. He founded Hair Loss Daily, the unbiased hair loss blog, in 2016. You can learn more about Robert in the my story section of this website.