Elon Musk needs no introduction, but not many people know that his hair was already receding at the start of his business success at PayPal. When he launched Tesla, the hair on his head came back with a vengeance. So was there an Elon Musk hair transplant?
Many hair transplant experts believe that Elon Musk did get a hair transplant. If you look at his former pictures, you will see that his hair had already receded from his hairline and at the top of his head.
He has male pattern baldness. This type of baldness is where the hair is thinning out from the head’s hairline and top.
Being in the limelight for more than two decades, Elon Musk is one person that has undergone the scrutiny of the media. Most people are wondering how he turned from a balding man to one having full-grown hair.
Read on to learn more about the Elon Musk hair transplant, how a hair transplant works, and the cost.
Elon Musk Hair Transplant Before and After
If you looked at the past pictures of Elon Musk in 1999, when he was still active as one of PayPal’s top executives, you would see that his hairline has already receded considerably.
And yet, when he appeared at the launching of his Tesla cars a couple of years later, he had grown his hair back in places where they were scantily spread before. There must be something he has done to grow his hair back that fast. And that something is a hair transplant.
Elon Musk was experiencing what they call male pattern baldness. It is quite common among men, particularly those who are already in their mid-30s. His hair was receding from his hairline and at the top of his head.
How did Elon Musk get his hair back? The obvious explanation is that he must have had a hair transplant to have hairs with that kind of thickness. Hair transplant experts agree that that could not have been made possible by just taking hair-growth medicines alone.
From hair getting thinner to hair growing thicker can only be possible if a person undergoes a hair transplant. Elon Musk can easily afford this procedure.
Could Medicine Alone Regrow Elon’s Hair?
According to several hair transplant specialists, people who want to regrow their hair can take two medication types. None of these two medicines, these specialists say, has the capability to make the hair transformation that Elon Musk was able to achieve.
These drugs are typically used to stop the hair’s thinning rather than grow back the already lost hair.
This is why these hair transplant experts believe that the Tesla electric car maker must have undergone a procedure of hair transplantation.
As a result, his current hairline is thicker. And, there are more hairs on his scalp due to the increased density of his hair follicles.
One hair transplant surgeon says no other treatment or procedure could bring Class III or Class IV hair loss back to the solid hairline, as Elon Musk has achieved.
According to this expert, they have never seen one like it in all the years of their practice. Thus, the reason Elon Musk’s hair transplant became famous.
How Does Hair Transplant Work?
To better appreciate the subject matter, you need to understand how hair transplant is performed. The procedure of hair transplantation starts with the hair surgeon getting an overview of the person’s scalp.
1. Assess Patient’s Case
They will assess which areas on the patient’s head need hair thickening. An estimate of the number of hairs that need to be transplanted is arrived at.
2. Extricate Amount of Hair Needed
The doctor then takes or extricates these numbers of hairs on the sides and the back of the person’s head.
3. Transplant the Hair
These hairs are then transplanted to the front or to the areas that need to be thickened. The hairs on the side and back of the head are used because they are more stable. They are also genetically different enough to make them resistant to thinning or falling.
This technique of hair transplantation is called Follicular Unit Extraction or FCU. It extracts individual hairs and not long hair strips. This is done to avoid scarring of the skin. Experts in hair transplants say this procedure is similar to farming, where existing resources are re-allocated.
This procedure does not actually create new hair. It is just relocating existing hairs to where they are more needed. Upon completing the procedure, the patient will have permanent hair growing in places where it has thinned out before.
However, the side and back hairs of the patient’s head will be a bit thinner than before. The amount of hair loss on the sides and back of the patient’s head is the same amount of hair growing on the front hairline and the top.
The most important thing is that these transplanted hairs will no longer fall out as the original hairs have succumbed to gravity before. This is because hair loss is not actually a scalp problem but a hair follicle problem.
In general, the procedure of hair transplantation is very successful. They work approximately 90% of the time. But the recuperation period is quite long. The patient will take three to four months to recover. As you can see, this is not a quick-fix deal.
How Elon Musk Got His Hair Back?
In Elon Musk’s hair loss, medications such as Minoxidil and Finasteride are definitely out of the question. Hair experts recommend these two products to stop hair loss, not to regrow hair back.
So, given the current condition of his hair, the only logical reason is a hair transplant. This procedure is more advanced. For the most part, the final result looks much better than the old method of using hair plugs. In other words, Elon Musk’s hair plugs are also out of the question.
Here are the factors that determine if a person is a good candidate for a hair transplant:
1. Stable Supply of Donor Hair
They should have a stable supply of donor hair. Their hair supply must be sufficient enough to cover the areas where the hair is thinning out, including those areas that could thin out in the future.
2. Age
They should be over thirty years old. Men belonging to this age already have established their hair loss patterns compared to younger men.
3. Cost
They must be able to afford the procedure because it is quite expensive. Many hair transplant surgeons in the United States charge a maximum of $7.50 per hair graft. To get the same result as Musk’s, approximately 5,000 + grafts are needed. If you don’t have big money, you can’t afford it.
These three factors are all present in Elon Musk. Therefore, if you consider all these factors and how his hairline has considerably improved, it is quite understandable for many people in the hair transplant industry to believe that he had a hair transplantation procedure.
There are two kinds of hair transplantation procedures. One is FUT or Follicular Unit Transplantation, and the other is FUE or Follicular Unit Extraction. Some hair transplant surgeons believe that Elon Musk has undergone FUT instead of FUE.
They base their assumption on a video showing a strip at the back of the head of Elon Musk. These surgeons say that a linear scar is left after a FUT procedure. There is no scarring left behind after an FUE transplant. If that is correct, FUT it is.
Again, what is up with Elon Musk’s hair? Several hair experts believe that Musk got himself a hair transplant. And as a result, his hair regrew. Musk is believed to have male pattern baldness, a condition wherein the hair is thinning out from the head’s hairline and top.
When Did Elon Musk Get His Hair Transplant?
It is difficult to pinpoint the month or even the year when Elon Musk underwent hair reworking. But a little sleuthing will give us an indication of the year he probably got his front and top hairs redone.
If you examine the pictures taken of him in 1999, you will still see that his hair has already receded. But if you look at his pictures taken between 2000 and 2001, you will notice a considerable change in his hairline.
Using these pictures as our evidence, it is safe to assume that he underwent the scalpel sometime between 1999 and 2001. That gives us just about a two-year difference.
Elon Musk was in his late twenties in 1999. So he should be about thirty years old when he ‘grew’ his front and top hairs back.
How Much Did It Cost Him?
Some hair transplant surgeons say Elon Musk must have spent $8,000 to $10,000 to get the hairs on his head back. As you now know, the actual cost of a hair transplant operation will depend on the amount of hair that needs to be transplanted.
If we estimate another hair transplant surgeon, the cost might be even higher. If the procedure is performed in the United States, one hair strand will cost $7.50 to transplant. They also believe that to get the kind of hair Elon Musk now has, and you need to transplant 5,000 plus hair strands.
If that is correct, Elon Musk must have spent a whopping $37,500 to ‘regrow’ the hairs on his head. Only billionaires won’t feel that kind of pain in their pockets to improve their facial appearance.
Are you still wondering why so many balding men are satisfied in remaining hairless on their tops? It’s the cost, the very prohibitive cost. The mean cost of a hair transplant is approximately $10,000.
Depending on the number of hair grafts you want to be done on your top, it can go higher or lower.
Tips for Getting a Hair Transplant
If you can afford to have a hair transplant, you should still try to get the best deal as much as possible.
Below I listed some tips on how you can get the best hair transplant surgeon in the United States:
1. Ask All Your Questions
Before going to a hair transplant surgeon, think about what you will be undergoing. Get a clean piece of paper and list all the concerns and questions that may come up in your mind regarding the procedure. The idea here is to get the assurance that you are doing what is right.
2. Choose the Right Surgeon
Even if you are working on a tight budget, you still need to get the best surgeon that you can afford. Don’t just get one just because they are the cheapest.
The best surgeon will be the one with the most quality experience, not just their number of years in the industry. Canvass at least three hair transplant surgeons and compare their services and their service charges.
3. Talk to Their Previous Patients
One clue to the kind of service a surgeon provides is the number of clients they have already served and who they could satisfy. Get a list of these customers from the surgeons.
Then call as many of these customers as you can to ask about their experiences with the surgeons. If a surgeon refuses to give their list, move on to the next doctor.
Conclusion – Elon Musk Hair Plugs
By examining Elon Musk’s old pictures on the internet, many hair transplant experts have concluded that he has had a hair transplant. These pictures show him having what is called male pattern baldness.
This type of baldness is where the hair recedes from the hairline and the top of the head. His later pictures, especially when he was already successful in his Tesla electric cars, showed full-grown hair.
The only way his hair could have re-grown this way, according to hair experts, is if he has undergone a hair transplant procedure.
