While Aubameyang’s hair transplant has only been rumoured and not yet confirmed, fans and sports media seem convinced he had hair restoration surgery. And looking at his photos over the years, there are compelling arguments to support that his miraculous receding hairline transformation had surgical roots. However, there are also signs that the footballer may have been using hair thickening spray and perhaps hair pieces in the past.
So far, Auba has not publicly addressed his male pattern baldness or his new hairline, so there is no way to say for sure whether he had his hair loss surgically corrected. However, if he truly did have hair restoration surgery, he would be in good company. Many famous footballers had successful hair transplants recently, such as Rob Holding or Danny Ings. Keep reading this article to find out all you need to know about:
Pierre-Emerick Emiliano François “Auba” Aubameyang was born in 1989 in Laval, France, to Borussia Dortmund’s Gabonese father and a Spanish mother. He inherited his passion for football from his dad, who was also an international player for several French clubs, as well as the Gabon national team in his youth.
While Auba played junior football since age 6, he began his senior career in 2008, aged 18, with AC Milan. However, he didn’t get the chance to appear with the team, as he was loaned out repeatedly, first to Dijon and then to Lille, AS Monaco and Saint-Étienne (where he was eventually transferred in 2011).
After 2 years with the French club, he was signed by Borussia Dortmund in 2013. Then went on to play as a striker for other major teams, such as Arsenal, Chelsea, and currently Marseille.
Despite being born and raised in France, on an international level, Auba proudly represents Gabon as captain of their National Team. During his career so far, he has helped his teams win several cups, and he also obtained his own accolades (e.g. UEFA Europa League top scorer 2023-2024).
Auba appears to have been experiencing an M-shaped hairline and temple hair loss since his late teenage or early 20s. Over the years, his hair shedding only seemed to progress, in spite of numerous style changes meant to hide his frontal balding.
However, in the summer of 2022, he was photographed sporting a brand-new, straight and healthy hairline which looked great. This led the whole sporting world to conclude he had a hair transplant – and a very successful one at that.
Given the significant difference in hairline shape and position between his pre- and post-2022 appearances, it is entirely possible that Auba had his frontal hair surgically restored. The results are consistent with a discreet, natural-looking hair transplant, which did not excessively lower the hairline.
However, what casts a fair amount of doubt on Aubameyang’s surgical hair restoration theory is the fact that in 2023, one year after his supposed procedure, he had a hairline incident on the field. After a goal, his teammates hugged him enthusiastically to share their excitement. And since they were all sweaty, they seemed to have accidentally rubbed off what appeared to be spray-on hair, leaving a conspicuous hole in his perfect new hairline.
This suggests that he may have been using coloured hair thickening spray on his frontal area all along rather than having had a surgical procedure. This may also explain the difference in length and texture between his hairline and the rest of his hair, as it seems shorter and flatter in photographs.
Of course, there is always the possibility that his hair transplant has gone wrong and some of the grafts did not survive. While hair transplant failure is uncommon, it can happen if an infection occurred or if the aftercare was lacking. In the end, Aubameyang is the only one that holds the key to his hairline mystery and it will be up to him to choose whether he would like to someday unravel it.
It seems that Auba has been struggling with hair thinning from a young age. He appears to be among the unlucky men who were in their teens or early adulthood when experiencing the first signs of hair thinning and balding. Here is how his hair loss progressed in time:
There are very few publicly available photos of Aubameyang as a child, and those that exist show him from far away, so it is difficult to get a good idea of what his hair started out like.
However, as a teenager, he can already be seen wearing a hairstyle that appears to be designed to hide a receding hairline. It seems like he was using a combover in the frontal area to mask what was either a very large forehead or premature frontal balding.
Auba maintained the same hairstyle in his 20s, while by the time he reached 26, the recession the combover was hiding became obvious. That marked the beginning of a series of wild styles, all meant to draw attention away from the thinning area at the front of his scalp.
Once his temple hair loss also advanced, around the time he was 27, Auba decided to try a series of bald mohawks with a variety of drawings and patterns adorning the sides of his head. He was probably hoping these daring, flashy styles would hide his hair loss, as a mohawk can, indeed, be one of the best male hairstyles for a receding hairline.
However, the sports media gave his experiments a mixed reception, as his sparkling hairstyle earned him a spot among the 10 players with the worst [11], but also with the best [12] haircuts in the Premier League.
While this eye-catching styling choice worked well for about a year, the footballer’s alopecia was progressing rapidly, so he soon had to think of a new way to keep it from the public.
In 2017, Auba probably realised his balding was getting too advanced to be masked by hairstyles alone, as his frontal area was visibly affected, and there was less and less hair remaining on top to create the mohawk effect:
However, there were still brief moments when he could be seen sporting much longer, thicker hair and a perfectly straight hairline, which were most likely owed to a hairpiece, spray-on hair or a combination of both.
By 2022, the footballer resorted to wearing headgear, like headbands or caps, to keep his hairline out of view. There is no way of knowing if Auba had tried any hair loss treatment for men up to this point, but if he had, it probably did not work for him at all, as his hair shedding only progressed.
Eventually, in early 2022, Auba decided to cut his losses, settling for one of the best buzzcuts for a receding hairline. The look was nowhere near as glamorous as his previous ones, but it absolutely did its job of masking the footballer’s balding spots.
In spite of the progressive hair thinning, in May of 2022, Aubameyang posted a photo of himself on Instagram with a perfectly straight hairline and brand new, thicker regrowth on top. This sparked numerous comments regarding a potential hair transplant, which may have been the real reason he had opted for a short hairstyle in the first place.
However, in close-up photos, such as the one above, published in October 2022, if you look carefully, you can still see a small difference in hair length and texture between his hairline and the rest of Auba’s scalp. This could be from the transplanted hair not yet having reached full size, but it also raises the question of whether his hair restoration was surgical or came in a spray can.
In 2024, Auba’s hair troubles seem to be truly over, as his hairline seems perfect, and his temple hair loss seems to have also resolved, leaving no further need for high fades. So far, his hair seems significantly thicker and healthier, suggesting that the footballer may have indeed had a hair transplant.
Whether or not Auba had hair restoration surgery, it is clear that he would have needed one, as his hair loss was increasingly advanced. This was due to the most common type of alopecia, which affects the vast majority of men to some extent: male pattern baldness. His progressively receded, uneven hairline, his full frontal balding, and his temple hair loss are classical signs of this condition.
This form of androgenetic alopecia occurs when your body produces excessive amounts of a male hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This hormone binds to the androgen receptors in your hair follicles, making them shrink and preventing them from producing hair. The hairline, temple and crown areas are the most affected, while the back and sides of the head are often spared. Left untreated, male pattern baldness will normally advance, leading to almost complete hair loss.
There are several types of non-surgical hair loss treatments that can help curb androgenetic alopecia and restore hair growth. You can try medications, such as Finasteride, Dutasteride or Minoxidil. You can enhance their results by getting evidence-based therapies, such as PRP hair treatments, derma rolling for hair growth or red light therapy for hair growth.
However, these treatments cannot do wonders and don’t work the same for everyone. So, if your balding is advanced, your best chance at securing hair restoration and recovering your youthful appearance is a permanent hair transplant.
It is difficult to say what kind of hair restoration surgery Auba might have had, as at this time, it has not been confirmed that he even had one. However, judging by the fact that he seems to enjoy high fades and other styles which are short in the back and sides, he would have likely chosen follicular unit extraction (FUE) surgery.
FUE hair transplants have gained significant popularity in recent years for their discreet and natural results. That is because follicular unit transplantation (FUT) procedures involve harvesting an entire strip of hair from the back of your head, leaving a fine but visible scar in the donor area.
However, FUE does not present this problem, as it involves punching small holes to extract individual hair grafts. The puncture wounds heal well and rapidly, leaving virtually no scarring and allowing celebrities like Auba to get a hair transplant without anyone knowing.
Considering the extent of his hair shedding, Aubameyang is likely to have required a significant number of grafts. Since he was probably Norwood stage 4-5, Auba appears to have restored his entire frontal area and probably a bald spot on his crown. According to the hair graft calculator, he may have a needed 2500-3000 graft hair transplant to accomplish this.
While it is a significant hair restoration, the procedure could be performed safely in one of the best clinics in the UK, provided that he had enough hair in his donor area. However, having this surgery performed abroad could lead to hair transplant overharvesting. While hair transplant costs in Turkey are lower, they carry this risk, as Turkish clinics are known to quote 75% more hair grafts than UK ones for the same type of intervention.
Since Auba is a football star, he is likely to have afforded the best possible care. So if he did truly have a hair transplant, the odds are that he may have chosen a high-end facility. In the UK, the highest hair transplant cost is around £15.000 for a Norwood stage 2-3 hair restoration. But since the footballer’s alopecia was likely more advanced, he could have paid more than that for high-end care.
However, there are excellent clinics in the UK, such as Wimpole Clinic’s Harley Street facility, which normally charge under £6000 for a 1500 graft hair transplant and provide high-quality services and outstanding results.
On average, a 2500-3000 graft procedure, such as the one Auba might have had, costs approximately £6.500-10.000. This can seem like a steep price to pay for a single surgery, but when you think of it as an investment in regaining your full head of hair forever, it starts to sound like a great deal. This is why it’s not just celebrities who are getting hair transplants lately but more and more people who want a permanent solution to their baldness.
While there is still no cure for baldness at this time, hair restoration surgery is as close as it gets to helping you put your hair loss troubles permanently behind you. So if, like Auba, you have been struggling with alopecia and have found no treatment that can help you, don’t be disheartened. Book a free hair transplant consultation today with one of our world class surgeons.
Our leading specialists will explain the entire procedure to you, walk you through every step of the healing process and answer all your questions. They will then examine you and determine whether you make a good candidate for a hair transplant.
If they find you can benefit from this procedure, they will provide all the necessary advice and support in designing the hairline you’ve always wanted. The best part is that you can still enjoy your hair transplant after 10 years or more, as unlike medications, it is a permanent treatment. Check out our before and after hair transplant gallery to see our excellent results.
If you are wondering how other celebrities who had hair restoration surgeries are faring, here are some more stories about confirmed or rumoured hair transplants of famous people:
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