When thinking about celebrity hair transplants, most people picture famous singers or movie stars. However, these procedures have also become increasingly popular among athletes. Footballer hair transplants gather a lot of press coverage, but the trend seems to be spreading to professional fighters. There is talk among martial arts fans that Conor McGregor had a hair transplant and it wasn’t very successful.
While Conor himself has never confirmed or denied these rumours, photographic evidence suggests there may be some truth to them. Read this article to discover Conor McGregor’s hair journey and find out all you need to know about:
Conor McGregor is an Irish mixed martial arts (MMA) champion. He was born in 1988 in Dublin, where he also started his fighting career when he turned 18. He soon rose to fame after winning the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship in two separate categories in 2011 and 2012. That is why in 2013, he was signed on for multiple fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
McGregor won several important fights in the UFC and was able to repeat the feat of becoming champion in two different weight categories. However, he was soon stripped of both titles due to inactivity. The fighter finally retired in 2021, after sustaining a broken tibia. He moved on to reality TV, where he was a coach on The Ultimate Fighter 31 show.
Conor never publicly addressed his hair loss or any kind of surgical or non-surgical hair restoration treatments. So far, he has neither confirmed nor denied having had a hair transplant. However, photos of him taken before and after 2021 show his hairline looking radically different. While he had an uneven hairline and temple hair loss for years, he was suddenly seen with a much fuller, straighter, and slightly lower hairline.
While the fighter may have used hair growth medication to achieve these results, it is unlikely. The changes to his frontal area are too great and are consistent with a hairline transplant. Some fans argue that this effect was achieved non-surgically, as Conor’s hair started to thin out once more a few years later. However, judging by the appearance of his hairline, McGregor carries the marks of a failed hair transplant.
Male pattern baldness is a condition which affects over 85% of men at some point in life [1]. And Conor is one of them. He started showing signs of an uneven, receding hairline and temple thinning in his late twenties, which is quite common. Male pattern baldness usually starts somewhere between ages 25 and 35 [2]. While his hair loss progressed over time, he did not appear to develop a bald spot on the crown, which means he was still in the earlier stages of androgenetic alopecia. This is usually the best time to get a hair transplant.
Male pattern baldness develops when a male hormone in your body, called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) binds to androgen receptors in your hair follicles. This makes the follicles shrink and produce miniaturised hair strands [3X]. If left untreated, after a while, they stop producing hair at all. And since follicles on your frontal area and the top of your head are more sensitive to DHT, you develop typical male pattern baldness symptoms.
Over the years, Conor’s hair has undergone numerous changes. Some of these were style choices, others the result of progressive male pattern baldness. Here are the highlights of the fighter’s hair timeline.
As a child, Conor had bright blond hair, which has darkened considerably over time. The few publicly available photos of the fighter as a pre-adolescent show him sporting a bowl cut. This makes it difficult to discern the early shape of his hairline or the breadth of his forehead. However, his hair appeared to be on the straighter, finer side and his hair density, albeit normal, did not seem particularly high.
In his early 20s, there were some signs of unevenness in Conor’s hairline, but they were likely microirregularities rather than the result of recession. Some photos make it seem like the athlete’s temples may have already started to rise and thin out. However, it is hard to tell for certain, since McGregor often opted for a fully or partially shaved head.
A closer look at the back of the fighter’s head shows no evidence of thinning on the crown. However, it confirms that his hair texture is indeed straight and fine, which can make his hair appear much thinner than it would if he had coarse and wavy locks.
Finer hair can be a disadvantage not only when styling your hair, but also when you’re getting a hair transplant. Unless you are using an experienced surgeon, it may take a larger number of grafts to cover a thinning area and parts of the donor area may look sparse after harvesting [4]. However, this should not be a problem for a skilled surgeon who has worked with all types of hair and practices good donor area management.
In his late 20s, McGregor’s hair loss became conspicuous. He began to develop a visibly M-shaped hairline, with marked irregularities. The fighter was often able to mask these first signs of hair thinning and balding by getting some of the best hairstyles for men with thin hair. He used high fades, buzzcuts for a receding hairline and elegant side-swept parts to draw attention away from his thinning spots.
However, as the alopecia progressed, his hair shedding became more difficult to ignore. So Conor may have decided to address the issue early on and get a natural-looking hair transplant before his thinning could progress any further.
In January 2021, McGregor appeared at UFC 257 with a fully shaved head. Only half a year later, he filmed himself getting a hip new haircut. His hair had grown in and his hairline was uncharacteristically straight and slightly lower than it used to be. While he still favoured high fades, his temples also seemed to have become fuller.
This sparked rumours that the fighter had a hair transplant without anyone knowing. While Conor did not comment on his new look, there was significant improvement in the appearance of his frontal hairline. And the fact that he obtained such marked results in only a few months suggests a surgical approach rather than hair growth medication (which often takes longer to produce peak effects).
Unfortunately for McGregor, only two years after his rumoured hair restoration procedure, his hairline seemed to be dwindling once more. It was easy to tell that his first few rows of hair had become sparse and his old hairline had become visible behind his thinning new one.
The fact that Conor initially achieved good hair growth indicates that he didn’t have low graft survival rates, nor was it an issue of poor hair transplant aftercare. The thinning pattern points to an exceedingly wide graft harvesting area. To avoid creating sparse areas on the back of the fighter’s head, his surgeon may have harvested hair grafts from too high up, where some of the follicles were still DHT sensitive. Over time, they were affected by male pattern baldness and started to fall out.
However, it’s not certain that surgical error is at fault for the fighter’s hair transplant going wrong. Research shows that some men experience a reduction in implanted hair density a few years after their procedure [5]. This is likely due to a particular genetic sensitivity to DHT. Furthermore, Conor may not have committed to long-term hair transplant maintenance, such as taking Finasteride to avoid further hair thinning around his grafts.
After spending some time trying to cover his once again receding hairline with a well-placed comb-forward or a hat, Conor decided to embrace a bold new look. He shaved his head and trimmed his beard into a stubble, pulling off the iconic Jason Statham style. This is an ideal haircut for balding men who decide to embrace their rugged masculinity.
If Conor McGregor did indeed have hair restoration surgery, he probably opted for a Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) surgery. This technique involves harvesting individual hair follicles from the back of the head and implanting them into the balding areas of the scalp.
FUE has gained substantial popularity in recent years. That is mainly because unlike the former hair transplant gold standard Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), FUE produces virtually no scarring. Even the most carefully performed FUT surgery leaves a fine scar on the donor area, as it involves harvesting an entire strip of skin from the back of your head. The strip is then cut up into grafts, which are implanted into your balding spots.
FUE takes longer to perform and graft harvesting takes more time. However, hair transplant recovery is also shorter and easier, as this procedure is less invasive than FUT.
Since McGregor has no visible scar on the back of his head, it is safe to assume he did not have FUT surgery. Moreover, his frontal thinning only a couple of years after his rumoured hair transplant points to a poor FUE harvesting technique.
Judging by the fighter’s appearance in 2020, his hair loss was not very extensive. He appeared to have Norwood stage 3 male pattern baldness. This means he would have only needed to cover his hairline and temples. According to the hair graft calculator, a 1500-graft hair transplant may have sufficed.
It can be difficult to pinpoint exactly how much the fighter may have paid for his hair restoration surgery. Hair transplant costs can vary greatly, based on several factors, such as:
Since Conor lives in the Republic of Ireland, we can assume he had his procedure in his home country. According to our research, the average cost of a 1500-graft hair transplant in Irish clinics is between €3,000 and €8,500 (roughly £2500-£7500).
However, had the fighter had his procedure done in the UK, he would have paid, on average, about £4800. If he’d opted for the services of a high-end clinic, the price could have reached as high as £15,000. But until he confirms his surgical hair restoration and shares its details with the world, we can never be certain of his treatment choices.
If you are thinking about getting a permanent hair transplant, but are concerned you’ll get results like Conor’s, we are here to set your mind at ease. Book a free hair transplant consultation with one of our surgeons and you will immediately know your hair is in the most competent hands.
The award-winning Wimpole Clinic has a 50-year legacy of hair restoration excellence. Our surgeons are world-renowned for their skill and experience and have a success rate for both FUE and FUT procedures of over 97%. That is why we have been voted Hair Transplant Clinic of the Year for four years in a row (2021-2024). You can see our results for yourself in our hair transplant photo gallery.
Fortunately, most celebrities who have hair transplants achieve better results than Conor McGregor. See the outcomes of other famous sportsmen rumoured or confirmed to have had their hair surgically restored:
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