There are many glamorous stories out there of successful celebrity hair transplants. However, not everyone who had this cosmetic procedure had a good experience. The famous podcaster Joe Rogan has been outspoken about how he had multiple hair restoration surgeries in his youth, a decision he now regrets, as they failed to curb his hair loss.
Unfortunately, the results of his procedures were underwhelming, eventually making him shave his head completely. So where did things go wrong with Joe Rogan’s hair transplants?
Keep reading this article to find out all you need to know about:
Born in 1967 in New Jersey, USA, Joe Rogan is a famous American podcaster, actor, comedian, as well as a former television host. Rogan began his career at the age of 21 as a comedian, then went on to have several TV show appearances. He became well-known as a UFC commentator and as the presenter of the popular reality show Fear Factor. However, his current claim to fame came from the podcast he started in 2009, the Joe Rogan Experience.
While this talk show soon became one of the most widely viewed in the world, it is also highly controversial. Rogan debates hot-button social issues, openly supports specific political figures, and discusses various conspiracy theories.
Looking at Joe Rogan’s clean-shaven head, it’s easy to assume that he has never had a hair transplant. However, the reality is that he has had not one, but 3 hair restoration surgeries in his late twenties. However, the podcaster was never happy with his results.
Joe Rogan has spoken openly about this subject, saying the hair transplants he had in his youth were “the dumbest thing I’ve ever done”, as he was left with nothing to show for them except scarring on his donor area:
“I have a giant scar at the back of my head, it looks like a smile.”
Rogan got his first hair transplant at around age 26. However, dissatisfied with the results, he continued to get two subsequent surgeries until around the age of 28. Since he was still not pleased with the outcome and was visibly balding around his implanted grafts, in his mid-forties, Joe eventually decided to shave his head completely, embracing a masculine, rugged bald look.
From interviews and media footage, it doesn’t seem like Rogan’s hair transplants have failed, at least not completely. But the actor was definitely not satisfied with their results. He rightfully complains about the highly visible scar on his donor area from his FUT procedure and blames his naturally thin hair for his poor scalp coverage. During his podcast. Roger expressed his belief that men with thicker hair could benefit much more from surgical hair restoration than he did.
However, while thin, straight hair can indeed produce less coverage than thick, curly strands, in Joe’s case, there seemed to be a bigger problem. The actor got his hair transplants at a rather young age and his male pattern baldness advanced further over time, around his transplant area. This made Rogan look like he was still balding and the procedures had not been effective.
Moreover, while Rogan does not disclose where he got his surgeries, his comments suggest that there may have been poor communication between him and his surgeon, as he may have had unrealistic expectations regarding the results he could get for his particular hair texture. He states that the surgeon showed him before and after hair transplant photos and he was left with the impression he would regrow a full head of hair, only to experience more modest results than he had hoped for.
Joe Rogan’s donor area scarring appears to be excessive even by FUT harvesting standards from 30 years ago. So it is likely that his surgeon may not have had the necessary skill to perform his procedure effectively. They cut out what seems to be an overly long strip of skin off Rogan’s donor area and closed the wound poorly, leaving him with a very large scar that is hard to cover up.
This may also be a result of hair transplant overharvesting, as the surgeon may have cut out a strip that was too long and wide, in hopes to harvest a higher number of grafts than is safe.
However, poor surgical practice and unrealistic result expectations are not the only possible reasons for hair restoration failure. Rogan does not address how closely he followed his surgeon’s instructions regarding hair transplant aftercare. Poor aftercare and/or failing to wait the recommended amount of time before engaging in certain physical activities such as working out after a hair transplant can lead to poor hair graft survival.
In his mid-20s, Joe Rogan began to experience the first signs of hair thinning and balding caused by androgenetic alopecia. The actor began to develop the classic signs of male pattern baldness, including a receding hairline and temple hair loss. This common type of alopecia is progressive and if it is not treated, it can lead to more advanced hair loss.
Rogan has mentioned trying Minoxidil before opting for a hair transplant, but the medication’s failure to curb his hair loss discouraged him. And as a young actor, whose looks played an important part in his budding career, he feared that losing his hair would hurt his chance at success. So he saw getting a natural-looking hair transplant as his chance to preserve his appearance.
A permanent hair transplant is often the best solution for men with male pattern baldness due to the mechanism behind this condition [1]. It occurs when one of the male hormones naturally present in your body – dihydrotestosterone (DHT) – binds to your hair follicles, leading to hair miniaturisation and eventually baldness.
The follicles around your hairline, frontal area, temples and crown are naturally more sensitive to DHT. That is why your hair falls out in a specific pattern. However, follicles at the back and sides of your head don’t have the same sensitivity to DHT, which normally renders them immune to male pattern baldness.
Transplanting healthy hair follicles from the back of your head to your balding areas preserves their low sensitivity to DHT, which protects them from androgenetic alopecia.
Joe Rogan appears to have started to lose his hair from a fairly young age. While there aren’t many publicly available photographs from his teenage years, the actor confesses that by his mid-twenties, he had already experienced signs of balding. Here is his hair journey from youthful, luxurious locks to the confident, clean-shaven man he is today.
As an 18-year-old teenager, Rogan’s yearbook shows him sporting a full, thick head of hair, which he wore in a trendy mop top. However, the hairstyle covers up Joe’s hairline, making it difficult to determine whether he had a naturally high forehead or if there were any early signs of an uneven hairline.
By the time he was in his mid-20s, Joe had already started displaying visible signs of hair thinning, such as a receding hairline. He attempted to cover this by wearing his hair side-swept. Rogan recounts that he was losing his hair at an accelerated pace and Minoxidil did not suffice to hold this process back.
Based on current hair loss management knowledge, Joe Rogan should have probably been advised to try non-surgical hair loss treatments before getting a hair transplant at 26. Controlling hair loss is much easier nowadays, with Finasteride proving a highly effective male pattern baldness treatment.
However, since Minoxidil hadn’t helped and other effective hair growth treatments, such as Finasteride, were not yet approved for hair loss at the time, Joe Rogan may have felt that waiting any longer to get a hair transplant might compromise his appearance and jeopardise his acting career. Thus, he had his first procedure around 1993, aged 26, followed by 2 more over the next couple of years.
Rogan does not mention whether the second and third hair transplants were meant to touch up the first procedure or had been previously planned for different areas on his scalp. However, given the fact he did not seem to have a bald spot on his crown, it is likely they were follow-up procedures meant to correct poor hair graft survival or underwhelming hair growth along his frontal hairline.
There are no photographs from around the time of his hair transplants, so it is difficult to assess the success of each surgery. However, these photos from ages 28 and, respectively, 30 show the actor with a substantial density across his scalp.
At age 28, Joe appears to still sport his side part, which shows he may have continued to be insecure about his hairline and hair fullness. However, outside of a higher forehead, there seems to be no indication of balding, and his frontal area appears fuller than before.
In 1997, 2 years after his final hair restoration surgery, Rogan’s hairline appeared fairly straight, albeit somewhat high. The hair transplant seems to have had natural-looking results. At least from the front, it looks practically undetectable.
By 1998, Rogan starts showing signs of an uneven hairline once more, and he tries to cover this by wearing a short fringe (above). It appears that hair loss around his temples had progressed around his transplanted hair.
This becomes obvious when looking at the photo above from the same year, where the actor was wearing a short hairstyle that left his forehead uncovered. These images show a slightly more uneven hairline, demonstrating the progression of his temple hair recession.
However, Rogan managed to reach his mid-thirties with only a moderately M-shaped hairline, which did not look very conspicuous even as he continued to wear his hair short for public appearances. This lasted for about a decade until the hair loss started to advance around his transplanted hair.
By the time he reached his early mid-forties (above), the actor’s male pattern baldness was once more clearly visible, showing a deep M-shaped pattern. At this point, it became clear that he had likely only had a smaller number of grafts around the centre of his frontal area, and his androgenetic alopecia progressed around them over time.
After a brief stint of covering up his thinning frontal area by wearing a cap, as he reached 45, Joe Rogan decided to embrace his baldness and shave his entire head. He felt so liberated by this that he never went back to growing out his hair. Rogan has said that he would still likely shave his head out of convenience even if he weren’t balding and that he advises all young men with hair loss problems to do the same.
Now approaching his 60s, Joe Rogan has solved his hair loss problems by shaving his head regularly. He seems very content with his clean-shaven look, which has lately become an iconic look for him. He has no further desire to try any more hair growth treatments.
The comedian got a FUT hair transplant, which was the most popular type of procedure at the time of his hair restoration surgeries. This technique involves the removal of an entire strip of skin about 1–1.5 x 15–30 cm in size and 4-5 mm in thickness [2].
This strip is then dissected into individual hair grafts, which are inserted into small slits in the transplant area. While the surgeon uses sutures to close the wound on the donor area, a small, but visible linear scar still remains after the healing process is completed.
Rogan mentions that back when he got his hair restoration surgery, he did not have the option to get a FUE procedure, which only emerged in the early 2000s [3]. Unlike FUT, this technique does not leave visible scarring, as it involves harvesting each hair graft individually from the donor area, using a small tool called a punch. This only results in tiny puncture wounds which heal quickly. Any scarring is normally too small to see.
The actor never mentioned how many hair grafts he got during his multiple hair transplants, nor which areas he attempted to cover. But judging by photos of him right before and in the years after the procedures, it’s unlikely he got extensive surgery. He may have had somewhere between 1500 and 2000 grafts in total.
However, the exact number of hair grafts needed for Joe Rogan depends on several factors, such as how advanced his hair loss really was (which is not always visible in photos meant to capture his best angles), how much available hair he had in his donor area and the graft survival rate he experienced after each of his surgeries.
It is difficult to estimate the cost of Joe Rogan’s hair restoration surgeries since he’s had multiple procedures. He also hasn’t mentioned where his operations were performed or how many grafts he received.
Judging by the look of Rogan’s hair in media appearances before and after his surgeries, it can be estimated that he probably had between 1500-2000 hair grafts. In L.A., this would amount, on average, to approximately $10500 – $14000 (approximately £8500 – £11300). In the UK, the hair transplant costs for the same number of grafts would have been, on average, significantly lower – approximately £4875 – £6500.
However, the actual cost of Rogan’s hair transplants can be influenced by several factors besides the geographical area where he had his procedure. Clinic reputation and surgeon experience are often the most important. The fact he had 3 separate operations is also consequential. So it is difficult to know for sure how much the actor had to pay in total for his 3 procedures.
Cost infographic for a Norwood stage 2-3 hair transplant in LA
It is hard to say whether Joe Rogan would be able to get a successful 4th hair restoration surgery. Since his head has been clean-shaven for years, the amount of hair he has left on his donor area cannot be assessed from photos or video recordings. A surgeon would need to examine him to determine if he’s still a good candidate for a hair transplant. Certain health conditions or significantly advanced hair loss might make him ineligible for this procedure.
However, even if he could get another hair transplant, Rogan made it perfectly clear that he wouldn’t, as he regrets his first surgeries. While it is quite common for men of his age to undergo surgical restoration to excellent results, the actor does not believe this would be the right solution for him and is quite happy with his bald with beard look.
According to the 2022 ISHRS practice census [4], almost 70% of patients (68.2%) who get hair restoration surgery never require a second hair transplant. However, 28.6 % opt for a follow-up intervention and only 3.3% get a third operation, as Joe Rogan did.
The second and third interventions may be performed to touch up the results of the previous surgery, should there be areas with poor graft survival and/or low hair density. However, in many cases, they are planned from the beginning, as some patients choose to stagger their hair transplants if they require a high number of grafts.
If you are thinking about getting a hair transplant but Joe Rogan’s experience has you concerned, there’s no need to worry. Surgical hair restoration technique has improved significantly in the past 30 years. We, at the Wimpole Clinic, take great pride in our success rate of 97-100% for both FUE and FUT procedures. Book a free, no-obligation hair transplant consultation with one of our world-class surgeons and they will be happy to walk you through the entire procedure and provide you with a realistic assessment of the hair restoration results you can expect.
If you would like to see the results of celebrities who had significantly better hair transplant experiences than Joe Rogan, here are some great examples:
Rob Holding’s hair transplant was performed in 2021 to correct his M-shaped hairline and it is still going strong several years later. The footballer got a 2600-graft FUE procedure, which helped restore not only his head full of hair, but also his confidence.
Ben Stokes’s hair transplant was performed at the Wimpole Clinic. The cricket captain had an 1800-graft FUE procedure for his receding hairline and crown thinning, leaving him with a thick, full head of hair.
Danny Ings’ Hair Transplant was performed in 2023. It was a 2500-graft FUE procedure, performed by a skilled surgeon at Mayfair Hair Clinic. It completely fixed the footballer’s uneven hairline and restored his youthful appearance.
Since his hair loss was very advanced, Gary Goldsmith’s hair transplant was challenging but visibly successful. The businessman had a high-volume procedure, transplanting almost 5000 grafts over two FUE sessions at the Wimpole Clinic. This restored hair growth to his previously bald frontal area and crown.
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