Lee Mead has openly discussed having not one, but two hair transplants. This may come as a surprise for many people because Mead has maintained his curly mane in the same style for many years until recently.
This hid any signs of hair loss for years, leading people to wonder why he needed a hair transplant. However, Mead was tired with the lack of styling options available to him, and is now reaping the benefits of his latest procedure by experimenting with shorter styles to show off his new locks.
In this article, we’ll take a close look at:
Key takeaways
Lee Mead was born on July 14, 1981, in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. He’s a British actor and singer famous for his theatre appearances.
Mead rose to fame by winning the BBC talent show Any Dream Will Do, securing the lead role in the West End performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. He has also featured in Casualty and Holby City, and has released multiple albums as a singer.
In January 2023, Mead made headlines after his trip to Turkey for hair transplant surgery. His procedure took eight hours and he shared updates on his social media accounts.
When discussing the procedure, Mead shared, “There’s nothing wrong with being bald but I knew for my confidence I wanted to get it done. I was a bit nervous about being public about it but to own that and to feel confident is a good thing [1].” Mead also disclosed he had another hair transplant 17 years ago that nobody knew about.
When discussing his choice of location for a hair transplant clinic, Mead claimed that his hair transplant cost in Turkey was three times cheaper than in the UK. In an interview, he shared that his hair transplant cost £3,500 for the 2,600 grafts he had transplanted [2].
While the average UK hair transplant costs £4,820, cheaper procedures abroad are not always what they seem. For starters, a key factor in deciding the cost of a hair transplant is the number of grafts needed. According to our survey of 83 hair transplant clinics in Turkey, the cost per graft is 83% lower in Turkey than in the UK.
However, Turkish clinics quote significantly higher graft numbers for the same procedure — 75% more, in fact. This is a major red flag, because transplanting too many grafts puts you at high risk of overharvesting and you may not have enough donor hair left for future procedures or to fix a bad hair transplant.
But that’s not all. Many Turkish clinics have red flags, including:
This is not the case for all Turkish clinics, and it’s absolutely possible to get a high quality hair transplant in Turkey, as Lee Mead did. However, the fact remains that black market clinics are more common in Turkey than in the UK [3], and procedures performed on the black market are far more prone to complications [4].
Dr Dinesh Patel, a hair transplant surgeon from the Wimpole Clinic, shares:
“I’ve treated quite a few patients who had their initial hair transplants done in Turkey. While there are definitely some excellent clinics there, I’ve also seen a number of people come back with results that didn’t meet their expectations — often due to the clinic cutting corners or rushing the process.”
He mentions that the most common issues with cheap Turkish hair transplants include overharvesting, poor graft placement, scarring, and unnatural hairlines.
“All of these issues reduce the overall value of the initial surgery. People often come in hoping to save money by going abroad, but if things don’t go well, they end up spending even more trying to fix the results.”
“In some cases, the damage is difficult or impossible to fully correct — especially if the donor area was overused the first time. So while going abroad can work for some, it really comes down to choosing the right clinic and not just the cheapest option.”
Mead successfully hid his receding hairline for many years under his trademark mop of curly hair. For this reason, it’s difficult to see how his balding progressed over the years.
This image shows Mead’s hairstyle in February 2022, nearly a year before his transplant. His hair is long, thick and curly, hiding any signs of male pattern baldness.
Mead acknowledges that nobody was aware he was balding, and he could have continued to style his hair tactically with haircuts for balding men rather than opting for a transplant. However, he commented that his choice to restore his hair was a personal decision, as he knew he was balding and it affected his confidence. Post-transplant, he’s now free to style his hair however he likes.
The image above shows Mead shortly after his procedure, and you can see his transplanted grafts growing new hair. As the grafts have not yet fully regrown in this image, the area of thinner hair shows where he was balding before the transplant.
This image suggests that a significant portion of his scalp received transplanted grafts, suggesting that Mead had reached around a Norwood stage 5 or Norwood stage 6.
Here, Mead can be seen rocking his new locks in December 2024. A hair transplant takes around 12 months for final results to become visible, and you can see here that Mead’s grafts have completely grown through.
As he no longer needs long, curly hair to hide his balding, Mead has opted for a short back and sides. His new style suits him, and Mead appears very happy with his results.
Mead was losing hair due to a condition called androgenetic alopecia (AGA), or male pattern baldness. This causes a receding or M-shaped hairline, temple hair loss, a bald spot on the crown, and can ultimately lead to complete baldness. It’s the most common type of hair loss in men.
Male pattern baldness is hereditary, so you may be more likely to go bald if your dad is bald. This condition is strongly linked to a male sex hormone called dihydrotestosterone.
For men with AGA, DHT causes genetically sensitive hair follicles on the scalp to shrink, in a process called miniaturisation. This leads to thinner hair and ultimately, hair loss, which occurs in a predictable pattern (documented by the Norwood Scale).
Lee Mead’s first hair transplant was a follicular unit transplantation (FUT) procedure 17 years ago. It was a hairline transplant [5], but Mead had a mop of curly hair at the time and nobody knew he’d had it done.
His second transplant, in 2023, was a follicular unit extraction (FUE) hair transplant. The main difference between FUE and FUT is the method in which hair follicles are harvested.
With FUE, follicles are harvested using a micro-punch tool, leaving minimal scarring. With FUT, the surgeon takes a strip of skin from the donor area, which allows more follicles to be moved in one go but leaves a linear hair transplant scar.
If you’re interested in getting a natural looking hair transplant but aren’t sure where to start, look no further than the Wimpole Clinic. We’re the UK’s leading hair transplant clinic and have performed over 20,000 procedures since we opened our doors in 1975.
We work with some of the best hair transplant surgeons in the UK, who are experts in performing FUE and FUT hair transplants. They create such natural results that it’s possible to get a hair transplant without anyone knowing.
Want to learn more about getting your procedure at a clinic trusted for celebrity hair transplants, including Rob Holding and Ben Stokes? Book a consultation at your nearest clinic location today.
5,000 grafts is a very high number of grafts to move in a single hair transplant. According to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons, just 1% of first-time hair transplants require 4,000 grafts or more [6].
According to our research, the average cost per graft in the UK is £3.25. This means that the average price for a 3,000 graft hair transplant is £9,750, but this figure varies depending on your choice of clinic, surgeon, and other factors.
10 years after a hair transplant, your transplanted hair should be healthy and continue to grow. You may need further procedures to disguise continued balding around the transplant area, but skilled surgeons account for this by planning ahead to make sure you have sufficient donor hair left.
Wimpole Clinic Services:
Hair Transplants, Beard Transplants & Eyebrow Transplants.
Talk to a specialist
Dr. Barry Abdelrahimsai (GMC Number 7604040) is an expert in FUE Hair Transplant surgery in London, with a full registration to practice under the GMC. He qualified as a Medical Doctor in 2017 and has been working in a variety of surgical fields until he started specialising in FUE Hair Transplant surgery in 2021 after a number of years in the fields of injectable cosmetic and aesthetic medicine.
His emphasis lies in a holistic approach towards hair loss of different causes, and his background of having both surgical and medical experience, as well as ample experience in the field of General Practice, enable him to offer evidence-based pharmaceutical and surgical treatment of hair loss. Dr. Barry is a crusader of clinical excellence and has a keen eye for detail. Over the years, aside from his special interest in treating male pattern baldness with FUE, he has developed a focus on the reconstructive management of the female brow line and eyebrow reconstruction.
The significant surge in demand for eyebrow reconstruction through follicular transplants has captured his attention, leading him to specialise in this treatment. Employing a bespoke needle rather than a conventional blade, he achieves high density and precise outcomes.
He has a proven track record of achieving exceptionally high hair graft survivability and excels in densely packed incisions, commonly referred to as “dense packing,” while maintaining a natural, mature, yet youthful appearance. Dr. Barry advocates for active patient involvement in their hairline reconstruction, encouraging them to participate in the management and customised design process. He is dedicated to empowering his patients through education and providing them with knowledge on hair loss prevention and reconstruction, aiming to enable them to make informed decisions about their treatment journey.
