A bald spot on the crown can have a significant negative impact on your self-confidence. Some men feel that hair loss affects their social and even their professional life.
If you’re worried about male pattern baldness, you’re in the right place to find a haircut that suits you. Here, we’ve rounded up the best and worst haircuts for balding men.
In this article, you’ll learn:
There is no better way to escape the hassle of hiding hair loss than to shave it all off. A shaved head exudes confidence and masculinity. In particular, a shaved head complements athletic figures and square or oval faces.
Rugged facial hair pairs perfectly with a buzzcut; it’s one reason the bald with beard look is so popular. The good news is that if you have male pattern baldness, you may stand a better chance of growing a full, healthy beard.
While an excess of the male hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT) can lead to pattern hair loss, it can help your facial hair grow and may reduce your chances of developing a patchy beard [2].
If shaving your head completely sounds too extreme, shaving your head may be a suitable alternative. Match your head stubble with light facial hair for a rugged look.
Made popular by famous action star Jason Statham, this hairstyle works best on more mature individuals. Since it keeps your hair very short, it won’t highlight any balding or thinning on your crown or mid-scalp.
For more inspiration for mature haircuts for balding men, see these hairstyles for older men with thinning hair.
If you have a thinning spot on top of your head but are not experiencing frontal balding, try a slicked-back style. This involves applying hair gel or mousse through the lengths of your hair, then combing them towards the back of the head.
This style works especially well for men with medium length hair, as it’s long enough to cover your thinning area. For a more masculine look, you can always try it with a high fade, which can also help mask temple hair loss.
Take a look at Jack Grealish’s hair for slicked-back haircuts for balding men inspiration.
This stylish cut is a classic haircut for balding men. It’s a great way to disguise thinning on top of your head if you still have plenty of hair around your hairline. It involves combing your fringe up and back, creating a voluminous ridge. This will draw attention away from the balding areas on your crown, which may become less visible, especially on tall men.
However, it is not ideal if your frontal hair is dwindling as well, as it can make your quiff sparse and expose thinning temples.
This army classic works well for all ages, builds and face types. And it has plenty of variants to suit most preferences.
As well as helping to mask thinning on top of your head, a buzzcut is a great male hairstyle for a receding hairline. So it’s very common among men with more extensive hair loss, and far easier to maintain than other haircuts for balding men.
The crew cut is very similar to the buzz cut, except it has shorter hair on the sides and back of the head and slightly longer on the crown.
Crew cuts suit balding men of all ages. For better scalp coverage, leave your hair a little longer on top. A messy, textured cut can disguise some of the thinning.
Ideal for men with wavy or curly hair types who want to wear it long, the bro flow is a youthful hairstyle that can effectively disguise a bald spot. Just comb your hair backwards and let it fall naturally. If needed, you can use a fixating product to lock it in place (don’t worry, hairspray doesn’t normally cause hair loss).
This style only works well if there is sufficient hair in your frontal area to ensure that your balding spot is not visible.
Looking for a more on-trend twist on the bro flow? Consider the modern mullet.
If your hair shedding is mild, a pushed-forward crop may be a good solution. Combing your hair forward can mask the thinning area and give you a trendy look.
Popular among Gen Z and other younger men, the French crop is most suitable for those with wavy hair. A textured cut can also produce a good visual effect.
If you have a bald spot on the centre of your head but full hair at the sides, consider an asymmetric side-swept hairstyle. This involves letting your hair grow out on half of your head and combing it over with a parting, leaving the front longer than the back. The other side of the head can be clipped shorter or, if you are feeling adventurous, it can be shaved off entirely.
This creative haircut is ideal for artistic, non-conformist personalities. At the same time, it is one of the best male hairstyles for an uneven hairline because it disguises irregularities in your frontal area.
Mature men often prefer this neat, down-to-earth style, which is perfect for men with greying hair. It is easy to style and wear, as it only takes creating a side part and combing the larger portion of your hair to the side or back. Lock it in place with a bit of gel or hairspray to keep it looking fresh throughout the day.
This style is worn best by men with a square or oval face. It’s particularly becoming if you are greying at the temples. However, it only works well if you still have reasonable density through your mid-scalp, otherwise, it could result in a combover-type appearance.
A voluminous, high hairdo such as the pompadour is bound to attract attention. However, you need to have full, healthy hair on your frontal scalp to be able to pull it off.
To achieve its spectacular volume, blowdry your hair and use a round brush to roll it backwards, shaping it into a tall mound. Hairspray is then added to lock the pompadour in place. The hair on the sides can be clipped shorter or faded off entirely.
A well-positioned man-bun can hide mild to moderate balding at the crown. It is also a trendy, youthful look, adopted by many athletes and movie stars. Better still, it is easy to style at home; all you need is a brush and a hair tie.
However, be cautious about overusing this hairstyle. Man buns and top knots can cause hair loss if worn excessively, as they can trigger traction alopecia. This occurs when your follicles stop producing hair due to extreme or excessive tugging at the hair.
Alternating between a top knot and other, looser styles is the healthiest option for your hair.
While the mohawk is reserved for the most daring, the faux hawk is a fresh, modern haircut that most men with good hair density can enjoy. Comb up the hair on the sides of your head so it meets in the middle, creating a rugged ridge.
A faux hawk isn’t as tall or conspicuous as a mohawk, and the sides are not shaved off. Since men with male pattern baldness usually have healthy hair on the sides of their heads, you may be able to hide your central balding spots under the eye-catching, full-looking faux hawk.
A Caesar cut is a classic hairstyle with a short, choppy fringe. Its length helps disguise a thinning crown, while the bangs can mask a receding hairline.
The Caesar cut is generally a good haircut choice for balding men, as it is an unassuming style which highlights your face and beard, diverting attention away from the top of your head.
If your balding is advanced but you’d still like to showcase your remaining hair, a beanie or bandana is an effective way to cover your bald spot. Many celebrities have adopted this style, and it has become increasingly trendy in the past years for bald and full-haired men alike. This look can give you a hip, artsy vibe and allow you to make the most of the hair that you still have.
That said, it’s not appropriate to wear a hat or bandana in all situations, so consider whether this is likely to affect you.
A large bald spot on your crown partially or fully surrounded by a puffy ring is iconic in its own way. Though the likes of Danny DeVito and Larry David have made it part of their style, most men can’t carry it off in quite the same way.
A power donut can age you if it develops prematurely. You may be better off shaving your head clean or opting for a minimal buzzcut instead.
If your balding is advanced, there’s not much you can do to fix or mask it short of getting a hair transplant. While a combover can work to hide mild hair loss, an extensive bald spot is difficult to cover this way. Combing a few strands from one side of the scalp to the other rarely creates the desired effect, especially in windy weather.
Opting for a hairpiece or shaving your head may be preferable to a see-through combover.
Braids, cornrows and dreadlocks can look amazing on full Afro hair. However, if your hair is sparse, they may appear thin and lacklustre. And a bald spot on your crown will only be highlighted by the hairstyle around it, as it will leave a large, empty space between otherwise evenly-spaced braids or locs.
Moreover, these tight hairstyles can worsen hair loss by inducing traction alopecia. Unless you are open to getting a hair system for your balding spots, it is best to opt for a hairstyle that works with your curly hair texture instead of against it.
Wearing your hair long while the top of your head is smooth and shiny is a confusing look. Similar to the power donut, you are neither bald nor do you have substantial hair.
If you want to wear your hair long for a while yet, consider wearing a beanie or a bandana to showcase your remaining hair while hiding your bald spot. Alternatively, a natural-looking hair transplant may restore some density through your lengths (depending on how much hair you’ve lost, and how many grafts are available in your donor area).
A spiky hairdo may sound like a good idea if your hair is thinner because it is flashy and provides texture while being more forgiving with dwindling areas.
However, if you are experiencing significant thinning at the top of your head, sparse, feeble spikes will only draw attention to the gaps in between them. A buzzcut or crew cut may be more flattering.
If a hairstyle is not enough to hide the thinning hair on the top of your head, you can always use some baldness-disguising hair products alongside it. Here are some of the best options you can try:
Hair thickening sprays contain small fibres that bind to your natural strands, creating the illusion of greater hair fullness and density. Since they use an electrostatic charge to attach to your hair, they don’t lie flat and lifeless but appear to move naturally with your hair.
This product contains a temporary pigment that is the same shade as your hair. You can spray it on the scalp in your thinning areas. Doing so reduces the contrast between the bald spots and the rest of your hair, making them less conspicuous. This solution works best for shorter hairstyles.
This form of hair tattoo for men uses the same principle of lowering contrast as spray-on hair. However, scalp micropigmentation (SMP) is a permanent procedure which involves using a tattoo gun to inject very small dots of pigment under your scalp skin.
Scalp micropigmentation is a different process to a regular tattoo, so it’s best to seek an experienced professional to get natural-looking results and avoid scalp micropigmentation regrets.
While hair thickening shampoos cannot create the same kind of instant magic as the other products on this list, they can also help make your hair look fuller by creating lift and volume. Many contain keratin for hair, which can increase the illusion of hair thickness.
Some of them also contain ingredients that can stimulate your follicles for hair growth, such as caffeine or saw palmetto for hair loss. However, while caffeine shampoo has been proven to reduce hair loss in male pattern baldness [3][4], more research is needed to show whether the natural DHT blockers found in saw palmetto and other similar ingredients are effective in shampoo form.
There are several reasons why you might develop baldness on the top of your scalp. Here are the most common.
Also known as androgenetic alopecia, male pattern baldness is a condition that affects most men before the age of 50 [1]. It is caused by a combination of ageing, hormones and genetics. The first symptoms are usually a receding hairline and temple hair loss (which can form an M-shaped hairline). Many men then develop hair thinning at the crown.
If left untreated, this condition can progress. The more advanced your hair loss, the harder it becomes to reverse balding.
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition. It occurs when your white blood cells attack your hair follicles, causing your hair to fall out. Alopecia areata can cause circular bald spots on any part of your scalp, including the crown (and, more rarely, the rest of your face and body).
If the bald spot on your crown has appeared abruptly and is accompanied by other symptoms (e.g. redness, inflammation, flaking, itching and/or scalp tenderness in one spot), you may be experiencing a common scalp problem.
Scalp psoriasis or ringworm can sometimes manifest with hair loss on a limited area such as the top of your head. Getting the appropriate diagnosis and treatment should also solve your hair thinning in the affected area.
Scarring alopecia is a type of hair loss that destroys the hair follicles it affects, leaving them unable to grow new hair. Lichen planopilaris is one of its most common forms, affecting approximately 1% of the population [5].
A scar from a cut, wound or burn on top of your head can prevent hair from growing in the affected area. Traction alopecia from a too-tight top knot can also cause your hair to fall out.
Constant friction from wearing tight, uncomfortable headgear that rubs against your crown for extended periods of time, such as hard plastic headphones, may also cause some mild hair loss, mainly through hair breakage. (That said, this is unlikely to single-handedly cause a bald spot; it typically resolves itself when you remove the source of friction).
Depending on what is causing the thinning on top of your head, there are several treatments that can help curb hair loss and increase hair density. Here are some of the most commonly prescribed:
Hair transplants are performed by harvesting healthy hair follicles from the back or sides of the head and reimplanting them in the bald spot on your crown. The best hair transplant clinics in the UK have excellent success rates for this procedure, regardless of whether you opt for a FUE or FUT surgery. You can get an idea of our results from our before and after hair transplant gallery.
If you are experiencing hair loss on your crown, the best thing you can do is to book a consultation with one of our top-tier trichologists. They will make full use of their professional toolbox to get to the root of your hair issues.
Depending on your symptoms, they may perform a hair pull test, a dermoscopy or order specific blood tests for hair loss. Once they have the results, they will provide an accurate diagnosis and the most effective evidence-based treatment for your specific condition.
Learn more about hair loss and finding the right hairstyle in these FAQs.
Opinions will differ, but it normally depends on the extent of your balding and what makes you feel confident. Confidence makes you look your best, regardless of your hairstyle.
Men with substantial hair loss often choose to wear their hair short to avoid too much contrast between the balding areas and those with healthy hair. Shorter hair also means you don’t need to feel self-conscious about trying to hide bald spots. But some men feel more confident in their looks with longer hair, despite any hair loss.
The only real way to find out is to shave your head. But you don’t need to go straight to a wet shave; test the waters with a longish buzzcut to get an idea.
If you’re not ready to get the clippers out just yet, study your facial features and head shape. Angular head shapes tend to look best bald, though many men with rounder heads also pull off the look (see some examples in this list of bald celebrities). Growing a beard can also balance out your baldness and highlight your jawline.
There’s no single answer here; it depends on many different factors, such as:
Consider these factors when deciding on your next hairstyle to choose the best hairstyle for you as an individual.
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