Theo Von’s hair transplants are no secret. As a comedian, he is used to sharing personal stories with the world, and it seems his hair transplant journey is no exception.
Theo speaks openly about his transplants on podcasts, although he never had the period of balding followed by a thick crop of hair that is usually seen after hair restoration surgery.
His hair is thick and healthy, but he wasn’t balding in the first place. However, Theo had his reasons for choosing the procedure. In this article, we’ll explore:
Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski III, or Theo Von, is an American stand-up comedian. He’s also a podcaster and former reality TV star. Theo rose to fame on MTV’s Road Rules, and he hosts the popular podcast This Past Weekend. He’s famous for his no-holds-barred sense of humour and has fans around the world.
Theo had his first hair transplant procedure in 2017, and his second in 2019. Watch the full clip here to hear about the procedure and recovery from Theo’s perspective.
Theo Von isn’t your average hair transplant case. He never had signs of thinning and balding, even right before his surgeries.
In 2022 when Theo featured on The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe commented that Theo’s hair looked great and he replied that he’d had surgery. He told Joe that he wasn’t losing hair, but was being “paranoid” and “preparatory.”
When Theo spoke about his hair transplant in 2019, he commented, “It’s my second time. Did I need it? Probably not, but you know I don’t spend money on much and I like having hair [1].”
You don’t always have to be balding to consider a hair transplant — Theo likely had his to reshape his hairline a little and improve his hair density. But getting multiple surgeries for those reasons, especially when there were no visible issues with his hair in the first place, is a little unusual.
A hair transplant is permanent and follow-up procedures aren’t needed unless you need to cover extensive thinning, or you continue to lose hair around the transplanted follicles. Neither of these appeared to be the case for Theo, so a second procedure was not needed to maintain results. However, he may have wanted extra-thick hair around the front of his scalp, and requested a second transplant for that reason.
Not all hair transplant surgeons agree to “future-proofing” surgeries, and most will recommend non-surgical treatments before agreeing to a transplant. If you start losing hair in the future but you’ve already exhausted your donor supply with surgeries that weren’t necessary, it’ll be much harder to cover up those balding areas.
Theo Von appeared to have a thick, healthy head of hair right up to his hair transplant procedures. Here are some photos of his hair before and after surgery.
The image above shows Theo in 2015, just two years before his first hair transplant procedure. At 35 years old, he had no visible signs of hair loss and had an even hairline.
This photo shows Theo’s hair in 2018, a year after his first hair transplant. It’s hard to tell if his hairline has changed because of how he’s styled it, but it might be a little lower.
Here, you can see Theo’s hair in 2021, two years after his second hair transplant. His hair is particularly thick around his frontal hairline, where the hair follicles were transplanted to.
Both Theo’s hair transplants were performed using the follicular unit extraction (FUE) procedure. In 2017, during a podcast, Theo shared that he had some hair “taken from the back and put in the front [2],” explaining the process of an FUE hair transplant.
When talking about his second hair transplant in 2019, Theo said “I got the FUE hair transplantation [1]”. He went on to explain how the procedure was performed and that his own hair grafts were harvested from his donor area and transplanted to his hairline.
Grafts were harvested using a micro-punch tool (or what Theo called a “baby shovel”). This differs from follicular unit transplantation (FUT) surgery — FUT involves taking a strip of skin from the hair transplant donor area, which is then surgically sliced into individual hair grafts.
FUT allows more follicles to be transplanted at once, but leaves a hair transplant scar at the donor area. Learn more here about the differences between FUE and FUT hair transplants.
Theo added that he watched a soap opera during the transplant and even fell asleep at one point, as he was able to relax thanks to the local anaesthetic. His procedure took around 4-5 hours and afterwards, he had to take it easy and follow precautions like sleeping at a 45 degree angle for several days.
Learn more here about how to sleep after hair transplant surgery.
Theo had his hair transplant in Los Angeles. He hasn’t disclosed exactly how many grafts he had or how much it cost, but we can estimate.
The minimum number of grafts for a hair transplant is usually around 500. As Theo wasn’t balding, he may have just had 500 grafts for each transplant — so 1,000 grafts in total. He may have had twice this number of grafts, because his frontal hair density after 2019 appears very thick.
Our research shows the average price per graft is $6.96 in LA, so the minimum Theo paid for his two hair transplants was likely around $6960 in total. He may have paid much more than this depending on the number of grafts he had and his chosen surgeon.
Theo has also spoken about having platelet-rich plasma (PRP) hair treatment. On a 2024 podcast, he said he got PRP for his hair “just to keep this class going [3]”.
PRP involves taking a sample of your own blood and processing it into a concentrated sample of platelets. This can be injected into areas of desired hair growth. PRP is sometimes combined with a hair transplant to boost results as much as possible.
If you’re experiencing hair loss and you want to help your hair look thicker and healthier, the Wimpole Clinic can help.
Our hair doctors may recommend treatment options such as:
If you’re a good candidate for a hair transplant, you’ll have access to some of the best hair transplant surgeons in the UK at the Wimpole Clinic. Our surgeons create such natural looking results that it’s possible to get a hair transplant without anyone knowing.
If, like Theo, you’re not experiencing hair loss but you’d like thicker hair, our trichologists can advise on the best options for you. Book a consultation at your nearest clinic location today to get started.
Bradley Cooper’s hairline and density have changed significantly over the years, and at one point, his receding hairline appeared to reverse. He hasn’t publicly confirmed having a hair transplant, but he does seem to have had treatment to reverse his hair loss.
Cheyenne Jackson publicly revealed he had five hair transplants. However, this isn’t as many hair transplants as Calum Best, who has had six hair transplants over the course of his career. Learn more about how many hair transplants you can have.
David Beckham has never publicly discussed having a hair transplant. His hair appeared to be thinning at one point and then improved, but it’s possible he just uses hair thickening spray.
Celebrity hair transplants are pretty common. Here are just a few celebs who opted for a hair transplant:
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