“Clothes maketh the man.” Variations of this phrase date back to ancient Greece and they all mean the same thing: the way you look influences how people feel about you.
But for major male celebrities, the rules are a little bit different. Anyone wealthy celeb can buy themselves a nice designer suit. But what they can’t control as easily as their wardrobe is their receding hairline!
While some actors and other celebs can make a bald look really work for them, most guys in movies and TV are worried that losing hair will translate to losing opportunities. And that’s when they do their absolute best to look like they once did.
For some of these fellows, they simply try to find a good toupee. Others, however, turn to hair transplants and other procedures to try to get their follicle groove back.
It works better for some guys than for others. But one thing is for sure: you will be absolutely stunned by what your favorite celebs looked like before their toupees and transplant procedures! Just be warned: after reading this article, you may never be able to look at your favorite male celebs the same way again!
Ben Affleck
Affleck looked downright balding in 2008 but seems to be rocking a full head of (fake) hair in 2014. But we can’t blame him: how else is he supposed to win Jennifer Lopez back?
Elton John
Elton John was already going severely bald by 1972. But with the help of a good toupee, no one now thinks of the singer as a bald man.
John Travolta
Despite playing some fun action roles (we loved him in both Broken Arrow and Face/Off), Travolta never leaned into the bald “tough action dude” look. Instead, he bought the best hair that Hollywood money can buy!
Mel Gibson
After his misogynist and antisemitic rants became public knowledge, Mel Gibson needed all the help with his image that he could get. Is it any wonder that he decided to give himself a full head of hair?
Simon Pegg
Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg’s hair looked seriously thinning in 2009, but quite a bit healthier in 2013. Maybe his time on Star Trek helped him replicate some extra hair?
Billie Bob Thornton
Compared to many of the stars on this list, it looked like Thornton had leaned into going bald with famous roles in movies like Sling Blade. And that makes this hairpiece from 2014 look that much more out of place.
Jon Cryer
On the long-running Two and a Half Men alongside Charlie Sheen, Cryer had a strong incentive to keep his hair looking full by any means possible. Later, he leaned into the lack of follicles by playing famously bald villain Lex Luthor on Supergirl.
Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Piven did award-winning work on HBO’s Entourage, but it seemed to take a toll on his hairline. With the hairpiece, he looks a bit like he is cosplaying Jackie Daytona, regular human bartender.
Hugh Laurie
In roles like doctor Gregory House, Hugh Laurie has always been a very commanding presence. And he eventually made the call to stay commanding by restoring his full head of hair.
Jude Law
Jude Law made his name by playing the leading man in role after role. He must have decided that going bald would stop those roles from coming in and took control of his major receding hairline.
Robbie Williams
In some ways, Robbie Williams is the strangest celeb on this list. He’s not afraid to admit that he had a hair transplant. But he maintains he didn’t do so because he needed it — he was simply bored and decided the transplant would spice things up.
Wayne Rooney
Like Robbie Williams, football star Wayne Rooney isn’t afraid to admit that he had a hair transplant. Noticing that he was going bald by age 25, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Bono
Bono is basically the face of U2, so it’s not a surprise that he had some work done on his hair to maintain his celebrity image. Then again, after forcing that awful album onto all of our iPhones, maybe he should have gone bald to hide from all those annoyed Apple fans!
Kyran Bracken
Something about these sports stars just makes them more honest than their Hollywood counterparts. For example, rugby star Kyran Bracken has never been afraid to admit that he had a hair transplant back in 2006.
A.J. McLean
As the star of popular boy band The Backstreet Boys, A.J. McLean’s image is frozen into the minds of fans who fell in love with him when they were teenagers. To maintain that image, he got a hair transplant and even talked about how happy it made him on Instagram.
Jamie Foxx
As an amazing actor and killer musician, it seems there is little Jamie Foxx can’t do. But he can’t make his hair grow back, so he wasn’t afraid to take alternative measures to restore his hairline.
James Nesbitt
These two images of star James Nesbitt look like two entirely different people. But as The Hobbit star has openly talked about in the past, he had two hair transplants and credits these as life-changing events.
Tommy Lee Jones
In Batman Forever, Tommy Lee Jones famously portrayed Two-Face, a villain with thin hair on one side and much thicker hair on the other side. As it turns out, that would be a pretty good “before and after” preview of the future work on his hair!
Jason Gardiner
As a TV show host, Jason Gardiner understands that image is everything. But he also knows the value of honesty, which is why he was open on social media about his hair transplant surgery.
Kevin Costner
After surviving roles like Waterworld, Kevin Costner’s hair began to thin out. He responded by getting some work done and also showing us how cool he looks rocking a mustache and goatee!
Sylvester Stallone
When it came to the fight for a full head of hair, the receding hairline drew “first blood” with Sylvester Stallone. But with a little time and a lot of work, the aging Stallone’s hair arguably looks better than it ever did before!
Stan Lee
Beloved Marvel Comics writer/editor Stan Lee helped create some of the most enduring characters in pop culture history, including the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Avengers. And his iconic look, which included a mustache and slicked-back white hair, became immortalized on film, first in the 1994 cult classic Mallrats, and later in cameos in every MCU movie from Iron Man (2008) to Captain Marvel (2019).
But Lee didn’t always sport his signature look. In this rare 1966 footage, we see Lee without his mustache or toupee. He’s completely unrecognizable, but his voice is a dead giveaway.