Joe Rogan is famous for his signature hosting style and appearance on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. The former UFC color commentator and comedian has been sporting a shaved or buzzed head for as long as a lot of people remember, so many do not think about Rogan as ever having had a hair transplant.
Joe Rogan has had three hair transplants in his life. He got his first one in his 20s and describes them as “the dumbest thing” he has ever done. His hair transplants did not have the desired long term effect, which is why he now just shaves his head.
If you are struggling to reconcile Joe Rogan’s bald head with a man who has had three hair transplants, read on because in the rest of the article, we are going to look a bit more at the podcaster’s hair loss journey, what type of transplant he likely had, the reasons why it went wrong, and what other options he could have taken.
What Is the Story Behind Joe Rogan’s Hair Transplant?
Joe Rogan has talked about his hair loss and transplants on multiple occasions. As recently as 2018, he revisited the subject on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. He spoke about how his male pattern baldness began to be serious when he was in his 20s. As a young actor who had just found success, he was scared of losing work due to his hair loss.
The first treatment that Joe Rogan tried to slow down his hair loss was Minoxidil, also known as Rogaine. He has said that it seemed to help a little bit, but his hair was still falling out too fast. This was when he decided to have his first hair transplant as a desperate bid to protect his lifestyle from what he perceived as a career-ending change.
Joe Rogan’s hairline continued to recede and the hair on top of his head continued to thin, so he had two further hair transplants in the years that followed. In spite of all of these treatments, his hair loss continued. This is why he eventually gave up on trying to prevent his male pattern baldness from worsening and began shaving his head.
Whenever the podcaster has spoken about his hair loss, he mentions regretting not simply shaving his head from the start. In a tweet from 2012, he refers to his hair transplants as “the dumbest thing” he has ever done and likens it to moving healthy people to a place where everyone is dying.
What Type of Hair Transplant Did Joe Rogan Have?
Although Joe Rogan has not said this on his podcast explicitly, based on the information we have, it is likely that his hair transplant was a Follicular Unit Transplant. This type of procedure removes an entire strip of skin from a “donor area” on the back of the head, leaving a scar behind. Rogan frequently mentions his scar that “looks like a smile” in relation to hair transplants.
Joe Rogan on Hair Transplants & Plastic Surgery
Why Can Follicular Unit Transplants Go Wrong?
When Joe Rogan has spoken about his failed hair transplants, he has attributed a part of their failure to his hair being too thin. Although this is possible and even likely, there may also be other factors that contributed to this.
One theory for why Joe Rogan’s hair transplants did so poorly is that the hair follicles may not have been taken from the best donor area. The scar on the back of Rogan’s head is slightly away from where the ideal donor area usually is, so it is possible that his surgeon was not using the strongest follicles in the transplant.
What Are the Alternatives to Follicular Unit Transplants?
The most common alternative to the Follicular Unit Transplant is the Follicular Unit Extraction. In this type of hair transplant, hair follicles are harvested from the donor area and transplanted into the balding area on an individual basis. Because entire strips of skin are not removed from the donor area, Follicular Unit Extraction carries a much lower risk of scarring.
The disadvantage of this method is that progress is a lot slower compared to a Follicular Unit Transplant. Depending on how much hair is being transplanted, it may have to be spread across multiple procedures, and each of them will take much longer. It also takes a more skilled surgeon to perform a Follicular Unit Extraction, making the whole thing less accessible.
Final Thoughts
The Joe Rogan hair transplant has mystified many people due to how catastrophic the failure seems to be. We have learned today, however, why hair transplants can sometimes have poor results and some of the likely reasons for Joe Rogan’s hair transplant failure. We have also learned that the podcaster regrets it and does not recommend it to others.