By the age of 20, over 20% of men experience hair loss and 25% of men have visible hair loss by the age of 30. Sadly, this is true for athletes too. Many popular sports personalities who won the lot and reached the top of their professions have lost their struggle with hair loss.

In this blog, Lordhair - globally trusted for non-surgical hair replacement systems - will share the list of 7 athletes who faced hair loss problems and experimented with a lot of hair recovery options.

Let’s start with our list of athletes who have experienced hair loss, baldness, and overall hair damage!

 

7 Athletes With Hair Loss and Baldness History 

Below are some of the biggest names from the world of football, golf, basketball, and tennis who could not defeat genetics and hair loss.

 

Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane is a French football manager and former attacking midfielder for Les Bleus. While he started losing hair in his 20s, it didn't stop him from winning the World Cup, Ballon d'Or and multiple trophies. Before shaving his head completely, he sported a prominent bald spot on his crown. 

In 2022, there were rumors that Zidane stayed in Turkey for two weeks for a hair transplant and that he made all the bookings under the name of his manager. Last time we checked though, he still sported a beautiful bald head on his shoulders. 

 

 

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney is an English professional football manager and former player. Rooney has been in the spotlight since a very young age having made his professional debut as a sixteen-year-old. In one of his books, the Man United and England legend wrote that he started to become self-conscious about his hair loss as he started to get more media attention. 

For those who don’t know, Wayne Rooney had a hair transplant in 2011 - then still only 25 - to deal with his hair thinning. After two years, he again visited his surgeon to have more hair grafts. However, Wayne of today can be seen with overall thinning even after spending over $25,000 on painful surgeries. No wonder, more and more men are opting for toupees. And no wonder, perhaps, he manages in a baseball cap.

 

 

Here are some more celeb hair loss stories:

 

- Top bald supermodels who nailed the bald look

- Does Seth Macfarlane wear a toupeee?

- Does Harry Connick Jr wear a toupee?? 

- Discover everything about Molly Mae's postpartum hair loss

 

Tiger Woods

Golf icon, Tiger Woods transcended the world of golf and during his illustrious career, he has achieved the biggest milestones that the game has to offer. 15 majors no less. However, the game of hair, he lost a long time ago. Tiger faced male pattern baldness just like his father and he was always resigned to the fact that this condition was inevitable for him too. 

During an interview with Fox Sports in 2014, Tiger Woods said his hair loss was a no-win fight. However, in 2023, his hairline seems better, indicating that he may have started treatment. While no one is sure what treatment he may be undergoing, here are some popular hair restoration methods that we do know of.

 

LeBron James

Also known as LBJ, Lebron James is an all-time great basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers with four NBA championships to his name. He started losing hair in his early-to-mid 20s and as time went by, it became hard for him to mask his ongoing male pattern baldness progression. 

At 38, his hairline looks flawless, there are rumors about a hair transplant but he hasn’t yet confirmed anything publicly. For the record, here’s a complete timeline of his hair journey.

 

 

Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi is a former world no.1 tennis player from the USA. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist as well. One of the greatest players of all time and one of just eight male players to have won all four majors, Andre shaved his head in 1995 after finally accepting the fact that he was bald. 

Agassi started balding soon after turning 19 and wore a fancy hairpiece to hide the truth. In fact, his long, mullet-like hairpiece defined his style. Not many celebrities or sports stars open up about their hair loss but Agassi wasn't shying away from the topic in his 2009 autobiography. In it, Agassi revealed that after a hairpiece malfunction the night before, during the warm-up to the 1990 French Open final, he was praying not for victory but that his hairpiece wouldn't fall off in the match!

To be honest, we loved Andre's look in those early days and feel his wig must be one of the most iconic looks in sport.

 

 

Michael Jordan

MJ or Lebron, guys!? Some would say that Michael Jordan is the greatest athlete of all time and the hit Netflix sports documentary The Last Dance has certainly brought this basketball legend to a wider audience. Besides championships, MVPs and eye-popping slam dunks, MJ gifted the world the iconic range of Jordans as well. But, like perhaps the only other basketball player who could rank alongside him, Lebron James, that didn’t stop hair loss from impacting him.

On reaching his thirties, Jordan experienced the initial signs of male pattern baldness. Jordan started shaving his head in the late 1980s and never looked back. Unlike many men, he looks amazing in the shaved look.  

 

Gervinho

Whilst it is fair to say that Gervinho cannot compare with this list of greats in a sporting sense, his hair loss certainly warrants his inclusion on our list.

Gervinho is an Ivorian professional footballer who has played in various European leagues but now plays for Greek Super League club Aris and also the Ivory Coast national team. 

Gervinho has been balding since he was a young man and his distinct dreadlocks could not mask this. He played much of his early football with a very thin headband but he later came to wear a much larger one that covered most of his head - an unusual look for a footballer but perhaps a sign that his baldness had progressed. Well, indeed it had, as during a 2014 match for Italian club Roma his headband completely fell off to reveal a fully bald top of the head!

 

 

Athletes with Hair Loss: Recover with Toupees

We hope that the above blog helped you learn about elite athletes who may have won it all but lost their battle with hair loss. While some choose surgery, others opt for modern medical treatments and toupee hair replacement systems to recover from hair loss.

Not sure what will work best for you? We are here to answer all your queries related to hair loss recovery. Drop them in the comments to get a quick reply from our team of hair experts. 

And yes, you can still exercise and play sports in a hair replacement system!