Captain Fantastic and Hair Loss – How Did Elton John Get His Hair Back?

Elton John has rarely been out of the spotlight since “Your Song” was released in 1970. He even has a hit record right now with “Cold Heart” which means he has been on the charts in six different decades. Besides his music, Elton is also known for his flamboyant clothes and the changes in his hairline. Let’s take a look at the journey of Elton John’s hair from the 1970s to 2022.

Elton John – Lack of Confidence in His Hair

The internationally known singer is currently performing his farewell tour and the 75-year-old singer claims it will be his last major tour. Throughout his career, Elton has been a performer who commands the stage with confidence thanks to his flashy clothes and outgoing personality. There was one aspect of his appearance that always served as a source for insecurity for him and that was the lack of hair on his scalp.

The singer spent almost three decades battling hair loss. He has even compared his balding appearance to “a disturbing resemblance to the cartoon character Shrek.” The journey to regain his hairline has not been an easy one for Elton John. He first started to lose his hair at the start of his career in the early 1970s. In his autobiography, Elton revealed that the final straw when it came to how he felt about his hair was a bad dye job. In the book, Elton wrote, “A bad dye job in New York suddenly caused the stuff to stage a mass walkout. By 1976, there was hardly anything left on top. I hated how I looked.”

Even though he made an attempt to save his hair through the performance of an FUT hair transplant on his scalp, it did not provide the desired results. Looking back on the surgery, the singer was not sure whether to blame the actual surgical procedure or something else for the fact that his hair loss was still an issue. “Perhaps it had something to do with the amount of drugs I was taking.” Because of the less advanced hair transplant technology that was available at the time, he described his head as being “covered in scabs and weird craters.”

The reason he has this theory about his hair loss is that his thinning scalp first started to become noticeable in the early 1970s. This is also the time in his life when he started to take drugs on a regular basis. In fact, the singer ended up becoming addicted to cocaine for two decades until he got sober in the 1990s.

Elton John Hair Restoration Continues – Hair Transplant (Again) or Wig?

There is a good amount of gossip surrounding the successful restoration of hair on the head of Elton John.

Before he was able to gain his desired hairline, he wore a hat on a regular basis so there would not be any photos of his bald head.

He has admitted to having a hair weave performed which meant that a hairdresser took what remained of his hair and attached it to new hair. However, this look was not received positively by his fans. He was even told the new look resembled a “dead squirrel” on his head. (Elton later admitted that he was “forced to concede” the point regarding the look of the weave.)

When it comes to the current look of his hair, there has been some gossip regarding another hair transplant for Elton John. Some people believe he had FUE hair transplant that resulted in the healthy head of hair he currently enjoys. There are others who think he did have a second hair transplant (FUE or not) but it was not as successful as the singer hoped (much like his first hair transplant).

In addition to all of the gossip and theories and speculation about additional hair transplants for the singer, Elton John shared the news that he decided to wear a hairpiece on his scalp. “Eventually, I gave up and got a hairpiece, made by the people who make wigs for Hollywood movies.”

When he reflects on the difference created by his hairpiece, Elton said, “For years, people were absolutely obsessed with my hair, or lack of it. Then I stared wearing a wig and hardly anyone’s mentioned it since.”

While it is not good news that Elton John’s 1970s hair transplant did not provide the desired results, the technology used to perform hair transplants has greatly increased since the 1970s.

FUE hair transplant is able to remove hair grafts on an individual basis and transplant them into the scalp of the patient. Unlike FUT hair transplant which leaves a linear scar on the area of the scalp where the hair grafts were removed, FUE removes and transplants hair grafts individually so there is not a long, visible scar left on the scalp of the patient. When Elton John first started to lose his hair, the available surgical help of the time did not provide the realistic and natural looking results patients currently enjoy. If Elton John’s hair loss issues had started in the 21st century, this blog would not have been written since he would not have experienced the hair transplant issues he had in the past.