One of the biggest challenges with hair loss for men is the feeling that they can’t talk about it. That can be particularly difficult when changes to your appearance are visible to other people. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’ve got your own experience of hair loss and the often complicated process of coming to terms with it, deciding whether to do anything about it, and talk about it with others.
We wanted to find out why so many guys struggle to have those conversations, and what might help.
We see a lot of comments on social media saying: “Just accept it, it’s a natural part of being a man”. On the surface, that might seem well-meaning. Male pattern baldness affects more than half of men by their fifties. It’s true – it does happen to most men at some point in their lives.
But just because something is common doesn't mean it's easy to deal with.
Comments like these can sometimes create a sense of shame around feeling self-conscious about hair loss or seeking treatment for it. For plenty of men, losing their hair affects their confidence, self-esteem, and sense of identity. Of course, some people never give it a second thought, and it's great that it doesn't have an emotional impact on them. But that's not the case for everybody.
Lots of guys seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place – feeling the need to hide the fact they’re losing their hair while also hiding that they’re bothered by it. We spoke to some members of men’s community group, Shoulder to Shoulder (S2S), about their experience with hair loss.
Founder Dan told us hair loss was one of his biggest insecurities before he started treatment, and it knocked his confidence day-to-day, so much so that, as he put it, “caps became my best friend”.
Why So Few Men Talk About Hair Loss
What stood out was how rarely any of the members had open conversations about how hair loss made them feel. Their experiences line up closely with a 2025 University of Surrey study, published in Sage Journals, which interviewed 34 men who had experienced pattern hair loss.
For many of the men studied, jokes or banter were often the only conversations they had about baldness. Thinning hair was seen as ‘fair game’ for teasing. A lot of the time, guys would make self-depreciating jokes because they felt ‘this need to show that I’m not really bothered…”
But the thing is, a lot of them were. When opportunities came up to talk about it there was often a great relief. Even if they didn’t speak about the emotional struggles with going bald, just speaking about practical steps – like shaving their head or seeking treatment – felt good just to acknowledge what was happening. Dan said a similar thing – whenever losing his hair came up, friends and family would reassure him that his "hair looked great" and that it was "nothing to be worried about". While it came from a good place, he later felt that "honesty or validation for my concerns would have been more beneficial in the long run."
Sam, another member of S2S, said he found jokes that reassured men that hair loss “will happen to a lot of us” fairly encouraging but didn’t appreciate jokes intended to put him down. George, one of the men interviewed in the study, has a different perspective. He saw hair loss as something he had to just get on with because “there’s nothing you can do about it”, despite his struggles to come to terms with it, he felt it “would have been a bit pointless talking about it.”
George’s words were echoed by other participants, who felt they couldn’t talk about their struggles with losing their hair, as it might be perceived as vain, and something they should just “get on with”.
Different experiences, but they all point towards the same thing: hair loss often has a bigger emotional impact than people realise, yet many men still find it difficult to talk about openly.
The Emotional Impact of Hair Loss
In another study published last year titled “It’s Just Hair, Right?”, men describe spotting signs of thinning as a deeply emotional experience. They talk about paranoia of somebody pointing it out, making fun of them, or becoming less attractive to romantic partners. Some missed out on social occasions. Others spent longer and longer in front of the mirror trying to hide thinning areas or worrying about what a gust of wind or a bit of rain might reveal.
So while hair loss clearly affects a lot of men's confidence and self-image, conversations about it often remain limited to humour or practical advice, or the stoic expectation to “just accept it”.
Moving Forward
This is one of the reasons the community Shoulder to Shoulder exists. Their ethos is based around the fact men struggle to have candid conversations face-to-face, especially about hard topics. Co-founders Dan and Tom set the group up around the simple observation that men find it easier to talk to each other if they’re doing an activity, even something as simple as going for a walk. And the community is flourishing, so they must be on to something.
Both Sam and Dan from S2S described feeling much better about their hair since seeking treatment for it – either transplants or Finasteride and Minoxidil. But treatment isn’t the only path to feeling better about hair loss. In “It’s Just Hair, Right?”, men describe finding acceptance by shaving their heads. There’s even a Reddit forum dedicated to exactly this, r/bald, which has created a positive online community around embracing being bald. By sharing before and after photos of shaving it all off, members support each other in “taking pride in our baldness.”
Whether it's treatment, shaving it off, joining a group like S2S, or simply having a more honest conversation about what's going on, the common thread is acknowledgement. Hair loss might be incredibly common, but that doesn't mean every man experiences it the same way. Sometimes, just admitting that it's affecting you can be the first step towards feeling better about it.
All of our blog articles are reviewed by our Medical Director before publication.
