You probably know him from the comedy series ‘Community’ or TV show ‘The Soup’ but you cannot deny that Joel McHale is a good-looking man with a full head of hair. Now, before his popularity, he had been in numerous other projects and if you knew him then, then you know that his hair certainly looks different- in a good way though.
Back then he looked like he had a serious case of hair loss (no pun intended) so the biggest question would be, was Joel balding at some point in his life? We think so.
However, looking at him now, it is hard to believe that he suffered hair loss in the past. You are probably wondering what he did to restore his hair right? Well, all signs are that he underwent a hair transplant some time in the late 2000s.
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Beat-By-Beat Analysis of Joel McHale Hair History
Before we get into why we confidently think the TV star had a hair transplant, why don’t we go back in time and look at his hair journey?
The 90s – Comedy Sketches and Signs of Early Hair Loss
Before he was a name in Hollywood, Joel did try doing comedy. As such, he was involved in a Seattle-based sketch called ‘Almost live’, where he was a cast member for three years.
Looking at his photos from that show, you can tell he was suffering from hair loss. He was in his mid-twenties then and to have a receding hairline at such an early age must have been hard.
In this 90s video of Almost Live (he seems to be facing early signs of hair thinning). Here’s another one in Almost Live (1996).
The 2000s –Spiderman 2 and Various TV shows (Stabilizing Hairline?)
Although Joel didn’t do as many films, he was certainly making a name for himself with TV shows.
Notably, even as he was inching closer to advanced hair loss at a young age, his hairline seemed quite stable in the early 2000s. It’s like he had managed to apply brakes to it. This is probably when he started using propecia or something.
When you compare this picture with the one from the 90s, his hair looks almost the same.
That said, the looming bald patch was still haunting the actor. Despite all the hairdos and makeup. That’s probably why he decided to take his efforts a notch higher.
And, in 2009 Season 6 Episode 12 of The Soup, he allegedly made a joke about someone leaving their car lights on, and the license plate saying “Shameless Plugs”. Then he added “Oh wait, that’s my car.” That perhaps alluded to the possibility that he benefited from hair plugs (hair transplants) around that time.
Why Would He Have a Transplant?
The first thing you have to keep in mind is that Joel was on TV and as you already know, looks sell. Hair does make part of how attractive one appears. Female celebrities will often be judged for their hair’s fullness and style while the male ones will be judged by how much volume they have.
You can imagine how much pressure Joel was under with losing his hair and trying to maintain a successful career in Hollywood. The need to have a full head of hair might have forced him to get a transplant.
Now, most celebrities who get such procedures prefer not to have that information in the public domain but with Mr. McHale, we feel that we may be onto something as the star has implied severally that he may have had some work done on his scalp.
Joel McHale and His Hair Transplant Journey
Let us now get into how Joel McHale looks now.
Looking at him now, it is like you are looking at an entirely different person. If you are awed by how the star’s hairline transformed from being so low to the attractive full mane he is rocking currently, you are not alone.
Joel still has a high forehead but we have to give credits to his surgeon for a job well done. His transplanted hair looks perfect. Not all hair loss surgeons out there can do such a perfect job.
Unfortunately, Joe is yet to make it clear where he underwent this transformative process. That said, he’s on record saying that the whole job was done in USA. He even cautions people against going for cheaper overseas options.
His Use of Propecia
There’s no medical interaction between hair transplant and propecia, minoxidil or finasteride. In fact, most doctors recommend propecia upfront. Others even start you on it before the procedure.
In this video on “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire”, Joe mentioned that he’s used Propecia to help with baldness:
Propecia is a popular medication recommended for tackling male pattern baldness. And so if you were still doubting it, Joel did admit to having struggled with male pattern baldness by simply acknowledging that he used propecia at one point in his life.
He may have great hair currently but he was not born that way.
In His Own Words
That Joel may have gotten a hair transplant is not odd or surprising. In fact, he makes an ideal candidate because he clearly suffered from hair loss in his early 20s.
Our research reveals that he confessed it all during a podcast interview hosted by Justin Long in 2020. He said it in his own words “Three surgeries later and look at my hair!”
Ultimately, we feel that getting the surgery was worthwhile for him given his career and what society and Hollywood expect of him concerning his looks.
