There may be no one who likes being in the spotlight more than Elon Musk, and he’s made sure to score as many photo ops as possible as he continues to nudge his way into the political realm. However, being in the public eye means that the Tesla owner is going to be scrutinized, and the times Musk’s hair was even more unflattering than Donald Trump’s haven’t gone unnoticed. The Department of Government Efficiency co-head should feel lucky to have bad hair days, as that means he has something to work with, which wasn’t always the case. Back in the late ’90s, Musk was seen with thinning hair, which magically became fuller in the early 2000s. Not even the SpaceX founder has the technology to grow hair from a bald head, which led many hair experts to determine that he was the recipient of hair transplants.
If Musk weren’t a rich dude who could afford such an expensive procedure, he probably wouldn’t have the full head of hair that he flaunts now. Naturally, we here at Nicki Swift were curious as to how he’d look with a bald pate, and our expert photo editor delivered, not once but twice — and you’ll be shocked to see how hair, or lack thereof, makes all the difference.
Elon Musk looks decades older without hair
Elon Musk once stated that he wants to live until 100 years old, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to spend his remaining years looking it. If he hadn’t managed to restore his locks in the early 2000s, what we’d see now would be a much older-looking businessman, according to Nicki Swift’s digital editor. With just a bit of hair on the sides, a la Prince William, who was twice named the world’s sexiest bald man, the 53-year-old looks like he could be in his 70s. Add in a bit of gray, and Musk is the definition of a middle-aged man with male-pattern baldness.
We wouldn’t put it past the father of 12 to halt his hair loss, as it appears he cares about his looks. Musk admitted to drastically losing weight with the help of Mounjaro, so it’s not a stretch for him to be vain enough for hair transplants. “If you look at his pictures from his PayPal days, when he sold the company [in 2002], he was pretty bald,” hair expert Dr. Jeffrey Epstein shared with Page Six. He added, “I mean, he had a class three to a class four (out of seven) hair loss pattern and he now shows no evidence, at least in the front, of any hair loss.” If Epstein is right, Musk likely had the best treatment available given his very natural-looking current ‘do, but we were still curious to see what he would look like had he not gone the hair restoration route.
Elon Musk channels Lex Luthor as a completely bald man
Now that we know what Elon Musk looks like with just a dusting of hair on the sides of his head, we thought it would be fun to see him completely bald. With the help of Nicki Swift’s photo editor, we digitally shaved off all of his hair to reveal a dome-shaped head that had him resembling Lex Luthor. It wouldn’t be a stretch for Musk to play the DC comic villain, as they’re both super-rich businessmen. While he totally could with this new look, we doubt he would get rid of the hair he worked so hard for.
Musk has never confirmed nor denied getting hair transplants, but he subtly hinted at it in a September 2024 post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Elon Musk’s net worth over the years. All his companies are philanthropy,” a Tesla page tweeted. Musk responded, “What’s amazing is how net worth makes [your] hair grow.” This may be the closest we’ll ever get to him admitting that he had help in the hair department, and he proves that if you’re rich enough, you too can have a full mane just like him.
