When you start noticing thinning hair and a receding hairline, it can be a bit (read: a lot) of a shock and styling your hair can be a challenge.
But fear not, there are plenty of ways to style your hair to conceal elements of thin hair that you aren’t keen on emphasising. Plus, there are lots of treatments you can get alongside these haircuts for balding crowns.
Hair loss is common and male pattern hair loss — medically known as male androgenetic alopecia — is estimated to impact 30-50% of men by the age of 50 [1]. Despite it being so common, lots of men don’t know where they can turn when their hair starts thinning and bald patches occur.
We’re done the hard work for you in compiling the causes of hair loss, haircuts you can get and styles to utilise to hide balding, and treatments you can get alongside these cuts should you want to.
What causes hair loss on the crown?
The most common cause of male pattern hair loss is genetics, which unfortunately is impossible to change.
It’s thought that 80% of male hair loss is down to genes [1]. This type of hair loss impacts the hairline and the crown of the head mainly; beginning with thinning on the crown and receding of the hairline.
Although you can’t stop it, there are certain things you can do to slow this hair loss down and conceal it as much as possible. The secondary causes of hair loss are hormones and age. Complex processes with hormones in the body can cause an increase in balding.
This process happens when testosterone converts into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a potent androgen (male sex hormone). Research has shown that increased levels of DHT are known to cause a balding scalp and crowning hair loss [2].
Anti-androgen medication can help to slow down this hair loss but isn’t entirely guaranteed, which can be said for all treatments targeting thinning hair.
As for age, unfortunately, the older you are the more you’re likely you are to experience balding [3]. It’s thought that 80% of men have experienced hair loss before they reach the age of 80 [4].
How can I hide my crown balding?
Aside from treatments (which we’ll touch on later), there are plenty of haircuts and styles that can be used to hide hair thinning and bald spots.
There are multiple styles that those with medium to long hair can utilise, as well as specific haircuts for balding men.
What haircut should I get if my crown is thinning?
When faced with thinning, you might want to try a haircut that is suited specifically to a balding crown. There are a bunch of haircuts you can get that help hide thin hair.
Once you know how many styles are out there, it makes it much easier to discuss with your barber or hairdresser the next time you get a haircut. Learning how to style thinning hair can make a huge difference to your attitude towards male pattern baldness.
Haircuts for balding crown
Crew cut
The crew cut is a super popular men’s hairstyle, especially for young men in their 20s and 30s. It features longer hair on top, carefully hiding the thinning crown and receding hairline, with a taper fade on the sides to give definition.
This short hairstyle gives the illusion of thick hair and minimises the appearance of receding hair.
Faux hawk
A faux hawk haircut sounds a little intimidating, but it’s not — promise.
Also known as fohawk, this style is a modern, subtle version of the mohawk, featuring a strip of longer hair on top and shorter skin fade on the sides that aren’t typical in a buzz cut (unless you want them to be!).
There are multiple ways you can personalise a faux hawk depending on the look you want and what your barber recommends will suit you best. You can get a buzz cut, undercut, long or short faux hawk. For receding hairlines, often men keep it short to not make their thinning hair obvious.
Short pompadour
A style that became popular in the 1950s, the short pompadour is traditionally dramatic with lots of volume, but today, there are lots of variations of the style.
These days, a pompadour haircut can be short, long, disconnected or styled with an undercut. We’re going to focus on a short pompadour haircut, which is actually all about the styling.
The cut is essentially shorter on the sides and much longer on top but styled in a sweeping, almost quiff style, but using a much larger section of hair. Pomade will give the best hold to lift the hair up and comb away from the face over the crown area, giving the illusion of fuller, thicker hair.
This way, the hair doesn’t look perfect in that it’s still a little messy and undone but goes a great job of concealing the thinning hair.
Caesar cut
A caesar cut is essentially a shorter style with a fringe. Unlike the other styles, this features the same length of hair on the sides and top.
It works in the opposite way of hiding thinning hair as it draws attention to the face. Rather than sweeping hair backwards, the caesar cut brushes hair forwards in a fringe.
This conceals thinning, can hide bald spots, and maintains a relaxed and low-maintenance style.
Buzz cut
If you want a haircut that has the most minimal, low-maintenance upkeep possible (without doing a full-on shaved head just yet), then a buzz cut is a great option.
The buzz cut gives you the same length of hair across your entire head, still giving a tiny bit of length. It’s a great option for concealing considerable thinning across the hairline and crown, making any bald spots far less obvious.
Hairstyles for a balding crown
Aside from haircuts for balding crowns, there are also a bunch of hairstyles for balding men. Whether you have short hair, long hair, fine hair, balding areas, or receding hair, there are a lot of men's haircuts and styling products to help you achieve multiple great hairstyles.
And, it's always good to remember that the best hairstyles are always the easiest to maintain and the ones that make you feel most confident.
Comb-over
The comb-over is great at concealing a thinning crown by making use of the thicker hair at the front of the head. And no, we’re not talking an old-school comb over here, this is definitely a modern take on the classic.
Using pomade and a comb, put your hair into a deep centre part and sweep over the hair to the other side of your hair, once it’s in place concealing the areas that you want, adding a spritz of hairspray will make it stay put without feeling weighed down or heavy.
Slicked-back hair
Slicked-back hair is one of the easiest ways to hide a balding crown by literally concealing that area of hair. This style requires longer hair on top and shorter sides.
Simply comb the hair backwards using a wide tooth comb to cover the crown of your head and add some pomade to keep it in place.
The quiff
Similar to the pompadour, which we described earlier, the quiff is about lifting the hair up and away from the face giving it volume and taking attention away from the thinning hair and bald spots.
The quiff focuses much more on the front section of the hair whilst the pompadour uses a bigger section of hair from the hairline to the crown. Depending on your particular thinning and areas of concern, your stylist can work with you to give the right amount of volume.
How to treat a balding crown
The good news is, although hair loss in men is common, there are a number of things you can do to deal with a balding crown.
Hairstyles
The first, easiest and most obvious way to hide a balding crown is to conceal it with a hairstyle. You can use a combination of a new haircut and help from your barber to hide any hair loss with a new hairstyle.
This doesn’t have to be complicated either, often it’s these very simple, easy changes that make all the difference; whether that’s hiding balding underneath thicker sections of hair, or drawing attention to other areas of your hair or your face to make it the crown area appear less thin. You could be surprised how much haircuts for balding can help.
You can also use facial hair to put less attention on a balding crown and receding hairline, making it a focal point.
Hair thickening fibre powders
The aspect that makes balding crowns so obvious is the fact your scalp colour doesn’t match your hair colour, especially if your hair is a dark brown.
Hair-thickening fibre products can mask this shade difference. These are wash-out powder formulas that work by adding colour and definition to the areas of balding hair.
Topical and oral treatments
There are plenty of topical medication options and oral treatments to help combat thinning hair. Pilot's hair loss treatment has a smart formula that works by blocking the action of the enzyme that converts testosterone into DHT (the process we explained earlier).
When paired with a topical treatment that improves the delivery of vital nutrients to the follicles, 83% of men keep their hair and 66% regrow it [5].[6]. Those are some pretty impressive numbers!
In-clinic treatments
There are also a few in-clinic procedures you might consider for treating hair loss. One treatment is called platelet-rich plasma (PRP), which works by using the platelets from your blood and injecting them into your scalp.
This helps to stimulate the hair follicles, increase the amount of hair and its thickness as well as stimulate hair growth. There is also the route of surgical treatments like a hair transplant.
This procedure involves surgically removing hairs from one area of the body and transplanting them to the balding areas.
This procedure can have great results but does require a bit of downtime and can be quite expensive — a hair transplant can cost anywhere from AU$11,000 and AU$18,000, although in many cases, it can cost as much as AU$30,000.
If you're not sure how best to tackle your hair loss, consider having an online consultation with one of our Aussie practitioners, who will be able to recommend the best type of treatment for you.
Photo credit: Universal Pictures
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