Bradley Cooper Hair Transplant Analysis
written by Matt Dominance
Bradley Cooper Hair Transplant
In this post you will find out:
- How many hair transplant surgeries did Bradley Cooper have?
- How many grafts did he get? (Estimated)
- Was it FUE or FUT hair transplant?
- The Norwood stage before getting his hair transplant?
- Has he already started using Finasteride(Propecia) prior to his hair transplant? Is he using it now?
Hair Transformation Timeline
Bradley Cooper’s hair loss started looking obvious in his early 30’s. Good example for his first signs of male pattern hair loss is the movie “Wedding Crashers” from 2005.
Below you can see some photos of him being a NW2 – NW3.
Hair Situation in his early-mid 30´s
- 30 – 34 years old
- Visible signs of male pattern baldness
- Norwood 2 Class established with further progression to Norwood 3 (see Norwood Scale)
- Corners are noticeably balding by this time
- Mid-frontal point on the hairline seems to be preserved on some photos with longer hair
- However the hairline seems to be diffusely thinning on photos with short hair
- No visible loss in hair density on the mid-scalp and crown
- Likely not on any hair loss treatments e.g Finasteride due to continuous hair loss worsening until his early 30’s
The road to Bradley Cooper's New Hair!
Bradley’s hairline massively improved between the movies “Yes Man” with Jim Carrey in 2008 and the first part of the trilogy “The Hangover” in 2009.
In case you might think it was a hair system/wig, keep reading further as I am going to discuss it also.
HAIRLINE RESTORATION
- Frontal hairline has been rebuilt on the corners without obvious lowering
- Estimated hair density on the new hairline and previous balding corners: 45-50 grafts per square cm (graft= hair unit containing 1 or more hairs)
- Low see-through effect in the transplanted hairline
- Possible hair restoration on temples (upper region of the temple)
- High density of single hairs in the hairline with very high level of naturalness
- By looking at his hairline in 2005 vs 2008 it seems like he hasn’t lost much hair in-between which potentially suggests Finasteride use
Bradley Cooper Hair Hangover (2009)
During Hangover Movie (2009) we were able to see Bradley with his typical long hair he had throughout the whole Hangover trilogy.
This was one of his first big movies where he already had some work done on his hairline and corners.
When did Bradley have his hair transplant?
He most likely had his hair transplant done in 2008. By looking at his hairline in the movie “Yes Man” in 2008 it is obvious that it still looks receded. In the movie “Hangover” from 2009 though, his hairline looks much fuller already.
Check it out on the photo below.
Bradley Cooper Hair Transplant: How many hair follicles did he get? (Approximation)
One graft/hair follicle contains 2 hairs on average. It always contains at least 1 hair and some grafts can carry up to 4-5 hairs. Having high hair per graft average is one of the signs of being a great hair transplant candidate!
The final number of grafts which Bradley likely had transplanted can be estimated based on his hair loss pattern prior to the hair transplant.
His classification was a NW2 – NW3 transition. Normally, patients with a similar hair loss progression get at least 1500 grafts transplanted.
1500 is most likely the lower range and it would suffice to fill out his receding corners. In case the doctor decided to transplant new follicles into his frontal forelock (with plenty of native hair growing), the final number could be around 2000.
- White marks demonstrate the areas which were likely transplanted
- Estimation of 1500-2000 grafts is based on the previously receding area (hairline and corners on both sides)
- Estimated hair per graft average (average number of hairs growing from each graft/hair unit) = 2 – 2.4
- Estimated number of hairs transplanted could be at least 3000 up to 4800 hairs
Did Bradley Cooper get FUE or FUT Hair Transplant?
The easiest way how to tell if someone had FUT or FUE hair transplant is to look at the donor area (back and sides of the scalp).
In Bradley Cooper’s case it´s hard to see the FUE/FUT proof on the back of his head as it was the case with Machine Gun Kelly or Lebron James.
Bradley always kept his hair long since his hair transplant in 2008.
Maybe we´ll be able to tell it with 100% assurance in the future, once Bradley cuts his sides and back very short (5mm or less).
For now, I´d say FUE until I don´t see any strong FUT proof like a linear scar on the donor area.
Bradley Cooper Long Hair vs Short Hair
Below you can see a photo of Bradley Cooper’s transplanted hair while it’s long vs short. How detectable and natural does his hair transplant look in both situations?
Bradley Cooper’s restored hairline doesn´t start with a very high hair density but it does look natural because of single hair follicle placement in his hairline and corners.
During the first hair transplant one should always focus on ending up with a natural looking hairline instead of obsessing about density.
High dense-packing of hair follicles is technically possible with the hair transplant, but in many cases the survival of the implanted hair follicles can be compromised due to insufficient blood supply in the recipient (transplanted) area.
On the photo below (short buzz cut hairstyle), we can notice how his hair looks more sparse in the frontal forelock area.
When men want to end up with a dense-looking buzzcut after a hair transplant while perfectly blending the transplanted hair with the native hair, hair fibers or concealers are almost a necessity to make it look the best!
Transplanted hair tends to look the best in a certain length. Only then its coverage property can be properly utilized.
For some people it means letting the transplanted hair grow at least 5cm, while for other it might be 8cm or more.
Besides the decreased hair density on the buzz cut photo, the naturalness and transplanted hair direction are spot on.
Why is Bradley not wearing a wig/hair system?
Bradley Cooper’s series of short haircuts in his movies between 2012 and 2015 shows a high consistency of the same hairline, hairline shape and same hair density.
His hairline seems to perfectly match the rest of his hair. For it to be a hair system, we would have definitely found some inconsistencies in his hairlines between 2008 and 2020.
There is no such proof which would suggest the use of a wig or a hair system in his case unlike in case of Matthew McConaughey.
Despite McConaughey’s seemingly dense-looking hairline from 2003 – 2020, I was able to find many inconsistencies which eventually lead to my final decision of: Matthew McConaughey has been a wig user for many years!
Bradley Cooper doesn’t seem to go the same road and his hair loss reversal came as a result of one or more hair transplants by this time + being on anti hair loss medication.
Bradley Cooper "A Star Is Born" Hair (2018)
In this movie, Bradley’s hair transplant is probably the least obvious. His hair is either slicked back or the strands are slicked onto the left and right corners.
Wearing long hair after the hair transplant always takes a little bit off of the hair transplant detectability.
Long hair can be used to camouflage improper hair follicle placement in the hairline or lagging density.
Had I seen Bradley in this movie for the first time in my life, I would have never guessed he had a hair transplant!
Is Bradley Cooper on Finasteride?
Yes is likely to be the answer. My guess would be, that he actually took Finasteride back in 2005 and kept taking it until his hair transplant in 2008.
It is also likely that the 5 alpha reductase inhibitor he uses doesn’t have to be exactly Finasteride but also Dutasteride.
Dutasteride is not FDA approved for treating male pattern baldness but it can be used instead of Finasteride. In fact celebrities like Ashton Kutcher has admitted Dutasteride use for his hair loss since his mid 20’s.
He most likely wasn´t taking it prior to his 30’s but after his hair transplant in 2009 he probably gave it a try to maintain his hair transplant together with his naturally thinning hair all around.
Without getting a hair transplant and without finasteride he could have already been at least a NW4 by now.