Hair loss is a visible part of human aging process. Over the years, the hairline begins to creep upwards or it becomes thinner at the top.

It is completely normal.

But for some, hair loss becomes a major disruption in everyday life. So big that they are considering surgery to get their hair back.

NRK got to be with Fredrik (28) on a consultation for hair transplantation.

– The best thing would of course have been if I was confident enough in myself to think that this is how it is. You just have to let it go. It is nature’s way, he admits.

– But for me it has become a burden in everyday life, where I go and think about it several times a day. Then it has in a way trumped the desire to let it go.

Identity crisis

Fredrik has always received compliments for his hair. He has thick hair with light curls that reach all the way down the neck.

– I am lucky compared to many others. I know that.

But something has changed in recent years. Gradually Fredrik noticed that he was starting to get bays.

– It is strange, because it is not a problem in men in the immediate family. That is also what irritates my mind, laughs Fredrik.

He became more and more aware of it. Chose to lay the hair in a certain way. Never to the side. A good or bad hair day could suddenly determine his mood.

– I know people who lose hair who do not care a dime. Men for my part, I feel that it goes beyond well-being.

Single life and dating

As a single, Fredrik believes that a hair transplant can have a bearing on dating life.

– I do not think others think about it to the same extent. I do not think girls I am with care much about it, he says.

– It’s more about myself. How I get into a situation.

It is his own self-image he wants to take care of.

That the hair should have so much to say, Fredrik himself thinks is stupid. He knows it’s superficial. Still, it is tempting to move some hair to even out the hairline.

Is it being talked about?

– What makes me have any doubts is that I do not really want to contribute to such a type of pressure. I do not want boys and men to sit around and think that they must do the same, says Fredrik.

But the thought settled when he talked to someone who had done a transplant.

– It opens for a conversation about it. I do not come from a place where people talk about such things.

Fredrik believes that hair loss is taboo. He himself has not been open with anyone about his situation.

– No not at all. I wish I was. That I helped to make it more talked about.

30 events per day

Sten Thure Eriksen has been working with hair transplantation for decades. He tries to make the subject safer.

– I probably have an average of 30 incidents every day about hair loss, through consultation, e-mail or telephone.

Everything from teenagers to people in their 80s contact the Master Clinic, where Eriksen is the general manager. Men and women. The main group is still men between the ages of 30 and 62.

The reason why men in particular get hair loss is that the male hormone DHT settles around the hair follicle, so that it does not get enough nutrition. Thus, the hair becomes thinner and thinner, and may eventually break off.

– Some experience that it happens faster than others. Some get clear coves. For some, it spreads more over a larger area, Eriksen explains.

An investment

But if you have enough healthy hair follicles in the back of your head, some of these can be moved.

– The hair follicles lying there are not affected by DHT. These hair follicles are resistant, and the properties they take with them into the area where the person wants to have their hair filled.

The transplant takes place by removing hair follicles from the donor area. They check, to see that they are healthy. Then they insert into the desired area.

Due to the hair growth phases take it usually takes up to 12-14 months before you get a finished result.

Prices vary. A transplant to the coves or the top of the head is at the Master Clinic in between 50,000 and 83,000 kroner.

Usually, several treatments are needed after a few years, because the hair retracts further.

Will own it to be the shell

When comedian Lars Berrum got many, he chose to shave off his long curls.

– I tried for a while and hide many with a manbun, but I gave up quickly, laughs Berrum.

He says that other men in particular were quick to comment and joke about his hair loss. Still, he never considered having a hair transplant.

– It is completely natural for men to lose hair. The positive thing is that you can not see in my hair that I am getting older, so it is in a way a ticket to the youth source as well.

His advice to other men who are starting to lose their hair is to own it to be bald.

– We will embrace it and meat with it!

Hair growth affects partner choices

Behavioral biologist Jens Andreas Huseby confirms that hair growth has something to say when we choose a partner. But there is one factor that can trump a full hair mane.

– Men care quite a lot about hair when they are looking for a partner, while women care a little less about hair when they look for a partner, says Huseby.

He explains that since losing hair is a sign of getting old, it is considered less attractive. When Huseby brings out research, an interesting paradox emerges.

– While appearance is important when men choose a partner, women place the greatest emphasis on the partner having self-confidence.

When men who lose their hair themselves perceive it as unattractive, it affects their self-confidence. Thus, these men become less attractive to women.

– Then you have the choice between getting over the hair loss and still have the self-confidence that women find attractive. Or you have to fix your hair and thus regain your self-confidence, says Huseby.