Matthew McConaughey reflects on hair transformation after developing ‘baseball-sized bald spot’

‘How did it grow back? It’s a great mystery,’ he joked

Matthew McConaughey has addressed his full head of hair and revealed how he transformed it through dedication and a hair-growth ointment.

The actor, 52, was asked about his formerly thinning hair, and what he did to change it, during an interview with LadBible, where he revealed that he grew his hair back by “fully committing” to applying a topical ointment every day.

According to McConaughey, who acknowledged that he “didn’t have any of this” as he showed the interviewer the hair growing in around his hairline and also had a “silver dollar” spot where he was balding on the back of his head, his hair growth is a “great mystery”.

“How did it grow back? It’s a great mystery,” he joked. However, the actor then proceeded to share details of his hair growth journey, explaining that he began by shaving his hair off because he had read that it is useful to get a “fresh start,” and that he even received guidance about doing so on a “full moon”.

However, according to the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days star, all it took to fill in his hair is dedication to applying a topical ointment.

“Anyway, I shave it all off and then I get this topical ointment and I rub it into my scalp once a day for 10 minutes,” he explained, adding that he didn’t use prescription medication Propecia, and it was just “manual labour”. “I also, you know, I was fully committed. I was fully committed to it. No Propecia, no nothing, it was just manual labour.”

While McConaughey acknowledged his dedication to applying the ointment, he admitted that he is still unsure how his hair grew back so full.

“Hey, I don’t know. I mean, that’s all I can tell you, is it came back,” the actor continued. “I have more hair now than I had in 1999.”

McConaughey then referenced some of his past movies such as The Wedding Planner, where he noted that “you’ll see, I was losing it”.

Actor acknowledged his hair was much thinner in 2000 (Getty Images)

According to McConaughey, he also has a picture taken of himself in 2000 in Jamaica at a “turn of the millennium party,” in which he was looking down laughing and there was a “baseball-sized bald spot” on the top of his head.

Matthew McConaughey shaved his hair so he could start over (Getty Images)

During the interview, the Dallas Buyers Club star also addressed the common assumption that he underwent a hair transplant to achieve the transformation, with the actor revealing that there’s a surgeon who attempts to take credit for his hair regrowth.

McConaughey said that he learned of the surgeon’s claims after running into a renowned doctor in Beverly Hills, who told the actor that he’d always wanted to meet him because the 52 year old’s hair is referenced each year at an international hair transplant convention and a fellow surgeon has been taking credit for the transformation.

According to McConaughey, the surgeon told him that, for the past five years, the director at the convention has brought the actor’s picture up and asked the attendees who is responsible for the hair transplant.

The actor then recalled how the surgeon had told him that the past two years, one surgeon has taken credit for the transformation. At that point in their conversation, McConaughey said the surgeon asked to look at his hair.

“And he goes: ‘Can I look at your hair? Can I just feel it and see?’” the star recalled. “And I said: ‘Yeah, man!’ And he goes: ‘You don’t have transplants.’ And I said: “That’s what I said.’ I said: ‘Of course I don’t.’”

According to McConaughey, the realisation was met with joy from the surgeon, who told the actor that he couldn’t wait to call out the fellow surgeon for his false claim at the next convention.

While McConaughey said the transformation isn’t the result of transplants, he also noted that he still uses the same hair growth serum today, and doesn’t plan to stop.

“The same thing I was rubbing it down with, I still do today,” he concluded. “I’m not going to quit to see if like: ‘Oh, do I need to do it anymore?’ I’m not taking that chance.”

This is not the first time that McConaughey has opened up about his previously thinning hair, as the Oscar-winning actor revealed during an appearance on Live! with Kelly in 2017 that he uses the product Regenix.

“I started rubbing my head with this stuff called Regenix, and damn if it didn’t come back. I had a silver dollar,” he said of his thinning hair.