Comedian Lloyd Griffith has opened up about his personal battle with hair loss, sharing the emotional and physical journey that led him to undergo a hair transplant.
Reflecting on his past, Griffith recalls how, as a child, he would visit Grimsby Town matches with his auntie’s boyfriend. After a game, he’d rush home to share the new songs he’d learned at the football, including chants like “Who’s the wanker in the black?” aimed at the referee, and “Shut up, baldy!” at the opposing team’s manager. Little did he know, years later, he would be grappling with his own baldness.
Fast forward 25 years, and Griffith, now a prominent figure in the UK comedy scene, found himself sitting in the makeup chair on the set of Soccer AM. After a late night gig in Manchester and barely any sleep, the makeup artist covered his under-eye bags, before reaching for a pot of black powder. “It’s for the cameras,” she explained, sprinkling it on his hairline. “So the lights don’t bounce off your bald patches.” For Griffith, it was the first time he was confronted with the reality of his hair loss. “It felt like I’d been heckled, but had no comeback prepared,” he says. The comment was a wake-up call, and in that moment, Griffith realized he could no longer deny the truth: he was a balding man.
For the past few years, Griffith had been trying to mask the thinning hair with comb-overs, using his “hair island” at the front of his head to camouflage his scalp. He’d even resorted to editing photos to make it appear as if he had a fuller head of hair. But after his experience on set, seeing the reality in the mirror, Griffith realized that it was time to do something about it.
“I didn’t have anyone to talk to about going bald,” Griffith admits. “None of my friends or family were going through the same thing. There were older comics who had clearly been bald for years, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask them about it.” His feelings were compounded by the societal stigma attached to hair loss, especially for men. He describes how he began to feel as if his masculinity was linked to his hair. “We’re taught the story of Samson – how he lost his strength with his hair. I felt like I was doing a reverse Samson. As my hair thinned, I felt weaker, less respected. Bald men are often either pitied or vilified in society.”
Griffith adds that bald men are often portrayed as the villains in films, and their hair loss is seen as a failure. “Who came up with this mad old playbook?” he asks. “We’re told that hair is a measure of success and prosperity, and anything other than a full head of hair means something’s not quite right. Whoever it was had got us good.”
As a comedian, Griffith had long used his appearance as part of his “character” and comedic voice. “I was fat, and I made jokes about it. But I didn’t want to be fat and bald.” In his quest for a solution, Griffith turned to a variety of remedies, trying everything from garlic shampoo imported from Turkey to caffeine-based products and even horse shampoo, after reading a forum thread where a user claimed their hair grew longer after an accidental application. He even took biotin supplements and vitamin D spray, hoping for a miraculous change.
But after all his efforts, Griffith’s hair continued to worsen. Desperate, he turned to a more immediate solution: makeup. “Before an audition, I bought some of the black powder the makeup artist had used,” he recalls. “I went to the Soho Theatre and locked myself in the bathroom to apply it. I must’ve been in there for a while, as a staff member knocked on the door and asked if I was taking drugs. I said, ‘No, sorry, just taking some medication, be out in a second.’” But his embarrassment didn’t stop there. Despite the temporary camouflage, Griffith’s self-esteem took a hit.
Ultimately, the culmination of his frustrations led Griffith to make a bold decision: he underwent a hair transplant. Now, as he embraces his new hairline, he reflects on how the journey has shaped his perspective. “It was all part of my renaissance, and I was excited,” Griffith says, acknowledging the confidence boost the procedure has given him.
Lloyd Griffith’s hair transplant story is a candid look at how societal pressures, personal insecurities, and the pursuit of self-acceptance can lead someone to make life-changing decisions. And while it’s clear Griffith’s journey isn’t just about hair, it’s about reclaiming a sense of self and finding the confidence to be himself—whether he’s making jokes or walking out in front of a live audience.
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