I spent £40,000 on 13 hair transplants because I wanted to look like TV heartthrob – don’t make the same mistake I did

BEFORE leaving the house Spencer Stevenson would pull on a hat and bend his head low.

It was 1996 and the then 21-year-old university student had become “a recluse”; after losing his hair prem­aturely.

“It was a huge blow, psychologically,”; he says. “It was traumatic.”;

Until his teenage years, Spencer had a head of hair so luscious that people nicknamed him The Hoff after Baywatch star David Hasselhoff, who had a similarly full mane.

His hair also resembled that of his dad, Donald, who died in an accident when Spencer was a teenager.

“My father’s hair had always been the envy of many men, as he had so much of it,”; recalls Spencer, who lives in Newark, Notts.

“I was in awe of my dad and I thought I would have hair like his.

“But, aged 21 at university, it began to recede rapidly and I began to fixate on it because I knew what was coming.

“All the men on my mum’s side were totally bald by 25.”;

Obsessed with looking in the mirror and watching his hair become thinner and thinner, he decided to shave it off.

But he was then subjected to taunts from friends, which impacted his self-esteem.

“They called me Grant ­Mitchell and slaphead,”; says Spencer, 49, who is married to wife Natalie, 48, and has 17-year-old girl and boy twins.

“I took the insults personally. I think it impacted me so much as I previously had so much hair and it was part of me and my identity.

“Baldness is cancer of the spirit.”;

Aged 22, Steven went travelling and was so fed up by his rapidly receding locks he sometimes wore wigs made from real hair.

After seeing an advert for baldness treatments while watching the Super Bowl in the US, Spencer opted to get the first of 13 hair procedures — eventually spending £40,000 on the operations.

‘I lived under a hat for years'

But the first went disastrously wrong.

He says: “I saw an advert for hair restoration treatments at a renowned US clinic which I believed would solve all of my problems.

“Hair transplants weren’t very well known in Britain, and getting one done was seen as taboo.

“But the US clinic promised they were ‘painless, quick and easy’. I had £6,000 saved from the family’s property management business, so a month later I decided to do it.”;

His first transplant was a “strip”;, where surgeons slice a section from the back of the scalp where the hair is strongest and implant it at the front.

However, it was poorly performed.

Spencer says: “It was not done correctly. A tool is only as good as the hands that wield it.

“They just wanted me in the chair and my money.

“I wanted to be The Hoff again. I’d been living under a hat for years.

“All my friends were dating and living life, but I was too distressed and traumatised.

“Going bald is horrific for any man, especially a young man.”;

‘Prey on desperate people'

Spencer says that afterwards he began to develop suicidal thoughts.

“Clinics like that are so shoddy,”; he adds. “They’re vultures and prey on desperate people.”;

Afterwards, his hairline looked unnatural and he had to wear make-up to hide the scars he was left with.

He says: “I felt as insecure, if not more, than before. My confidence had been shattered.

“It was such a tough time emotionally and mentally. I had been left with a scar on the back of my head.”;

It took at least six months for his hair to grow back, but when it did, he needed more surgery to make it look more ­subtle.

Over the next few years he flew to America four times to different clinics to adjust his hairline. In 2010, aged 35, he confessed to friends and family about his struggles.

Natalie, who he met aged 26 while travelling in New Zealand, had known from the beginning of their relationship and fully supported him.

“She’s a real rock,”; he says. “Other people were stunned. When I pulled my hat off they’d look astonished as I now had a full head of hair and they would say things like, ‘I didn’t recognise you’.

“In 2020 I had a procedure which left me happy. It was carried out at London’s Harley Street Hair Clinic, where footballer Wayne Rooney had his treatments, and now I can finally say I look like The Hoff again.”;

But Spencer still works hard to minimise the chances of losing his hair again, and takes a daily 1mg dose of Finasteride, a hair-loss-prevention drug.

“I also use a medicated shampoo called GroMD,”; he says.

“Hair loss can be prevented. If I’d only known that all those years ago maybe I wouldn’t have had to endure this.

“Even so, neither me nor Natalie regret the money spent. It was worth it.”;

Spencer, who is a professional hair-loss consultant, is a huge advocate for men being aware of what help is out there.

He says: “Too many men jump into transplants as a first resort and they don’t need to.”;

He also wants men to know it is OK to feel traumatised about hair loss and that it doesn’t mean they are vain.

He says: “You don’t need to suffer in silence. Hair loss in men is linked to mental health problems. With social media, it’s even worse – you see people showing off their hair and beards and others who aren’t so lucky rushing to Turkey to get transplants.”;

One of Spencer’s passions is exposing dodgy clinics that advertise cheap deals — something he says is rife on social media.

“I’m here, a beacon of light, in a treacherous industry,”; he says.

“It’s like the Wild, Wild West out there.

“Instagram adverts saying, ‘Get this done’, can be dangerous. You need to research clinics properly. Hair transplant surgery is major surgery.

“When people are thinking about getting a heart transplant, they don’t look on Instagram.”;

•  Spencer has written free e-book The Hair Raising Truth about hair loss, hair transplants and his own experiences.