Actor and comedian Joel McHale is opening up about his personal experience with hair transplant surgery, revealing that he has undergone four procedures in his quest to maintain his signature blonde hair.
Speaking on the June 16 episode of the We Might Be Drunk podcast with hosts Mark Normand and Sam Morril, the Community star didn’t hold back.
“Yeah, I’m fully bald,” McHale admitted. “This is four transplants.”
The 52-year-old went on to detail his first procedure, which involved the older strip method—a technique where a strip of scalp is removed for follicle extraction. “Painful. Don’t do a strip,” McHale advised.
Instead, he recommends the modern follicular unit extraction (FUE) technique, which he described as less invasive and far more tolerable. “Do plucking,” he emphasized. “Now they pluck it from the whole back section, and it’s a miracle.”
While many opt to travel to Turkey—a hub for affordable hair restoration—McHale chose to stay local in Los Angeles, where he spent $10,000 on his surgeries. He acknowledged that prices may have increased since then.
“I can get you a name of a guy in Turkey,” he joked, before offering a word of caution. “But just make sure, because if somebody is like, ‘I’ll do it for $3,000,’ then you don’t. You get what you pay for.”
McHale isn’t the only public figure speaking openly about hair loss and treatment. WWE superstar John Cena recently disclosed that he underwent a hair transplant in late 2024 after enduring public ridicule over a visible bald spot.
“You guys ripped me to shreds for a genetic problem that I can’t control,” Cena said during an April appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. While the 47-year-old stated he had “no shame” in seeking a solution, he criticized the mocking tone of public commentary.
“That is straight-up bullying and not cool,” he said. “Thank you for bullying me into surgical hair replacement. That’s how far y’all pushed me.”
Hair transplant before and after stories like McHale’s and Cena’s continue to spotlight the emotional weight of hair loss—and the growing popularity of surgical solutions for it.
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