Haircuts for balding men: what people with a thinning crown or top got, and how it went
Haircut lists for balding men mostly show models with full hair. This page shows what 667 people with a balding crown or hair thinning all over the top wrote about the haircut they got, on r/tressless from Feb 2012 to Jul 2026 (166 described a thinning crown, 506 thinning across the top): which cut, and, where they said so, whether they liked it and why. For a receding hairline at the temples, see the separate page linked below.
In short: most of them went short. 341 people described a buzz cut and 220 a shaved head. Of those who said how it went, 45% liked the buzz cut and 39% didn't; for the shaved head it was 45% and 39%. The most common complaint about the buzz cut (33 people) was that it showed the scalp more, not less. 54 people kept more length (short sides with a longer top, a side part, long hair, a crop): 23 of the 28 who gave a verdict liked their cut. These are people's own accounts, not a survey: they tell you what the trade-offs were for them.
Which haircut people got, and whether they liked it
Each person counts once per haircut, with what they said the last time they wrote about it. “Said how it went” leaves out those who mentioned the cut without saying how it went (often: “I buzzed it before starting finasteride”).
| Haircut | People | Said how it went | Liked it | Didn't | Mixed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buzz cut | 341 | 152 | 45% | 39% | 16% |
| Shaved head | 220 | 99 | 45% | 39% | 15% |
| Short sides, longer top | 21 | 15 | 13 | 1 | 1 |
| Crop / crew cut | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Side part / comb over | 11 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Grown long | 14 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| Fringe forward | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Slicked back | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| “Short”, not specified | 85 | 22 | 6 | 13 | 3 |
Percentages only where 30 or more people said how it went; below that, the number of people. Buzz cuts and shaved heads dominate partly because that is what r/tressless talks about, and partly because “I buzzed it” is easy to find in text while a described style is not. Read the smaller rows as examples, not as rates.
Balding crown or thinning all over the top?
Where the loss is makes a difference to what a short cut does. The same two cuts, split by what people described:
| Haircut | Where the thinning is | People | Liked it | Didn't | Mixed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buzz cut | Crown | 73 | 20 | 10 | 4 |
| Buzz cut | All over the top | 268 | 49 | 49 | 20 |
| Shaved head | Crown | 55 | 9 | 8 | 4 |
| Shaved head | All over the top | 165 | 36 | 31 | 11 |
People counted with the verdict they gave; those who gave none are in “people” only. The crown rows are small: read them as examples.
Buzz cut with a balding crown or thin top
341 people described buzzing their hair (any clipper length); the middle age of the 91 who gave one was 23. Of the 152 who said how it went, 45% liked it, 39% didn't and 16% were mixed. What they gave as reasons:
Of the 69 who liked it
- 24 said it made the thinning less visible
- 24 said it made them feel better or stop worrying
- 12 said others reacted well
- 7 said it was easy: no styling, no fibres
Of the 59 who didn't
- 33 said it showed the scalp or the thinning more
- 13 said they grew it back out later
- 5 said head shape (or scars, bumps) mattered
- 1 said it made the thinning less visible
With thinning on top, a buzz cut works differently than with a receding hairline: short hair no longer covers the scalp, so where the density is low, it shows. Some wrote that a very short buzz evened out the contrast between thin and thick areas; others said it made the scalp shine through. 63 people named a single clipper guard or length (a #1 guard leaves about 3 mm, a #2 about 6 mm):
- liked it: “I’ve rocked a buzz cut for the last 6 years and haven’t looked back.” (crown, Jan 2024, comment)
- liked it: “I went for a buzz cut and it was so relieving. I felt way better.” (crown, Jun 2024, comment)
- liked it: “I got my hair buzzed down a couple of days ago because it's quite thin on top so buzzing it down sort of "evens" it out to an extent.” (thin on top, Aug 2024, post)
- liked it: “To fix this I buzzed it pretty close to bald and you can’t really tell I’ve lost density until after 4-5 days of it growing back.” (thin on top, Feb 2024, comment)
- didn't: “I decided to buzz cut it all and now I can see my scalp.” (crown, Jul 2023, post)
- didn't: “Mate I got a buzz cut recently (i’m a diffuse thinner) and people absolutely can still tell you’re thinning lmao” (thin on top, Jun 2026, comment)
- didn't: “i buzzed my hair as a diffuse thinner and my hair looks super thin and I have no motivation” (thin on top, Feb 2025, comment)
- mixed: “I just buzzed my hair yesterday to a size 2, and while it definitely reveals my thinning head and I’m still getting used to the look, it feels liberating in a way.” (thin on top, Apr 2020, comment)
- mixed: “I buzzed it first at 3mm and then at 1.5. That gave me initial confidence boost and felt good for a while but Im missing my hair.” (thin on top, Sept 2023, comment)
Shaving your head
220 people described shaving their head (middle age of the 52 who gave one: 25). Of the 99 who said how it went, 45% liked it, 39% didn't and 15% were mixed. The reasons they gave:
Of the 45 who liked it
- 17 said it made them feel better or stop worrying
- 7 said others reacted well
- 6 said head shape (or scars, bumps) mattered
- 6 said they grew it back out later
Of the 39 who didn't
- 13 said it showed the scalp or the thinning more
- 10 said they grew it back out later
- 5 said head shape (or scars, bumps) mattered
5 of the people who didn't like a shaved head named their head shape. 67 people who buzzed or shaved said they grew it back out later.
- liked it: “Decided to shave my head at 30 and stop hanging on. One of the best decisions I made” (crown, Jun 2023, comment)
- liked it: “After struggling for years, I finally shaved it off. I was self-conscious first, how people will take it. But everyone says it looks much better than before.” (crown, May 2026, comment)
- liked it: “Last week I shaved my head. Instantly got confidence back.” (thin on top, Feb 2022, comment)
- didn't: “I had diffuse thinning and when I shaved it looks like the most bizarre fuzzy hair.” (thin on top, Oct 2024, comment)
- didn't: “The only problem was that my hairline was still thick, so I couldn't go over two days without shaving or it looked like I had a line drawn on my forehead.” (thin on top, Jan 2023, post)
- didn't: “My crown was going to I shaved my head bald and people definitely treated me differently, I felt like I was trusted less which sounds ridiculous.” (crown, May 2025, comment)
- mixed: “I looked good bald and got compliments but with hair I feel more like myself and look even better than shaved.” (thin on top, Jun 2024, comment)
- mixed: “I decided to shave my head. It looked pretty decent but it wasn’t me.” (thin on top, Oct 2020, comment)
Cuts that keep some length
Fewer people described these, so the numbers below are counts of people, not rates. 16 of the 23 who liked a cut with more length said it hid the thinning.
Short sides, longer top
21 people; 13 liked it, 1 didn't, 1 mixed. Most named reason: it made the thinning less visible (10).
- liked it: “I have started having a skin fade at the sides and left a bit longer on the top. The GF loves it, it looks smart for the office and as my barber states it makes the top look thicker.” (thin on top, Jul 2018, comment)
- liked it: “This worked for me right down to a #1 on the sides, as I lost the top; people just assumed I was going for a tighter cut.” (thin on top, Jan 2015, comment)
- liked it: “I keep the sides short and the top long. No one has ever commented on my hair, girls still love it” (thin on top, age 36, Sept 2024, comment)
- mixed: “Right now I rock a medium length shortish on the sides longish on top, and it's okay but I think the shagginess actually exposes the thinning a little more” (thin on top, May 2017, post)
Side part / comb over
11 people; 1 liked it, 1 didn't, 1 mixed. Most named reason: it made the thinning less visible (7).
- liked it: “I have a short back and sides and the top at about 5cm with a side parting and it looks much better.” (thin on top, Aug 2021, comment)
- mixed: “I keep my hair very short at the sides ( grade 0.5 faded) and I've found the sweet spot of length on top is about an inch and combed across.” (thin on top, Mar 2019, comment)
Grown long
14 people; 7 liked it, 1 didn't. Most named reason: it made the thinning less visible (7).
- liked it: “I’m majorly diffuse, but its still not too noticeable because my long hair covers it up somewhat (although my part is pretty wide)” (thin on top, May 2021, comment)
- liked it: “Thank goodness for my long hair, because I know if I had anything shorter than I usually have it, it would've been in plain sight.” (crown, Jun 2025, post)
- didn't: “Prior to taking fin, I wanted to see if I could still grow it out long. It looked terrible and made me look 40 yrs old (I am 24) so I shaved it.” (thin on top, age 24, Apr 2018, comment)
Crop / crew cut
5 people; 2 liked it, 0 didn't.
Fringe forward
2 people; 0 liked it, 0 didn't.
Slicked back
1 people; 0 liked it, 0 didn't.
“I keep it short”
85 people said only that they cut it short. 11 said that made the thinning less visible and 25 that it showed more. Several wrote that a shorter cut was how they first noticed how thin the top had become.
- liked it: “I have diffuse thinning and shorter hair looks much better, hair appears denser” (thin on top, Feb 2024, comment)
- didn't: “when I got a short haircut for the first time in a lonnnnnnnng time, got a 7 ontop and 3 on the sides.. I was horrified after I looked in the mirror and saw that I was clearly balding.” (thin on top, age 25, Jul 2017, comment)
- didn't: “I recently got a haircut shorter just to compare and omg my diffuse thinning is so much worse” (thin on top, Dec 2025, post)
- mixed: “i like the way it looks but it just makes my thinning crown even more visible” (crown, Jun 2020, post)
People who changed haircut
28 people wrote about two or more different cuts over time. The most common moves, from the first cut they described to the last:
- buzz cut to shaved head: 8 people
- shaved head to buzz cut: 8 people
- “short”, not specified to buzz cut: 3 people
Before you pick a cut
- A buzz or shave grows back: 67 of the people who buzzed or shaved wrote that they let it grow out again afterwards.
- 126 people mentioned cutting it short while on hair loss medication, often to see the progress (or the shedding) more easily. See finasteride results and minoxidil results for what people reported.
- Not sure the crown is thinning at all? Balding crown or cowlick shows what people who asked were told. If you are thinking about surgery, crown hair transplant covers what patients reported.
- Losing hair at the temples instead? Haircuts for a receding hairline counts the same for people with a receding hairline.
How we counted
We searched our archive of r/tressless for posts and comments where the writer says which haircut they got (“I buzzed it”, “I shaved my head”, “I keep the sides short”) and that mention thinning, balding, the crown or the top of the head: 2,973 of them. Each one was read on its own by language-model classifiers to keep only the writer's own haircut, not advice to others and not a plan, noting the cut, where the thinning was, whether they said they liked it, and the reasons they gave. This page counts the reports about a thinning crown or top; receding hairlines and cuts around a hair transplant are left out. Each person counts once per haircut, reposted text counts once, and every quote is copied verbatim from the post or comment it links to. Usernames are not shown. Built Oct 2026.
SaveMyHairline is an independent hair transplant doctor directory: published prices, checked credentials and real patient reports, with sources, and no clinic can pay to appear.