Why the Toupee Is Making a Comeback With Millennial Men

“Just got a haircut,” Tyler Williams says. He’s looking straight into the camera, flexing his fresh fade. “It’s time to run some errands and show this thing off. Cause as the old saying goes: if a tree falls in the woods and no one’s around to hear it, then how are the hoes supposed to know?’”

It’s the kind of cocky-dumb TikTok video that keeps the Nashville content creator’s 800,000-plus followers coming back. But there’s a kicker: the haircut isn’t entirely his. At least not in the way you might think. Williams is wearing a hair system—a modern-day toupee that blends so seamlessly into his scalp and tapered sides that most viewers would never guess.

“The people that know, know, and the people who don't, can't tell. So they think I'm talking about a regular-ass haircut,” Williams tells GQ. In reality, the 33-year-old is bald up top. When it’s time for a “cut,” his hairstylist tapes a new system to his bare dome and fades the grown-out sides so cleanly, you'd swear it was all homegrown. “I view this as a normal solution to hair loss,” Williams says. “I hate that there's any stigma around it.”

Williams quietly embraced the faux flow during the pandemic, but when a salty ex started airing his secret, he beat her to the punch with a confession video that blew up online. “It was received so positively across the internet—like yeah, everyone deserves to feel good about themselves,” he says, noting a growing post-pandemic craving for “authenticity and realness” on social media. “It's not my fault that I went bald. I'm not required to just accept it and shave my head. I can do something about it, and that's what I chose to do.”

He’s hardly alone. On TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, the toupee—once your weird uncle’s not-so-secret shame—appears to be having a moment. Barbers are sharing jaw-slackening before-and-afters and formerly self-conscious dudes are flaunting their transformations like just-copped Jordans.

Those in the industry say the social media momentum is doing more than just generating views—it’s translating into real-world demand, with barbers in major cities reporting a sharp uptick in millennials and Gen Zers booking appointments to get fitted for tailor-made tresses of their own.

London hairstylist Adam Fletcher first offered hair system installations on the side, but as requests surged, he sold his barbershop and went all in a couple years ago. “The demand was there. More people with hair loss aren’t wanting to have a surgical procedure done in Turkey because it’s pretty invasive,” says Fletcher, adding he’s slammed with back-to-back hair system bookings every day.

Fletcher says many of his clients are wary of dropping tens of thousands on hair transplant surgery that could leave scarring and still might not deliver the results they’re after. “Hair systems are a non-surgical thing, so obviously they can try it beforehand. But most people who get one done just end up keeping them because it's an instant result. Within three hours you’re leaving with a full head of hair.”

Could the rug-aissance be a recession indicator? Juha Seppänen, a 32-year-old salesperson in Helsinki, has been on the fence about a transplant but cost is a deterrent. “I have a lot of scalp area without hair, so I would need multiple transplants. Maybe two to three visits. It’s quite a lot of money,” Seppänen says. He gave a center-parted hair system a shot a few years back and has been satisfied with the results. He prefers the flexibility of a unit to the uncertainty of a graft gamble.

“What if it’s still thin after two visits? What if it’s done wrong? What if the hairline’s too straight or high or I want more of a widow’s peak?” says Seppänen, who now makes TikToks about his mane makeover. “With a hair system, I can just bring down the tape and place it a little closer to my eyebrows.”

After her TikTok of a toupee transformation on her handyman went viral a few years ago, Calgary hairstylist Dani Niven was flooded with DMs from balding men begging for the same man-weave magic. Her barbershop has now hit capacity with hair system clients—she sees about five men a day—and she’s training staff just to keep up.

“It’s exploding because hair systems just look way better now than they ever have. And guys that are stepping up and showing their transformations on social media are making a very positive impact on it. Other guys are just seeing how realistic and high quality they are,” Niven says. “I feel like before, anytime anybody ever heard the word toupee, they just pictured some guy with a horrible hairpiece flapping in the wind looking like Donald Trump.”

Long the butt of sitcom jokes, toupees have leveled up in recent years thanks to advancements in materials and craftsmanship. Unlike the chonky, sweaty mops of the ’80s, modern hair systems use whisper-thin lace or polyurethane bases that basically vanish into the scalp, built to fool even the closest mirror check. High-end versions are hand-tied with real human hair matched to your natural texture, color and growth patterns.

“It feels like you're wearing just your own skin. It becomes invisible, like you’re not wearing it,” says Aaron O’Bryan, a Toronto-based TV personality and hairstylist who rocks a system himself. Beyond comfort, the latest adhesives have staying power—you can work out, shower, even swim without worry. “I can wear my hair system for two or three weeks without it moving or coming off my scalp,” O’Bryan says, crediting stronger, less irritating glues and tapes.

To keep everything looking crispy, toupee wearers typically go to the salon every few weeks for a reapplication, a trim and a meticulous blend with their natural hair. The piece itself gets a full replacement every five months or so. Unit prices range from $300 to $1,000, depending on quality. “It’s almost like a subscription service,” O’Bryan says.

O’Bryan underwent two hair transplants in his thirties but couldn’t achieve the fullness he was after. Meanwhile, the hair-loss drug finasteride—often prescribed after surgery—came with unwelcome side effects, including erectile dysfunction. He opted for a system, styled into a high-volume pompadour, four years ago.

“I was very excited that I finally had the hair I wanted. I was a bit apprehensive about how I would announce it to people and I was self-conscious for about two weeks,” says the 42-year-old. “But after that, I was like, ‘Oh, I don't even care if people know that I'm wearing it.’”

He decided to reveal his hair hack on the Canadian morning show he appears on. While Fletcher and Niven note several of their clients keep their systems under wraps, O’Bryan advocates for full transparency. “I think most men should just own it at the end of the day,” he says. “Hair should be seen like an accessory, like jewelry or like if a woman wears extensions. It's an accessory to amplify our appearance and to make us feel more confident.”

L.A.–based actor and hairstylist Elena Maravelias echoes the sentiment, calling for greater gender equity in how society views beauty and grooming. “If I was dating a guy and while we were making out, I put my hand in his hair and figured out he's got a hair system, I wouldn’t care. Like, I wear hair extensions. I enhance my image with makeup. What is the problem if a guy wants to do that?” she says. “I'd rather date a confident man that feels good about himself and isn't walking around with a chip on his shoulder because he lost his hair and doesn't like how he looks.”

Sure, you might say, but what about truly accepting yourself for who you are? Embracing authenticity, practicing self-love and other things your therapist tells you? Isn’t realness about owning every part of yourself, flaws and all, and finding peace in your own (follicly challenged) skin?

For Idaho cosmetologist Isidro Almaraz, rocking bespoke locks is all about having the freedom to look however the hell you want to on any given day. “I can have short hair one day and then completely change it and have long hair. I’ve rocked a bowl cut. I’ve gone blonde and done a short fringe. I’ve had it like a faux hawk. Right now I think it’s turning into a mullet,” says the 37-year-old. “If I want to be bald, I can just take it off. You can literally do anything.”

Life’s a simulation, anyway. Might as well have fun with it. Why play with the same character skin when you can keep unlocking new ones? “The way the world is right now, ain't nobody real,” Almaraz muses. “Everyone's fake. Everyone's had something done. There's so many different things that you can do and it's fine. If that makes you happy, then that makes you happy.”