Matthew McConaughey opened up about the luck he’s had with hair growth over the past few decades, revealing that he has been using an all-natural topical ointment daily for the past 20 years in order to maintain his lengthy locks.
The 52-year-old actor, speaking with LADBible in an interview published Saturday, said that he began noticing he was losing his hair dating back in the late 1990s, recalling how he discovered a ‘baseball-sized bald spot’ on the top of his head.
‘I got a picture [from a] turn of the millennium party in 2000 in Jamaica, I was looking down laughing and there was a baseball-sized bald spot on the top of my head,’ the actor said.
He also says his hair loss was visible in several movies that he made at the time, including the hit 2001 romantic comedy The Wedding Planner, in which he starred alongside Jennifer Lopez.
The latest: Matthew McConaughey, 52, opened up about the luck he’s had with hair growth over the past few decades, using a topical ointment. He is seen in December 2021 during an appearance on The Tonight Show
In his book Greenlights, the Lone Star State native said that he shaved his head amid the hair loss and then began using the topical ointment. He was snapped in December of 2000 in LA
Loss: Matthew recalled an incident 22 years back in which he noticed he had a considerable bald spot. He is pictured in 1999 (left) and 2021
‘You can go back and look at things like The Wedding Planner and those things. I mean, you’ll see, I was losing hair,’ he said.
In his 2020 book Greenlights, the Lone Star State native said that he shaved his hair loss became so bad, he decided to shave his head in late 2000 in an attempt to hide his thinning locks, explaining to LADBible: ‘I had a silver dollar back here. So I shaved it off because I’d read, you know, hey, get a fresh start, shave it off.’
The actor then joked: ‘I even heard the stuff like, “Do it on a full moon.”‘
After shaving his head, McConaughey decided to try and stimulate the growth of his hair, revealing that he began applying the topical ointment Regenix to his scalp ‘once a day for ten minutes’.
The on-screen star insisted that he has never used any other treatment or drug to try and grow his hair, noting that he believes his luscious locks are the result of his commitment to using the topical ointment so consistently.
‘I was fully committed to it – no Propecia [a prescription drug used to treat hair loss in men], no nothing, it was just manual labor,’ said McConaughey, who won an Oscar for Best Actor in 2014 for Dallas Buyers Club.
Reason: McConaughey said he wasn’t familiar with the exact science that led to the renewed hair growth. The actor is pictured in December 2001 (left) and June 2007
Changes: In 2012 (left), Matthew’s hair was cut back in a shorter fashion, and he then chopped it even more into a short-back-and-sides style in 2013 (right)
Long locks: In 2017 (left) and 2018 (right), Matthew had grown his curly tresses out into a slicked-back longer style
McConaughey said he wasn’t familiar with the exact science that led to the renewed hair growth, saying, ‘All I can tell you is it came back – I have more hair now than I had in 1999.’
Regenix does not claim to reverse the effects of hair loss – with the company noting that its products ‘cannot regrow hair that is not there’. However, it does state that its haircare products will help to make ‘existing hair’ feel ‘healthier, thicker, and stronger’.
According to the Regenix website, the company’s products contain no chemicals or drugs, but rather use naturally-derived ingredients – ‘vitamins, minerals and plant extracts from citrus and chamomile to tea tree oil and Aragon’ – to create custom-made formulas to treat ‘hair and scalp issues’.
But despite McConaughey insisting that he has never done anything else to try and stimulate the growth of his hair, he revealed to LADBible that he was informed by a doctor in Beverly Hills that his name was being dropped annually at a hair transplant convention by a surgeon who claimed he had given the A-lister transplants.
The doctor who told him about these rumors even asked to inspect McConaughey’s hair in order to verify once and for all that his locks were entirely natural.
Journey: By 2019 (left) and 2020, Matthew was sporting almost shoulder length brunette tresses and facial hair
The actor said, ‘You can go back and look at things like The Wedding Planner and those things … you’ll see, I was losing’ hair. He was seen in the 2001 film with Jennifer Lopez
‘I said, “Yeah man,” he goes, “You don’t have transplants,” I said “That’s what I said, of course I don’t,”‘ McConaughey told the outlet.
And while he now boasts a head of thick, lengthy hair – and has done for many years – the actor says he is taking no chances when it comes to slacking on his haircare routine.
‘The same thing I was rubbing it down with I still do today – I’m not gonna quit to see if like, “Oh, do I need to do it anymore?” I’m not taking that chance,’ he explained.
McConaughey first revealed during an appearance on Live! with Kelly in 2017 that he had been using Regenix to deal with hair-growth issues.
‘I started rubbing my head with this stuff called Regenix, and damn if it didn’t come back,’ he said at the time.