Widow’s Peak Hairline: Identification, Causes, and Treatment (2024)

Let me ask you something: When you check your hairline in the mirror, what do you see?

Is it a straight line, an oval shape, or a hairline that resembles the letter “V”?

👉 If your answer is the latter one, and this look worries you, you are not alone.

This shape that we call a widow’s peak hairline leaves two concerns on patients:

1️⃣ They are either not sure whether they look good with a widow’s peak hairline,

2️⃣ or they worry that this might indicate the beginning of hair loss.

Regardless of your aesthetic or medical concerns, we will answer your questions.

In today’s article, I will explain what it is, what causes it, and your options to treat it:

Let’s start by understanding what it is first:

What Is Widow’s Peak Hairline?

A widow’s peak is the name we give to a v-shaped hairline.

It’s pretty distinguishable as your hairline gets higher on the sides but lower in the middle.

The tricky part is not detecting the hairline but knowing what causes it and acting accordingly:

What causes a widow’s peak?

It can either appear as a genetic trait (like your hair’s color or shape) or due to hair loss.

💡 In other words, a widow’s peak is not always a sign that your hairline is receding.

However, when you begin experiencing hair loss, your hairline from the temples can appear as a widow’s peak.

So, it is essential to know the difference between them.

👉 And the best way to differentiate them is by checking how long have your hairline had a v-shape.

That is because a widow’s peak is usually noticeable from childhood.

But if your hair has only lately started to have a v-shape, then this might be an early sign of balding.

In either case, you have many options for treating or getting rid of it altogether:

How to Get Rid of Widow’s Peak? 🩺

In this part, I will list out the top 10 ten options for treating widow’s peak. They are ranked based on their effectiveness in the long term; however, you can choose any based on your preference.

If you want to eliminate your genetic widow’s peak for your personal outlook choice and do it with some easy options, we have:

Simple Daily Tips 🌻

🔟 Use a hairstyle that covers your forehead.

9️⃣ Shave your widow’s peak in a straight line.

8️⃣ Wax your widow’s peak regularly.

For patients who are willing to try medical options to change how they look with more in-depth solutions, there are:

Surgical Methods 💉

7️⃣ Laser hair removal is a famous but risky long-term solution for removing widow’s peak.

6️⃣ Electrolysis is another option that recently gained popularity amongst patients who want to eliminate their widow’s peak, but its effectiveness, in this case, is still being debated.

However, if you are dealing with early-stage balding, then you should consider more promising, long-term, and potentially permanent options:

Effective, Early-Stage Medical Options 💊

5️⃣ Minoxidil to increase the blood flow in your scalp and stimulate hair regrowth,

4️⃣ Finasteride for eliminating the production of the DHT hormone to prevent further hair loss,

3️⃣ Easier natural alternatives for reshaping your daily routine to a healthier lifestyle for your hair.

2️⃣ Also, knowing why your hair loss is happening in the first place can effectively stop the process before it is too late.

⚠️ Unfortunately, depending on your hair’s current situation, it might be too late for daily medications to treat it.

Especially, if you worry about your widow’s peak because you believe it might be the first sign of baldness, waiting further will only make the situation worse and more difficult to treat.

In that case, we come to our number one solution for most effectively treating your widow’s peak:

Widow’s Peak Hairline Transplant 1️⃣

If your hair loss has advanced too much (like the example at III A), or you have simply decided to have a straight-shaped hairline instead, then a hair transplant is the option.

👍 The beauty of a hair transplant is that you can design the hairline in any way you like if your doctor says it is suitable.

So, while getting a transplant, you can choose the grafts to camouflage your widow’s peak and treat your temple hair loss alongside it.

However, you should also remember that hair transplants do not prevent further hair loss from other parts that did not get a transplant.

💊 If you want to keep the rest of your hair along with your new hairline, you should consider the daily medical supplements I mentioned earlier to use in the post-transplant process.

That being said, let’s look at your options for a transplant:

What’s the best hair transplant for a widow’s peak?

When it comes to getting a hair transplant of any kind, your two primary options are FUT and FUE.

💠 The FUT technique is a bit older and less preferable than the others.

In this technique, your surgeon removes the strip of skin tissue from the back of the scalp to harvest grafts.

Generally, extraction and harvesting in FUT require less effort and time than other methods.

❌ However, despite this factor creating a still existing demand for FUT, it has a significant downside: Leaving nasty scars.

Since we use stitches to cover the skinless part and join two ends, FUT leaves scars visible even after complete healing.

👉 The best, most common, and guaranteed method for hair transplants is FUE.

In FUE, hair follicles are extracted from the donor site individually using a micromotorized punch and forceps and then planted into the donor area.

✅ With these tools, FUE creates a more precise process without needing a strip of skin, which leaves no detectable (to the eye) scars on the scalp.

The only downside is that the surgery lasts longer since hair follicles are extracted individually. So, there is a tradeoff between quality and duration.

And what’s the price of this quality:

How much does a widow’s peak hair transplant cost?

The cost and the necessary number of grafts for a widow’s peak hair transplant surgery are similar to any other ordinary transplant.

In other words, it depends entirely on you, how much your balding has advanced, and how many grafts your head will need.

✅ As of 2024, for a hair transplant surgery in Turkey, the average price per Graft is $1.03, while the average price for 2000 Grafts is $2056.

One final thing I want to remind you:

It is never truly possible to know if you are simply worrying about your natural widow’s peak that actually looks great or experiencing the tip of the hair loss iceberg.

⚠️ Also, practically, all the clinical options for treating your widow’s peak hairline affect your scalp skin deeply and sensitively.

So before you decide to ignore it or make a huge decision about it, you better hear an expert physician’s opinion first:

Get a free consultation now 🩺

👉 At UnitedCare, we accept only 1 patient a day regardless of the chosen method.

The budget-friendly process begins with a free one-on-one consultation with our expert dermatosurgeons to determine your suitability.

💊 Our holistic approach provides advanced technologies and bio-enhancements to ensure you do not need another surgery.

We use intracellular solutions (a.k.a bio-enhancements), helping cells stay alive for days outside the body. These solutions increase graft survival rates significantly. 💉

Most importantly, our care assistant/patient manager is in contact with our patients even before and after the surgery, ensuring that your transplant becomes permanent. 🍀

Affordable costs, a holistic approach, and experienced on-site dermatologists are here to provide you with the right solution.

Ready to begin the journey? Click here to start the first step with a free consultation:

Utkan Kızıltaç, MD, WFUE, ISHRS Assc

Chief Physician and Dermatologist Hair Transplant Surgeon of UnitedCare, a dermatology clinic helping patients become the best version of themselves.