Stages of Hair Loss: Norwood and Sinclair Scales Explained

The Norwood scale grades the stages of hair loss in men from 1 to 7 by where the hair has gone, not by how much is left. Cleveland Clinic describes the seven stages of male pattern baldness in the exact terms below — memorise the boundary between stage 2 and stage 3, because that is the line between a maturing hairline and clinical balding.

Stage	What the scalp shows	Is this balding?
Stage 1	"There's little or no hair loss or hairline recession."	No
Stage 2	"There's slight hair loss near the skin between your ears and forehead (temples)."	No — a mature hairline
Stage 3	"You have deep hairline recession around your temples, and your hairline may have an 'M' or 'U' shape."	Yes — first balding stage
Stage 4	"You have very deep hairline recession and a loss of hair at the top of your head (crown)."	Yes
Stage 5	"Your hairline recession connects to the bald spot on your crown."	Yes
Stage 6	"The hair between your temples and crown is thinning or gone."	Yes
Stage 7	"You have no hair on the top of your head and a thin band of hair around the side of your head."	Yes — most advanced

Source: Cleveland Clinic — Male Pattern Baldness (Androgenic Alopecia), read 13 September 2026.

Losing hair every day is normal and is not a stage of anything. The NHS puts the normal figure plainly: "We can lose between 50 and 100 hairs a day, often without noticing." Cleveland Clinic gives the same ceiling — "Most healthy people lose up to 100 strands of hair per day." Shedding becomes one of the early stages of hair loss only when the hairs that fall are not replaced and the pattern is geographic: temples first, crown second.

• Shedding: hair comes out all over the scalp, density stays the same, and it usually follows an event — illness, surgery, childbirth, crash dieting.
• Pattern hair loss: the hairline moves backwards in an M shape, or the crown thins, while the back and sides stay untouched.
• The mirror test for early hair loss: compare a photograph of yourself from five years ago at the same angle and the same light, not your memory of it.

Cleveland Clinic sets out how early this starts: "About 25% of men see the first signs of hair loss before age 21. By age 50, half experience hair loss, and about 70% will lose hair as they get older."

Female pattern hair loss does not follow the Norwood pattern. It starts at the centre part and widens outwards, and the frontal hairline is usually preserved. Cleveland Clinic stages it on the Sinclair scale and describes the progression as "a slight gap appears in your center hair part", then "a wider gap is present in your center hair part, and there's hair loss on either side", before bald patches appear near the front.

Sinclair stage	What the centre part shows	Usually noticed by
Stage 1	Minimal hair loss; the part looks normal	No one
Stage 2	A slight gap appears in the centre part	The patient only
Stage 3	A wider gap, with hair loss on either side of the part	Family, in bright light
Stage 4	Bald spots appear near the front hairline	Anyone
Stage 5	Advanced hair loss across the top	Anyone

Scale is the reason women are under-diagnosed: "Approximately 30 million women in the United States have female pattern baldness," and it is the most significant cause of hair loss in women. If you are a woman reading your own stage, our guide to hair transplant options for women covers what is possible at each one.

Pattern hair loss is hormonal and inherited, and it progresses because the follicle shrinks a little with every growth cycle until it stops producing a hair you can see. Cleveland Clinic names the mechanism: dihydrotestosterone (DHT), an androgen, and "there might be a link between DHT and your hair follicles shrinking", with the AR gene's sensitivity helping to determine male pattern baldness.

That has one practical consequence that governs every decision below. As Cleveland Clinic states it: "Without medications or treatment, hair loss due to male pattern baldness is permanent." The NHS says the same in its own words — "Some types of hair loss are permanent, like male and female pattern baldness. This type of hair loss usually runs in the family."

Medication defends the hair you still have; it does not rebuild a bald scalp. That is why the stage matters more than the treatment. And the defence only lasts while you keep taking it — Cleveland Clinic is explicit: "If you stop using either medication, your regrown hair will fall out."

Hair loss stage	What medical treatment realistically does	Is a transplant usually discussed?
Stages 1–2 (Norwood)	Nothing to treat yet; establish a photographic baseline	No
Stage 3	Best window to hold the line and keep density behind the hairline	Sometimes, for the temples only
Stage 4	Holds the crown and the mid-scalp while the hairline is rebuilt surgically	Yes
Stage 5	Protects the remaining bridge of hair	Yes — donor supply now decides the plan
Stages 6–7	Little left to defend on top	Yes, but coverage is partial by definition

Is stage 4 hair loss reversible? Not by medication alone. At stage 4 the follicles at the crown and the receded hairline have already miniaturised past the point where a drug brings them back, so medication is used to hold the hair that remains while any regrowth on the bald areas comes from surgery. The earlier stages are the reversible ones, and only while treatment continues.

Non-surgical support at the earlier stages of hair loss is where PRP hair treatment and hair mesotherapy are normally discussed, alongside the medication your own doctor prescribes.

A transplant does not create hair. It moves follicles from the back and sides — the donor area — to where they are missing, so the total number of hairs on your head never rises. The later the stage of hair loss, the more area needs covering from a donor supply that has not grown.

1. Stage 3 hair loss: the smallest, cheapest operation, because only the temples are being rebuilt.
2. Stage 4–5 hair loss: hairline and crown compete for the same grafts; a good surgeon will tell you which one you are choosing.
3. Stage 6–7 hair loss: full coverage is rarely possible in one session, and framing the face is usually prioritised over filling the crown.

Before booking anything at any stage, read whether a hair transplant is safe and who should perform it, and what recovery looks like week by week. Techniques differ in how the follicles are extracted and implanted — see DHI, Sapphire FUE and unshaven hair transplant.

Turkey publishes an official price floor for international patients, which makes it the one market where the stage-to-cost question has a documented answer. Under the Ministry of Health's international health tourism tariff (annex EK-2, in force 16 February 2026 and amended 28 July 2026), hair transplantation is billed per follicle — code S101260, 30 TL per graft — and that figure is a mandatory minimum for every public and private provider, not an average.

Grafts needed (by stage of hair loss)	Official floor (TL)	≈ USD	≈ SAR
2,000 grafts — typically stage 3	60,000 TL	$1,239	4,652 SAR
3,000 grafts — typically stage 4	90,000 TL	$1,858	6,978 SAR
4,000 grafts — typically stage 5	120,000 TL	$2,478	9,305 SAR
5,000 grafts — stage 6 and above	150,000 TL	$3,097	11,631 SAR

Converted at the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye buying rate of 11 September 2026 (1 USD = 48.4305 TL; 1 SAR = 12.8965 TL), which is the rate the regulation itself binds prices to. Graft numbers are illustrative of typical stages; your own number comes from a donor-area assessment, not from a scale. Anaesthesia, hospital fees, hotel and transfers sit on top of the floor.

The practical use of this table is defensive: an all-inclusive package quoted below the floor for the surgery alone is a question to ask before it is a bargain to take.

Your stage of hair loss decides everything that follows — whether you need medication, a transplant, or simply a photograph to compare against next year. Send clear photographs of your hairline and crown, and a named contracted doctor will tell you which stage you are at, what your donor area can safely give, and what it would cost before you commit to anything.

Request a free hair loss assessment with Livist Medical.