Joe Biden tackled his thinning locks with a fuller new-look hairdo well before his presidential run
BALDING Joe Biden turned back time with a hair transplant to portray a more youthful appearance ahead of his presidential bid, experts claim.
While the ex-vice president, 77, can’t compete with Donald Trump’s flowing locks, cosmetic surgeons believe he’s also tackled his wrinkles and teeth.
As far back as 1987, a Washington Post reporter grilled him about having hair follicles grafted from the back of his head to fill in the increasing gaps at the front.
Biden merely shrugged off the question, replying: "Guess. I've got to keep some mystery in my life."
But pics of the six-term senator and twice failed presidential candidate's younger years show he had relatively thick dark locks, particularly at the back of his head.
In 2008 - during his failed campaign for the White House - reporters and cosmetic surgeons pondered his suddenly changed appearance.
Politico spoke to stylists and hair transplant experts who agreed that Biden was trying to appear younger.
“When he had darker hair it was pretty obvious he had larger plugs,” said Dr Michael Beehner, medical director of the Saratoga Hair Transplant Center in New York.
“With the lightening of his hair, it looks much, much better now.”
Beehner explained that up until the 1980s hair transplantation involved doing “plugs” which each contained 15 to 30 strands of hair.
The method has since altered, and "a typical session is 1,000 to 2,000 tiny grafts," Beehner added.
Dr Barry Cohen, a Washington, DC-area plastic surgeon, told the Washington Examiner: "Without any question Joe Biden had hair transplants."
Cohen claimed that after Biden appeared to initially undergone a plug procedure "years ago" he has "subsequently filled in his frontal hairline to camouflage the bad 'Barbie dollesque' plugs.
"I suspect he has regular Botox and probably filler."
The doc then harshly suggested: "If he had a face lift, he needs another."
Eight years ago, during the 2012 vice presidential debates, cosmetic surgeons publicly suggested that Biden was sporting either porcelain veneers or a porcelain bridge to present a gleaming white smile.
Dr Lawrence Koplin, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, told the Washington Examiner Biden’s procedures may not be perfect, but they had been done well.
He added: "It is not a stretch to imagine his desire to reach back to 'freshen' his appearance."
Nadeem Uddin Khan, director of Harley Street Hair Clinic in London, UK, told the Telegraph: “You can tell that he’s had perhaps two or three hair transplants.
“I would wager that the first was done in the late 80s, and wasn’t as refined, and he’s had at least one update."
Khan said Biden's latest hairdo seemed "a little more refined".
But, he recommended that any follow-up procedures should aim for a more "natural look".
He added: "Because of the nature of the design, it looks a little outdated - older methods would see hair in bigger clusters instead of more spread out."
However Biden, 77, has never publicly acknowledged any surgical procedures, and he doesn't speak about his changed appearance in public.
The current US President, Donald Trump, on the other hand, is renowned for alluding to his hair issues.
Trump's hair washing moans have recently prompted a proposed law change on showerhead pressure.
Tired of having to spend longer in the shower with just a trickle to wash out the shampoo, the fed-up US president stressed "my hair has to be perfect".
The 74-year-old is renowned for his signature look of a year-long tan and permanently blond hair.
During a White House update he mocked his locks, admitting: "My hair - I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect!"
The leader of the free world’s fear of losing his hair is well known.
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Following his physical, his doctor announced that Trump takes the hair-loss drug finasteride to try and cling on to what he has left.
Some have claimed his lid is the result of a bad comb-over, while others have alleged his blonde locks are in fact a high-end hairpiece.
But all was revealed in Michael Wolff's book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, when the author claimed his hairdo is attributed to scalp reduction surgery and careful styling held in place by strong hairspray.
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