Glossary · Hair

Norwood scale

The Norwood scale is a seven-stage classification of male pattern hair loss, from a full juvenile hairline to loss of everything but the sides and back. A frontal photo can show the hairline and temples, not the crown, so BecomeTen reports hairline and density as bands rather than a stage, and caps the hair area at +20.

5 min readUpdated 2026-09-07By Martin Saraka

Also called: Hamilton–Norwood scale, Norwood stages, Norwood 2, Norwood 3

What is the Norwood scale?

Hamilton described the pattern in the 1950s and Norwood revised it in the 1970s; the result is the Hamilton–Norwood scale that dermatologists and forums both use. It describes androgenetic alopecia, the hormone-driven pattern loss most men experience to some degree, in seven stages. In words:

Stage one. A full, low hairline with no recession. The adolescent hairline; many adult men never had it past their teens.
Stage two. Slight temple recession, a mildly M-shaped or mature hairline. Common in adults and often not loss at all.
Stage three. Deep temple recession with a clear M or U; the first stage Norwood counted as balding. A variant, three vertex, adds thinning at the crown.
Stage four. Further frontal recession plus a distinct bald patch at the crown, with a band of hair between them.
Stage five. The two areas grow towards each other and the band narrows.
Stage six. Front and crown merge; hair remains at the sides and back.
Stage seven. Only a horseshoe at the sides and back remains.

What a photo can and cannot show

A frontal photo shows the hairline and the temples. It cannot see the crown, which is where stages three vertex through six differ, so no frontal rater can honestly give a Norwood stage. BecomeTen does not try. It reports hairline recession and frontal density as directional bands with a capture grade, and treats hair as one of five areas rather than a diagnosis. Styling, product, wet hair and overhead light all change how the front reads; the Norwood scale and your score covers how to photograph it consistently.

Hair matters to the rest of the score because it frames the face. A hairline that has moved back lengthens the apparent forehead and stretches the upper of the facial thirds, so a face with balanced thirds at twenty can read top-heavy at thirty-five with no change in bone. Volume on top or a fringe does the reverse, and that is capture as much as anatomy.

Is the Norwood stage workable or structural?

Partly workable, which is unusual for a trait that looks structural. Pattern loss is progressive without treatment, and two treatments have randomized-trial evidence in men. BecomeTen tags density and hairline workable with an evidence level, caps the hair area at +20, and never gives a dosage or a product recommendation; that is a prescriber's job. Minoxidil vs finasteride goes through the trials in detail.

What actually changes how the Norwood stage reads?

Treatment, over months. The only lever that changes the band, and it changes it slowly. The trials measured at a year, and the hairline responds less predictably than the crown.
Cut and styling. Length on top, a fringe or hair swept forward hides early recession; a slicked-back or very short cut shows it. Same head, different band, so keep the style matched between scans.
Wet hair and product. Both clump hair and expose scalp. Dry, unproductive hair for scans.
Lighting and camera height. Overhead light reflects off scalp and reads as thinning; a lens above eye level shows more scalp and forehead. Side light, eye level.

One photo. Then stop guessing.

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Questions

Is a Norwood 2 hairline already balding?

Norwood himself did not count it as balding. Stage two is the mature hairline, with the slight temple recession most adult men develop after adolescence and that often never progresses. Whether it is the start of pattern loss depends on the following years, which is why a single photo cannot tell you and why the report gives a band rather than a stage.

Can BecomeTen give me my Norwood stage from one selfie?

No, and no frontal rater honestly can. The stages from three vertex to six are defined largely by the crown, which a frontal photo cannot see. BecomeTen reports hairline recession and frontal density as bands with a capture grade, tags them workable with an evidence level, and caps the hair area at +20 rather than pretending to diagnose.

Does a higher Norwood stage lower my facial thirds score?

It changes how the thirds read rather than the bone. A hairline that has moved back lengthens the apparent forehead, so the upper third looks longer against the middle and lower. Length on top or a fringe partially reverses that in a photo. The proportion of the skull is unchanged; the framing is what moved.

Why is the Norwood scale in a glossary that refuses surgery?

Because hair is the one area where the evidence supports a non-surgical treatment that moves the trait, and the scale is the language everyone uses for it. BecomeTen describes what the minoxidil and finasteride trials found, tags the trait workable, leaves prescriptions to a doctor and keeps transplants off the table.