LordNorwood
This Too Shall Pass
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Making this guide because many people seem confused on how to estimate a Norwood level. To clear this up, I'm going to post the official scale alongside what I believe are examples of it in IRL, and then explain where I think the confusion is coming from. This is also the first of a series of high effort hair threads. Let's dive right in.
NW0
NW0 is not a real classification on the Norwood scale, but it does seem to have been mentioned by a few somewhat reputable sources (I've found a hair clinic that uses it as a classification). This is not just no recession, but denotes the coveted low, square hairline that not many people actually have in real life.
Sometimes this looks good, sometimes in my opinion the forehead can get too tiny and end up looking comical. In the above pictures it looks the best on Zayn.
Notice the almost complete lack of temple exposure.
The Telltale Signs of NW0: Low and dense, and straight across the forehead.
NW1
This is where the Norwood scale actually begins.
This is generally taken to mean "no hair loss", but allows for a very small amount of wiggle room on the temples.
Notice the distinction between 1 and 0: for NW1, the hairline is a bit higher, and if you look closely you can see a bit of a dip in the temples - the hairline is not straight all the way across. This is more obvious on Pitt than Ackles in the two pictures. Look in particular at Brad Pitt's left temple (to us) in the above picture and compare with Ross's exposed hairline in the NW0 section.
Hardcore PSLers will (hopefully) ironically say NW0 or death, but an NW1 is pretty much a perfect hairline. In my opinion it usually looks more "natural", whereas an NW0 runs the risk of giving you kind of a monkey look, or, if you achieved it through HT, a transplant look. NW0 and NW1 both are vastly superior to what follows however.
Tell Tale Signs of an NW1: No real recession to speak of, but a very slight "curve" in the temples will be present.
NW2
The more "official" pictures I grabbed are kind of shit at depicting this, ngl. The visual examples below will be better, but basically a Norwood 2 is when recession is undeniable, but the island of hair at the widow's peak has not yet begun to form. This usually means a V hairline, but it can come in the form of an M too. The key to look for is that the hairline never dips "behind" the island at any point. If it does, you are past an NW2.
In the above pictures I would say that Leo has the classic NW2, Colbert is just a little past, and Reynolds is a little below a true NW2 (but not at 1). Notice the perfect "V" in Leo's hairline, and notice that Colbert's is beginning to dip "behind" the island a little at the top of his right temple.
This is the hairline most men in their twenties and beyond have. It's pretty normal, which is why its referred to as the "mature hairline". At this point, you still won't be considered to be "balding" by most normal people.
Telltale Signs of an NW2: The temples are gone, but if you were to trace the hairline with a finger you would never be able to find a perfectly straight line from the front of the hairline to a corner in the back. In other words, the temple loss doesn't curve inwards.
NW3
Again, not the best pictures but it is what it is. Just consistency at this point.
A Norwood 3 is when the presence of an "island" of hair at the front of the hairline is undoubtedly discernible. Usually, the hairline has gone in a bit as well.
Notice, especially in the third picture, that it looks like you could run your finger through the corner of a temple and end up behind the hairline itself. That, in my opinion, is the true distinguishing feature between a true Norwood 3 and a Norwood 2, along with the island. Most guys who are balding and are freaking out about it on here are somewhere between a 2 and a 3, myself included.
If you have an NW3, you are undeniably balding. People will probably notice and even point it out. You're past a "mature" hairline at this point.
Tell Tale Signs of NW3: Dipped in corners, island of hair, in addition to completely bald temples.
NW4
At a Norwood 4, the balding process continues. Typically this also comes alongside crown balding, but not always. The defining feature however is the diminishing of the island at the front. Compared to a Norwood 3, the island is now much smaller, and indeed, nearly gone. This is the point where in my opinion you basically need to shave it off in almost all cases. Very few people can pull off an NW4. In other words, its over.
Its tough to find other good pictures besides Jude Law, but he's basically a perfect model of an NW4. Nearly every other picture is a pre-transplant picture, because at this point you've pretty much either shaved it or done something about it. Notice another defining feature of the NW4: the hair directly behind the island has seriously thinned, leaving a bald/very thin strip between the island and the rest of the hair.
Basically all your frontal hair is gone except for that little island who is putting up its heroic last stand.
Tell Tale Signs of NW4: No frontal hair except small island, thinning behind island.
NW5
At this point there may be small tufts of hair still in the frontal region, but more or less the frontal region can be considered virtually gone, especially when it comes to true acceptable coverage. Usually at this point your crown is getting fucked pretty hard too, leaving just that strip of hair between crown and frontal region.
The scale itself continues past this point, up to 7 in some renditions I believe, but I don't think there's any point covering more Norwoods seeing at this point its already so over that your only hope is pretty much hair system. Even a transplant at this stage, while certainly a big help, will not truly reproduce good looking hair for you.
Tell Tale Signs of a NW5: Its over.
Closing Thoughts
NW0
NW0 is not a real classification on the Norwood scale, but it does seem to have been mentioned by a few somewhat reputable sources (I've found a hair clinic that uses it as a classification). This is not just no recession, but denotes the coveted low, square hairline that not many people actually have in real life.
Sometimes this looks good, sometimes in my opinion the forehead can get too tiny and end up looking comical. In the above pictures it looks the best on Zayn.
Notice the almost complete lack of temple exposure.
The Telltale Signs of NW0: Low and dense, and straight across the forehead.
NW1
This is where the Norwood scale actually begins.
This is generally taken to mean "no hair loss", but allows for a very small amount of wiggle room on the temples.
Notice the distinction between 1 and 0: for NW1, the hairline is a bit higher, and if you look closely you can see a bit of a dip in the temples - the hairline is not straight all the way across. This is more obvious on Pitt than Ackles in the two pictures. Look in particular at Brad Pitt's left temple (to us) in the above picture and compare with Ross's exposed hairline in the NW0 section.
Hardcore PSLers will (hopefully) ironically say NW0 or death, but an NW1 is pretty much a perfect hairline. In my opinion it usually looks more "natural", whereas an NW0 runs the risk of giving you kind of a monkey look, or, if you achieved it through HT, a transplant look. NW0 and NW1 both are vastly superior to what follows however.
Tell Tale Signs of an NW1: No real recession to speak of, but a very slight "curve" in the temples will be present.
NW2
The more "official" pictures I grabbed are kind of shit at depicting this, ngl. The visual examples below will be better, but basically a Norwood 2 is when recession is undeniable, but the island of hair at the widow's peak has not yet begun to form. This usually means a V hairline, but it can come in the form of an M too. The key to look for is that the hairline never dips "behind" the island at any point. If it does, you are past an NW2.
In the above pictures I would say that Leo has the classic NW2, Colbert is just a little past, and Reynolds is a little below a true NW2 (but not at 1). Notice the perfect "V" in Leo's hairline, and notice that Colbert's is beginning to dip "behind" the island a little at the top of his right temple.
This is the hairline most men in their twenties and beyond have. It's pretty normal, which is why its referred to as the "mature hairline". At this point, you still won't be considered to be "balding" by most normal people.
Telltale Signs of an NW2: The temples are gone, but if you were to trace the hairline with a finger you would never be able to find a perfectly straight line from the front of the hairline to a corner in the back. In other words, the temple loss doesn't curve inwards.
NW3
Again, not the best pictures but it is what it is. Just consistency at this point.
A Norwood 3 is when the presence of an "island" of hair at the front of the hairline is undoubtedly discernible. Usually, the hairline has gone in a bit as well.
Notice, especially in the third picture, that it looks like you could run your finger through the corner of a temple and end up behind the hairline itself. That, in my opinion, is the true distinguishing feature between a true Norwood 3 and a Norwood 2, along with the island. Most guys who are balding and are freaking out about it on here are somewhere between a 2 and a 3, myself included.
If you have an NW3, you are undeniably balding. People will probably notice and even point it out. You're past a "mature" hairline at this point.
Tell Tale Signs of NW3: Dipped in corners, island of hair, in addition to completely bald temples.
NW4
At a Norwood 4, the balding process continues. Typically this also comes alongside crown balding, but not always. The defining feature however is the diminishing of the island at the front. Compared to a Norwood 3, the island is now much smaller, and indeed, nearly gone. This is the point where in my opinion you basically need to shave it off in almost all cases. Very few people can pull off an NW4. In other words, its over.
Its tough to find other good pictures besides Jude Law, but he's basically a perfect model of an NW4. Nearly every other picture is a pre-transplant picture, because at this point you've pretty much either shaved it or done something about it. Notice another defining feature of the NW4: the hair directly behind the island has seriously thinned, leaving a bald/very thin strip between the island and the rest of the hair.
Basically all your frontal hair is gone except for that little island who is putting up its heroic last stand.
Tell Tale Signs of NW4: No frontal hair except small island, thinning behind island.
NW5
At this point there may be small tufts of hair still in the frontal region, but more or less the frontal region can be considered virtually gone, especially when it comes to true acceptable coverage. Usually at this point your crown is getting fucked pretty hard too, leaving just that strip of hair between crown and frontal region.
The scale itself continues past this point, up to 7 in some renditions I believe, but I don't think there's any point covering more Norwoods seeing at this point its already so over that your only hope is pretty much hair system. Even a transplant at this stage, while certainly a big help, will not truly reproduce good looking hair for you.
Tell Tale Signs of a NW5: Its over.
Closing Thoughts
- The reason why many people are confused about the scale here is because of the inclusion of the NW0, which seems to have pushed every hairline up by 1. More often than not I see Norwoods being overjudged here as opposed to the opposite. For many people it seems like NW0 = NW1 in everyone else's vernacular.
- If you're between two Norwoods, this is usually handled by tacking a ".5" onto the previous Norwood. For example, before finasteride I was past a Norwood 2, but not quite a Norwood 3. Therefore I was a Norwood 2.5.
- Norwood 0 and 1 are both halos. Norwood 2 is neutral. Norwood 3 is a failo. Norwood 4 and past is a severe failo.
- The Norwood scale is more complex when you also deal with vertex variance, but I think focusing only on the hairline itself is best for PSL. After all, if you start losing crown hair its fucking over, so why even catalogue it? Just do something about it or shave it.
- All pictures of real people used more or less line up with what many hair sites consider to be representative of the Norwood scale.
- If you are even a hair past NW2, get on a 5AR inhibitor I M M E D I A T E L Y.
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