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Norwood Scale: Find the Hair Loss Stage (I to VII)
The Norwood scale, also called the Hamilton-Norwood scale, sorts male pattern hair loss into seven stages. Norwood 1 has no real recession and Norwood 7 leaves only a narrow horseshoe of hair at the sides and back. Norwood 2 is mild, triangular recession at the temples. Norwood 3 is the first stage Norwood counted as baldness. Tap the drawing below that is closest to the head you are looking at.
Prepared by Prospyr · Reviewed October 3, 2026 · Free, no sign-up, runs in your browser
Pick the drawing closest to the head you are looking at. The view is from above, with the face at the top of each drawing.
Standard patterns (I to VII, plus III vertex)
Type A variants (front recedes evenly, no vertex patch)
Closest match on the Norwood scale
Norwood III
The minimum hair loss Norwood considered enough to call baldness: deep, symmetrical temple recession.
- Deep recessions at both temples, bare or only sparsely covered with hair.
- The recessions are deeper than in Norwood II and form a clear M or U shape at the front.
- The vertex is not yet involved (that is the separate III vertex pattern).
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A reference chart for describing a pattern, not a diagnosis. Hair loss has causes the Norwood scale does not cover; a provider examines the scalp and decides what it means.
Norwood scale stages 1 to 7 explained
Each stage below follows Norwood's 1975 descriptions as summarized in a 2016 review in the Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery. The drawings are views from above with the face at the top.
| Stage | What it shows |
|---|---|
| I | Minimal or no recession of the hairline. |
| II | Triangular, usually symmetrical recession at the frontotemporal hairline. |
| III | Deep, symmetrical temple recessions, bare or sparsely covered. The minimum Norwood called baldness. |
| III vertex | Loss mainly at the vertex, with temple recession no deeper than III. |
| IV | Deeper frontotemporal recession than III and a sparse or bare vertex, split by a band of moderately dense hair. |
| V | Larger areas at the front and vertex, divided by a narrower and sparser band. |
| VI | The bridge across the crown is gone; the front and vertex areas join. |
| VII | Only a narrow horseshoe of often fine hair at the sides and back. |
Norwood 2 vs. Norwood 3: how to tell them apart
These two stages are the most searched and the most confused, because the change between them is a matter of depth.
- Norwood 2: shallow, triangular recession at both temples. In Hamilton's Type II wording, no farther back than a point 3 cm in front of the line between the ear canals. Hair across the mid-front is intact or slightly sparse.
- Norwood 3: deep, symmetrical recession at both temples that is bare or only sparsely covered. Norwood chose this stage as the minimum that counts as baldness.
- Norwood 3 vertex: a different pattern. The temples look like stage 2 or 3 at most, but the crown is thinning or bare.
Photographing the head from the front, top and back in the same light each visit makes the stage easier to call and easier to compare over time.
Hamilton-Norwood scale: where it comes from and what it leaves out
Hamilton, an anatomist, described eight evolutionary types in 1951 after studying more than 300 men. Norwood, a dermatologist and hair transplant surgeon, revised that work in 1975 after studying 1,000 men. He observed that thinning starts at the temples and the crown and slowly spreads across the top of the scalp, and he built the stages around that pattern.
The scale has known limits. It does not list a balding patch at the vertex or back with a preserved front hairline, Hamilton's original study was mostly white men, and other systems (Ogata, Setty, Koo and the BASP classification) were proposed for populations and patterns it misses. It describes a pattern. It does not say why the hair is lost.
For female pattern hair loss, use the Ludwig scale. Once a stage is chosen, the hair transplant graft and cost calculator turns a measured bald area into a graft count and a price range.
Using the Norwood scale in a hair restoration or aesthetic practice
The stage is a shared shorthand between the provider and the patient, and it belongs in the record at every consult. Prospyr's charting keeps the stage, photos and plan with the rest of the patient chart, and digital intake can collect hair history and photos before the visit. See the plastic surgery practice page for how those fit together.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Norwood scale?
The Norwood scale is a seven-stage system for describing male pattern hair loss from the front, temples and vertex. Dr. O'Tar Norwood published it in the Southern Medical Journal in 1975, after studying 1,000 men, as a revision of Hamilton's 1951 classification. It is still the system most clinicians use to describe where a patient's hair loss stands.
What does Norwood 2 look like?
Norwood 2 shows triangular, usually symmetrical areas of recession at the frontotemporal hairline, with the hair across the mid-front mostly intact. Hamilton's original Type II puts the recession no farther back than a point 3 cm in front of a line drawn between the ear canals. Norwood does not count this stage as baldness yet.
What does Norwood 3 look like, and how is it different from Norwood 2?
Norwood 3 has deep, symmetrical recessions at the temples that are bare or only sparsely covered with hair. Norwood defined it as the minimum hair loss sufficient to be considered baldness. The practical difference from Norwood 2 is depth: in stage 2 the recessions are shallow triangles, and in stage 3 they have cut well back into the hairline.
What is Norwood 3 vertex?
Norwood 3 vertex (written III vertex, IIIv or 3V) is a pattern where the hair loss is mainly at the crown, with only limited recession at the temples that does not go beyond Norwood 3. It is a separate branch of the scale, not a stage between 3 and 4. A patient can be classed as 3 vertex even when the front hairline looks nearly unchanged.
What is the difference between the Hamilton scale and the Norwood scale?
Hamilton published the first detailed classification in 1951 after studying more than 300 men. Norwood revised it in 1975 using 1,000 men, added rare patterns Hamilton had not described, and gave the system the stage numbers and the A variants in common use. People say Hamilton-Norwood scale because the Norwood scale grew directly out of Hamilton's work.
What are the Norwood Type A variants?
Type A is a less common pattern in which the whole front hairline moves back evenly instead of leaving an island of hair at the mid-front, and no bald patch forms on the vertex at the same time. It has its own stages IIa, IIIa, IVa and Va. Norwood noted that loss beyond Va cannot be told apart from stages VI or VII.
Can the Norwood scale tell me how many grafts someone needs?
No. A 2016 review of hair loss classifications calls the Norwood scale too detailed for surgical planning and not very helpful for choosing a surgical method. Two patients at the same stage can have very different head sizes and bald areas. Graft planning is better based on measured area, which the graft and cost calculator on this site does using published math.
Sources and scope
- Norwood OT. Male pattern baldness: classification and incidence. South Med J, 1975;68(11):1359-65 (PMID 1188424)
The original paper: seven stages plus the vertex and A variants, from a study of 1,000 men.
- Gupta M, Mysore V. Classifications of patterned hair loss: a review. J Cutan Aesthet Surg, 2016;9(1):3-12
Peer-reviewed review quoted for the stage descriptions, the Hamilton Type II wording, the Type A variants, and the scale's limits.
- Castro CG et al. PRECISE scale: a quantitative classification for androgenetic alopecia and its application to hair transplantation. Aesthetic Plast Surg, 2024;48(5):775-784
Notes that two patients with the same Norwood-Hamilton class can need very different graft counts.
A reference chart for describing a pattern, not a diagnosis or treatment advice. A provider examines the scalp, decides the cause and plans care.