Karamo Brown Opens Up About Hair Loss Journey

As part of the Netflix's "Queer Eye" Fab Five, Karamo Brown is known for his immaculate style and self-esteem as the Fab Five's culture consultant. But Brown has recently opened up about how his self-esteem took a major hit when he realized he was going bald, reported CNN.

Brown says he spiraled into feeling like he would no longer be accepted or viewed as attractive in gay spaces.

"No longer was I going to be desired, no longer was anybody going to value me because my hairline was creeping away... As a young person, you're not taught how to process that; you're not taught how to (love) what naturally happens to you," Brown says.

Finally deciding to let it all go and go fully bald after the second season of "Queer Eye."

"Everyone immediately was like, 'Oh, your head looks good. Oh, you look smooth. Oh, let me touch your head,'" he recounts. "I was like, 'Hold on. I'm not going to do what I did before, which was validate myself through (others') comments.'"

Accepting himself didn't come overnight, says Brown.

"I wish I could say I felt empowered, but I didn't," he says. "I was nervous. I felt uncomfortable. I was like, 'Are people judging me?'"

After going home and spending some one-on-one time with his head, Brown says he emerged in love with his new look.

"So, I went home and I was like, 'OK, I have to fall in love with this... I spent an hour or two in my bathroom, just rubbing my head, feeling on my head like, 'Oh, you're smooth,'" he says. "And that's how I fell in love with it."

He added, "And that day forward, I was the happiest man I've ever been, because I was no longer hiding or trying to be something I'm not."

After getting his self-esteem together, Brown naturally wanted to pass that feeling along to others. In 2020, he launched a skincare range for bald and balding men, with cleansers and moisturizers designed to "empower men who embrace their baldness" and "leave behind the outdated ideas of masculinity," he says.

Beauty is more than hair, says Brown. "We shouldn't be saying to each other, 'Look at your hair, that's what's going to make you beautiful. We say, 'Look at you, because you are beautiful.'"

Plans were recently solidified to bring Brown's perspective to daytime TV in one-hour talk show on NBC. Brown is also set to return for season 7 of "Queer Eye."

Hailing from Houston, Texas, Brown rose to prominence through "The Real World: Philadelphia," before taking on various reality TV shows and hosting roles. In 2018, he joined "Queer Eye" as one of the "Fab Five," alongside fashion specialist Tan France, food and wine expert Antoni Porowski, design guru Bobby Berk and stylist Jonathan Van Ness.