Malcolm In the Middle's Frankie Muniz details hair loss battle and how finding the solution got him 'back into racing'

Malcolm In the Middle star Frankie Muniz opened up about his hair loss journey, how balding affected his confidence and finally finding a solution with his wife's help. 

Over the years, the actor, 39, admitted that he tried a variety of treatments, including a hair transplant, but ended up suffering from some rare side effects, which left him disheartened.

While appearing on HairClub's podcast, HairPod, the father-of-one, admitted that he struggled with accepting his hair thinning in his early twenties as someone who always had 'thick hair' growing up. 

In an effort to slow down his hair loss, he 'started taking medications and doing topical creams and [wearing] laser hats.'

'I remember it just kind of continued to get worse and worse and worse,' he recalled. 'I really didn't know what to do, almost to the point to where I kind of gave up on it.' 

Ultimately, Muniz said he 'was tired of trying things that weren't helping the situation' and it made him 'more and more self conscious' about his hair.

At the time, he remembered hyperfixating on his hair whenever he passed a mirror and was always 'talking pictures' and 'comparing' it to past photographs. 

Muniz recalled first struggling with hair loss while filming the last season of his hit series, Malcolm In the Middle, which aired from 2000 to 2006.

It also coincided to his pivot to racing cars professionally. 

'I don't want to say it shocked me how I went from having hair to not having hair,' he began. 'I didn't really notice it, like, until I noticed it.' 

After wrapping Malcolm In the Middle, Muniz said, without the assistance of hair and makeup styling him, he finally noticed his hair loss. 

'I started having to actually comb my hair for the first time myself,' he said, referring to the time period after Malcolm In the Middle ended. 'It definitely was just a shock, you know, especially because I was young, 19 or 20 years old.'

Despite being in the spotlight and having a team of people working for him, the actor said he was on his own navigating his hair loss.

'I didn't have anybody helping me,' he said, before detailing his trial and errors, before finding the hair restoration company, HairClub.

While discussing his openness about his hair loss, Muniz admitted that others in his industry are 'afraid' to talk about what treatments they've done to fix it. 

'I think it's interesting because, you know, we live, especially now, in a time where most celebrities, most people that you see on social media have tons of work and they don't hide it, but it's still a touchy subject when it comes to men talking about their hair,' he pointed out.

He continued: 'I think that's an interesting thing because, like, it's not something that you can help, right? If you're losing your hair, if you have issues like that, it's nothing like you did something wrong or, you know, what I mean? It's genetics.' 

Muniz noted that it was his wife, Paige Price, who forced him to do a hair consultation with HairClub when he had resorted to just wearing hats and shaving his head.

'I was so used to being kind of let down by the results of things that you spent a lot of money on, or you spent a lot of time or pain, like, physical pain. So I kind of didn't have very high hopes,' he remembered.

After working with HairClub, however, he said he received 'immediate gratification' and a boost to his confidence. 

'It was truly life changing,' he said of his results. 'It changed every aspect of my life. It made me more confident in everything from a work standpoint, from a working out standpoint, everything!'

Following his hair transformation, which he described as basically immediate, the performer said it gave him the 'confidence' to get back to racing.

'I think I'd kind of just kind of crawled almost in a hole a little bit,' he confessed. 'And kind of just stayed away from the acting stuff, stayed away from kind of like putting myself out there... I hate to admit that almost, but I didn't realize it had such a big effect on me in a negative way.'

Frankie was just a teenager when he rocketed to fame as the star of the hit sitcom, Malcolm In The Middle. 

The series also starred Bryan Cranston, who would later become a household name for his role in Breaking Bad.

The young actor was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series Comedy/Musical for his role, but lost to Charlie Sheen for Spin City.

Frankie remained in the spotlight following his run on Malcolm In The Middle, with roles in several Sharknado films and even a hosting stint on Dancing With The Stars: Junior.

Next, he is set to return to the Malcolm in the Middle reboot, which will stream on Disney+ and Hulu.