As a man, you are considered vain to worry about your hairline or a bald spot on the back of your head. The idea that a full head of shiny hair makes you a real man is an idea that men promote on TV, in movies, and on social media: perfect hair makes you attractive to women. It’s a notion that dates back thousands of years in the Bible, where all of Samson’s strength is stored in his braids.

The same thing is starting to happen with the beard, which is coming back into fashion among young people. This is a huge problem for men’s self-esteem, as only a little over half of men can grow a full beard. The ability to do so is a genetic lottery.

I was saddened to hear this Mathieu Vigier-Latoura French student, had tragically committed suicide at just 24 years old, after a botched beard transplant carried out by an untrained real estate agent in Istanbul, but he was not at all surprised. As a hair restoration expert, I meet countless men who have had a questionable beard or hair transplant procedure that destroyed their self-esteem and the resulting suicidal thoughts are not uncommon.

I’ve been there myself – and I want to share my story so other men don’t make the same mistakes.

My own hair loss started when I was just 21 – 30 percent of men I experienced the onset of hair loss at the age of 30. Before that, people called me The Hoff (David Hasselhoff’s nickname) because I had so much hair. It became a big part of my identity.

Watching him go backwards was traumatic. I woke up every morning, looked in the mirror and despaired. At first, I was in denial and refused to believe that I was already losing my hair for good. I was 13 separate hair transplant surgerieslargely repair procedures, before finally being satisfied with my locks.

Around the same time, I lost my father in a life-altering accident. My father had the most fantastic hair, I admired him greatly and wanted to be like him. I began to focus on my hair as the loss progressed and my mental health deteriorated, because I knew what was coming next. On my mother’s side, all the men were completely bald by 25.