IT used to be that women fretted about having a big nose, wonky teeth or a droopy neck. But the biggest beauty woe for 2025 seems to be worrying about having a forehead that is too high – and clinics are being inundated with ladies looking for a solution.
Teenager Yas Labidi is one of those who has taken drastic action to reduce the size of the space between her hairline and her eyebrows, after spending years agonising about that area of her face.
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The content creator was so self-conscious that in November 2024, she travelled to Turkey to reduce it by 2.5 cm with a hair transplant, despite being just 16.
Her mum Natasha, 44, from Nottingham, gave consent for the procedure – which UK clinics refused to perform until she was 18 – because she wanted to ease her daughter’s worsening distress about her appearance.
“Her mental health was suffering because she was so unhappy about it,” says the mum-of-four who runs an events company. “I realised she was going to do it in a couple of years anyway so why not now?
“It’s not like I let her have a risky operation like a BBL or nose job. That would’ve been 100 per cent no.
“This was a simple, safe procedure, a bit like getting braces for her teeth or hair extensions.”
Yas adds: “I already had my heart set on doing it as soon as I turned 18, putting aside every penny from my bar job and TikTok work.
“I’d miss nights out with friends to save. Mum knew I was serious.”
Yas started feeling self-conscious about her hairline aged 13, religiously covering it with headbands.
Despite being a social media star since childhood, when her mum filmed her unboxing toys for YouTube, she claims being on screen did not trigger her insecurity.
“No one ever bullied me or made comments,” she says. “It was just something I became increasingly aware of.
“I avoided slicking it back in a bun or ponytail and styled my baby hairs at the front into edges to try and hide it.
“But it got to the point where I’d not go out without a hairband or hat on. I hated looking at my photo. I felt so ugly.
‘Felt so ugly’
“One day, in desperation, I searched ‘how to make forehead smaller’ and saw a solution – a hairline transplant.”
“I was dead against it and reassured her she looked fine,” says Natasha.
“I told her it would be a waste of money. But she went on holiday with her grandmother in May 2024 and spent the week covering her head, even though it was boiling.
“When they got home, even my 65-year-old mum agreed that she should have it.”
After doing research, Yas was offered a reduced price of £900 by the Clinic Centre in Turkey, including seven nights in a hotel, if she agreed to share her transplant on social media.
While the cost varies depending on the extent of the transplant, full price would likely have been £1,600 with just one to two nights accommodation included.
Flights were an additional £90 per person return.
I avoided slicking it back in a bun or ponytail and styled my baby hairs at the front into edges to try and hide it
Yas
Natasha accompanied her daughter for the trip, with the procedure taking seven hours.
It involved shaving hair at the back of the head and cutting out follicles, which were implanted along the forehead to move the hairline.
“It was done under local anaesthetic and at one point, I fell asleep,” says Yas. “The worst pain was the injection.”
Nine months on, Yas’s hair is slowly growing and she’s happier with how she looks.
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“It isn’t an immediate fix because there is scabbing and shedding while the hair gets established,” she says.
“But I already feel so much better and I’m not hiding my forehead anymore.”
“I expected to be trolled for allowing it but I’ve actually had other parents asking for more information to help their kids,” says Natasha.
“I don’t regret it – she’s like a different girl now, so much happier.”
While Yas’s story might sound extreme, experts say there’s been a significant rise in women getting these transplants done.
‘So much happier’
Treatment Rooms London saw a 43 per cent rise in female hairline transplant inquiries from 2023 to 2024, with a 41 per cent increase between January and July this year, compared to the same period last year.
The average age of patients in 2024 was 36.9, with the procedure costing £6,000 to £8,000 in the UK.
“Often they are patients who have always noticed their hairline is slightly high or they have high temples, usually inherited from their mum or grandmother,” says co-founder and surgeon Dr Roshan Vara.
“It has hampered their ability to style their hair and they now realise there is a way to change that.”
He says a good doctor will ensure the new hairline looks natural and is not created too low.
“We look at brow position, temple position and what would look aesthetically pleasing long term,” he says.
“It takes six to eight hours overall as we need to knit the new hairline to blend in with the angle it already grows.”
But a transplant isn’t the only option. Some women are choosing a more invasive surgical forehead reduction, where a section of tissue is removed and the hair-bearing scalp brought forward.
The operation takes two to three hours, usually under local anaesthetic, and costs £5,000 in the UK, with patients needing two weeks off work afterwards and a full recovery promised by six weeks.
But side effects can include bruising, swelling and soreness, it leaves a small scar and it’s not suitable for people with a family history of pattern baldness.
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Dr Vara’s clinic does not offer this but says it can be a better choice for certain patients.
“They might have a nice hairline already and just need it brought forward,” he says.
“Also, for people in the public eye, the final result comes much faster.
“I have to warn my patients that it can take up to 18 months to get to your normal length after the transplant, although they should have a stylable fringe within nine.”
FOREHEAD REDUCTION FREED ME
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Mum-of-two Chloe Walker had a reduction op last month, removing 2.5cm from her forehead, to overcome a lifelong insecurity triggered by childhood bullying.
“I’ve been called a spam head,” says the 34-year-old from Hornchurch, Essex.
“As a child, one person joked, ‘If we run out of paper we’ll just write the rest of the work on Chloe’s head’.”
For years, she dreaded haircuts because her forehead would be on show and went through “thousands of bottles of hairspray” to keep her fringe in place.
Chloe even became too uncomfortable to take her kids swimming and edited family photos to “shrink” her forehead.
Pictures of her wedding to husband Ben, 34, an abseil window cleaner, three years ago have never been printed because of her paranoia.
“I worried about getting worse and never leaving the house, a gust of wind would panic me,” says the quantity surveyor.
“My friends bought me a personalised bandana for my hen do in Dubai because I always wore one on holiday.
“I’d told them I didn’t like my scalp to burn. They didn’t know I was trying to cover my hairline.
“Ben eventually offered to pay half for the operation, telling me, ‘I don’t want you to be so upset anymore, I want you to stop hiding yourself away’.”
I feel like I can walk down the street and I’m a free person finally
Chloe
Chloe went to the Signature Clinic in London, where she could be awake for the procedure, admitting she found it “petrifying”.
“I was laying there not knowing what was going on with my head,” she says.
“There were funny smells, which was your skin burning, and the noises were strange.”
The surgery reduced her forehead from 9cm to 6.5cm but the recovery has not been easy.
“The first four days were awful with swelling and bruising, it was hard to sleep and I couldn’t wash my hair for a week,” says Chloe, mum to Florence, ten, and Henry, seven.
“Five weeks on, I still can’t feel the top of my head, but the scar looks great. I know it will take six to 12 months to fully recover.”
After sharing her story on TikTok, as a way to normalise the procedure, Chloe has received messages from all over the world.
“Some girls are a week behind me on the surgery – they want to know what it’s like.
“These treatments are normally spoken about by men. It seems to be okay for men to get their hair done but we don’t think about how women might feel insecure too.”
However, Chloe has also been targeted by trolls who claim they see no change.
“But I’ve seen a difference, especially when I look back at pictures,” she says.
“I also didn’t want to look completely different. I wanted my kids to still recognise me. Now that it’s all done, I’m looking forward to letting them splash me without worrying, putting my sunglasses on my head, brushing my hair back.
“I hid away for so long but the surgery has given me so much more confidence.
“I feel like I can walk down the street and I’m a free person finally.”
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