Jaylen Brown Knows You’ve Seen His Viral Hair Moments—and He’s Ready to Talk About Them (Exclusive)

Jaylen Brown is opening up about his hair journey.

The Boston Celtics star, 29, is partnering with hair growth supplement brand Nutrafol to address his hair thinning head-on, as well as to destigmatize hair loss and conversations around the topic for the millions of people who experience it.

The elite athlete spoke to PEOPLE exclusively about his changing hair, the viral on-court moment that thrust his head into the spotlight, and why he’s choosing to face the situation with humor.

Brown says he started to experience “hair issues” one to two years ago.

“When I first noticed it, it wasn’t significant. I used to have braids, but when I would take [them] out, I would be shedding a lot of hair,” he shares.

It prompted Brown to try out topical solutions like serums to improve his hair health, but “nothing seemed to work,” he adds.

“Then I cut my hair,” Brown continues. But as the stress of being in a “pressurized environment” mounted, the issue increased.

Said pressurized environment — ICYMI when he went live on streaming platform Twitch declaring a “code red” — is being a professional athlete in Boston, Mass.

“It’s the high expectation to win [the championship], or the season is a failure,” he explains.

After being drafted third overall by the Celtics in 2016 and playing in the city for 10 years, which included winning the franchise’s 18th championship in 2024, the conditions have “become the norm” — but that doesn’t mean they don’t wear on him.

“Being a star player, every win and every loss has an impact,” the Boston Celtics guard admits.

His braids gone, Brown’s adjusted to getting regular haircuts, and says it’s normal barbershop decorum for a barber “to add enhancements to make [your hairline] look even or [cover] spots where you’re thinning.”

Brown says, “They use sprays and things like that. It’s just a normal thing people do.”

What’s less likely normal is that someone who’s wearing some type of coverup product is a professional athlete who competes at the intense level Brown does day in and day out.

So on October 24, when a product on Brown’s head left a mark on his New York Knicks player OG Anunoby’s jersey, the split-second in time went viral.

Brown, who was locked into the game, didn’t immediately notice what happened. When he did, “I was a little bit embarrassed. And then I got mad at myself for being embarrassed at all.”

“After a while, it was like, ‘Those dudes should be grateful.’” [A hair product on his head would also leave marks on Detroit Pistons player Ron Holland and Washington Wizards player Kyshon George in the following days.]

“They’re lucky that I left my mark on them. I should get a thank you card: You have the residue of a champion on you. You’re welcome.'”

The 2024 NBA Finals MVP’s response is a testament to his strong mindset. “When embarrassment, failure, loss, anything like that happens, there’s two ways you can go. It can be spirit breaking, and you can go into a little shell and try to hide from it, or you can use it as fuel, get more focus, get more discipline, get more locked in, and go out and maximize your potential.”

“I’m the second one,” Brown continues. “I’m the maximize your potential type of guy. I’m going to level up every time. So when it happened and it felt like the whole world was chiming in, it just gave me more motivation to come out and do what I’m doing this season. And the very next game [after the Knicks] I had 40 points. It’s almost like I need the world to feel cold a little bit.”

Brown says he welcomes what others might perceive as uncomfortable moments. “I know a lot of people are afraid of embarrassment and afraid of failure and afraid of looking silly or whatever the case may be. And I started to notice about myself, one, I could care less. And, two, when those moments happen and people think they’re making fun of me, it actually makes me become a stronger, more disciplined, more focused individual. So I’m like, ‘Why not?’ I’d do it next week if I needed to get my mind to where it needed to be. I’ll rub my hair on three more teams.”

At times when the experience hasn’t been a good feeling, Brown has reminded himself, “all things being considered, I’m blessed.”

But he personally knows a lot of people who have experienced hair thinning and hair loss, and understands that “it can potentially mess with your confidence,” and that’s why he’s sharing his story with Nutrafol to empower others.

He’s also open to solutions that can improve hair thinning, which is why he’s giving Nutrafol’s supplements a go.

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Dr. Heather Woolery-Lloyd, Chief Medical Advisor at Nutrafol, tells PEOPLE that hair thinning “is often multifactorial” and factors like stress can play a enormous role “whether it be acute stress from a specific event, or the impact of chronic stress that cumulates over time.”

“Stress can raise cortisol levels and this stress hormone can tell your hair to stop growing and start shedding,” Woolery-Lloyd explains. Nutrafol, which has become the number one dermatologist-recommended hair growth supplement brand since launching in 2016, “takes a whole-body approach to address root causes of hair thinning including stress.”

Nutrafol formulates different products for men and women to address their unique needs. Woolery-Lloyd says a key ingredient in Nutrafol Men is ashwagandha, “which supports healthy stress response and cortisol balance. Other root causes of hair thinning include nutrition, hormones,  lifestyle,  metabolism, and aging, which Nutrafol takes a whole-body approach to addressing [as well].”

Because stress-related hair thinning usually occurs three to six months after an event, it can be confusing to pinpoint. Woolery-Lloyd recommends seeing a dermatologist if you’re concerned about hair thinning as they can “help determine whether hair thinning is stress related or if there are other contributing factors.”

When you sign up for a Nutrafol subscription, you one-on-one wellness consultations with licensed naturopathic doctors, who review your hair health history and help determine whether additional evaluation or testing may be useful. Additionally, you can have a hair mineral analysis conducted on a small sample of your hair to gain insights into what root causes may be impacting your hair.

Nutrafol Men consists of supplements and a serum. Brown has begun taking the supplements.

“It’s easy,” he says of weaving them into his wellness routine, which also includes sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber, red light therapy, mindful eating and more.

“I take vitamins already. So to be able to have something that’s easy and that science backs up puts you back on track. And that’s what I’m looking [for], because I’m still in a fight. I’m not bald yet. My hair is still growing, it’s thinning but we’re still in a fight. Nutrafol is helping me stay in the fight.”

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Through this partnership, Brown hopes to put a spotlight on what people who are experiencing hair loss are actually going through.

“My hair was fine a couple years ago, and then a couple years later it’s not. It is an emotional experience and journey. And if I wasn’t me, I could see how that could affect my mental health, [or] could affect others’.”

“It’s easy for the world to just be making fun of someone who is potentially losing their hair, but I don’t think they think about the mental health aspect of it where they’re losing much more than that, their confidence, their self-belief, all that type of stuff,” Brown says.

“For me, that wasn’t the case because I’ve been to some very, very dark places mentally and I’ve advocated for mental health a lot. So [given] the stuff that I’ve gone through, this is low on a totem pole, but that’s not to say other males or females who are experiencing these types of things aren’t experiencing those mental health issues that come along with it, and I hope they find the peace and the solutions or whatever that they deserve because it is kind of tough, low-key.”

In addition to his healthy frame of mind, Brown has been able to infuse humor into his own situation, calling LeBron James while on Twitch to alert him, “they caught me slipping” as well as considering flying to Turkey, a hot spot for hair transplants, between games.

“I’ve always used humor as a coping mechanism in the sense of me and my family, we always just laugh things off, but that doesn’t mean certain stuff still doesn’t affect you. It still is affecting me, but it’s affected me less than maybe the average person.”

“In reality, things could be a lot worse, you know what I mean? And I like to laugh, I like to joke, so I get it. And I think the world needs more humor to some degree. But you still bring humor, but I’m doing this to also [address] the mental health components of hair loss, just to show the balance. Both things can be true.”

“You can laugh it off, but you also can address some things that probably need to be addressed personally so that you could find the stability mentally that you need because some people may struggle with that dynamic.”

Next year Brown will be 30. He says his response to this situation is the energy he’s bringing into the next decade.

“I want to attack any type of fear, any insecurity, any inch of doubt that I have within myself, full force. I don’t want it to have any space to live. So if I’m afraid of anything, I’m going after it. If I have one thought where I feel intimidated or I feel less or small, I’m going after it. I’m going into my 30s fearless. I’m going into my 30s with unwavering faith. I’m going into my 30s with no inch of doubt or self-limiting beliefs within me — at all.”