Kenny Chesney was still a teenager when his hair started to fall out.
“Dealing with the reality of losing my hair as a senior in high school sucked. There’s nothing you can do,” Chesney, 57, wrote in his Heart Life Music memoir, published on Tuesday, November 4. “Once the shock wore off, then the panic, I realized a full head of hair is not what makes you you.”
Chesney explained that a person’s “ability to show up and be present” is what sets them apart — not their physical appearance.
“Finding something good in the day even when you’re not feeling it is what defines you,” he explained.
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While discussing his hair loss in the book, Chesney also hinted that his mother, Karen Chandler, might have had something to do with it.
“My mom had me while she was finishing her senior year of high school. A young mother, she started her life with a lot of responsibility,” he wrote. After trying out a job as a secretary, she decided to “go to beauty school and become a hairdresser.”
This might just be where his own hair struggles come in.
“I joke I lost my hair from her practicing on me when I was little. It’s not a coincidence, I’m sure of it,” Chesney wrote. “I had very fine light blond hair when I was in grade school.”
When Chesney was young, his mom gave him a perm as practice for her own career.
“She swears it was to make my hair seem fuller,” he added. “All those solutions and chemicals smelling to high heaven made my scalp burn and my eyes water, but she needed someone to work on.”
Years later, Chesney “saw clumps of my hair” coming out of his head.
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“I’d be in the locker room, looking around, not sure what to think. It’s disorienting, even embarrassing when you realize your hair is falling out,” he added. “To this day, I’m certain it was those chemicals.”
Chesney spoke candidly about his hair loss while promoting the book in an interview with People.
“My mom went to beauty school — my God, she’s going to kill us [for this story]— and I was her guinea pig on how to do stuff,” he told the magazine. “I’d go to school smelling like all these chemicals.”
Chesney joked that his mom “hates” when he tells his story and constantly denies having to do anything with his hair loss, even after all these years.
The singer admitted he was “freaking out” in high school when tufts of hair would be in his football helmet. While it was “socially traumatic” for Chesney at the time, the musician is ultimately happy he lost his hair earlier than most.
“Now though, in my life, I’m really glad that happened early because I have friends my age who are losing their hair, and they are really freaking out,” he quipped. “In ways, I don’t really age. I kind of stay the same because of it!”
