Times Elon Musk's Hair Was Even More Unflattering Than Trump's

After seemingly crowning himself the king of social media, Elon Musk has used his unfathomable wealth to sidle up to powerful political players. Making a political U-turn and aligning his allegiance with Donald Trump, Musk has donated hundreds of millions to the president's campaign — and snagged himself a seat in Trump's inner circle in the process. However, Trump and Musk may have more in common than meets the eye — and it's more noticeable than either of them might think.

Trump is known for many things: brash opinions, oversized suits, that orange spray tan, and a hairdo that defies physics. Musk, for his part, seems to be following a similar path. As the current owner of X, formerly Twitter, Musk is pushing boundaries with his bold posts, mirroring much of Trump's rhetoric. But there's something else of Musk's that's copying — if not outdoing — Trump, and that would be questionable hairstyles. There's a long history of the Tesla CEO looking unrecognizable with older haircuts, but it seems there have been plenty of times Musk has one-upped Trump when it comes to unflattering hair.

When Elon Musk took the reins as CEO of Tesla in 2008, one of his main goals was to get Tesla as much publicity as possible — for better or for worse. Luckily for him, between a troubled rollout and many setbacks with production, good press was still to be had. Seen here attending talks at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011, Musk was involved in a Q&A session following the showing of the documentary "Revenge of the Electric Cars." However, what really stole the show was the messy, swoopy bedhead look that Musk's hair was rocking.

Reminiscent of Donald Trump's swirling comb-over (one of the many things we're begging Trump to ditch in 2025), this look makes Musk appear disheveled and tired. Using his authority as a major player in the documentary may have given Musk the confidence to appear onstage with bedhead, but considering the CEO loves to brag about how many all-nighters he pulls to make his companies successful, there's a chance he hadn't gone to bed at all. This made the look all the more bizarre.

Ditching the bedhead for a more "high and tight" look, Elon Musk is seen here sitting down for a discussion at the New York Times "DealBook Conference" in 2013. While chatting with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, the SpaceX head honcho answered questions ranging from his proposed Hyperloop (the high-speed rail intended to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles that never materialized) to troubling issues with Tesla cars catching fire. Unfortunately for Musk, he not only had to battle some antagonistic questions but also a haircut that left him looking boyish and immature.

Possibly wanting to channel a more "space cowboy" look, Musk paired the underwhelming buzz cut with his signature tacky leather jacket. Part of the complete transformation of Musk involves many hairstyles and tackling different ways to continue to keep his name in the press, regardless of whether it's in a positive or negative light. None of his fluctuations has stopped him from accruing more wealth — and more notoriety. However, he did not learn his lesson after this haircut and, in fact, took matters into his own hands.

In a post on X, Elon Musk is pictured rocking a peculiar hairstyle. In the caption, Musk explains, "Thanksgiving last year after watching one too many episodes of Vikings." Apparently, the world's richest man took matters into his own hands and not only gave himself a heinous haircut, but also took the shears to his son. Considering how affordable most men's haircuts are (with kids' cuts being even cheaper), it's truly baffling that Musk felt the need to perform this at-home makeover.

Listen, many of us have fallen for the spur-of-the-moment urge to cut our own bangs or dye our own hair, but usually, these urges subside once we've seen the light of what a true hair care professional can do for us. Maybe it's his ego that lets him think he can produce the same quality as someone who is trained to cut hair; however, this final look certainly says otherwise. The top is too long and loose, and the shaved sides are too high, with the setting on the electric razor likely set too low. Not only does this provide an immediately bad cut, but it will also be a nightmare to grow out.

Speaking of home haircuts not growing out well, Elon Musk's appearance at the 2022 Met Gala is pure proof that his Viking 'do did not disappear smoothly. The top appears well-trimmed enough, but the undercuts did not fill out well. From this angle, it appears he waffled between wanting to keep the sides of his scalp buzzed and wanting to grow everything back into a cohesive look.

The SpaceX CEO took his mother, Maye Musk, to the Met Gala that year. Notably, in 2022, Elon was between lovers — he ended up having children with both Grimes and Neuralink employee Shivon Zilis in 2021, which would explain why he took Maye to the Met Gala instead of a proper date. One of the tragic details of Grimes and her on-again, off-again love affair with Elon is that she appeared to forgive his trespasses and still had a third child with him via surrogate in 2023. Being a father to a dozen children has not improved Elon's ability to get a good haircut.

After Elon Musk and Donald Trump squashed their beef, Musk nestled his way into Trump's inner circle, campaigning alongside him during the 2024 election. Possibly copying Trump's hairstyle once again, Musk is seen here during a town hall for Trump in Oaks, Pennsylvania, with hair that looks as if he started to copy the Trump combover and then decided not to. Instead, he ended up trying to create volume by combing up his hair in a large peak, similar to digitally animated boy genius Jimmy Neutron.

Regardless of how his hair appeared while stumping for Trump, it seems Musk was successful in helping the President push his way to victory. Bad hair or not, Musk is now responsible for Trump putting some distance between himself and the Vice President, with Musk becoming a quick favorite. Fully embedded in the Trump administration, Musk would do well to continue copying Trump's style — at least for bad hair, anyway. If Musk bruises Trump's ego any more than he already has, he might be out of a job (and friendship).