Estimate your Norwood stage
The Norwood scale describes the visible pattern of male pattern baldness in seven broad stages. This quiz asks six questions about your hairline, crown, and overall scalp coverage, then maps your answers onto the stage that usually matches that description.
Treat the result as a label for the pattern you just described, not as a diagnosis. It cannot see your scalp, it does not know your family history, and it cannot tell the difference between androgenetic alopecia and the other causes of hair loss that need a clinician to distinguish.
Six questions
Answer from what you see in a mirror or a recent photo, in bright, even light. Nothing you select leaves your browser.
What to do next
This estimate describes a pattern, not a cause. It is not a diagnosis and it is not medical advice. If your hair loss is sudden, patchy, painful, or comes with scalp symptoms, see a clinician rather than a staging chart.
How the estimate is calculated
The Norwood scale separates two patterns that progress semi-independently: recession at the frontal hairline and thinning at the vertex, or crown. Most of the stages are defined by the combination of the two, plus whether a band of hair still bridges the top of the scalp between them.
- Stages I and II cover an unchanged or barely receded hairline with no crown involvement.
- Stage III is the point where recession becomes clearly visible at the temples. Stage III vertex describes crown thinning with frontal recession no greater than stage III.
- Stages IV and V involve both a receded hairline and a thinning crown, still separated by a band of hair across the top that narrows as the stages progress.
- Stages VI and VII describe the point where that band is gone and the frontal and crown areas have joined, leaving progressively less hair outside the horseshoe around the sides and back.
The quiz applies those rules in order, from the most advanced pattern down. If you answered “not sure” on the questions that decide your stage, the result is reported with lower confidence, because those answers are the ones doing the work.
Why a photo baseline matters more than the label
A stage estimate is a snapshot description. It cannot tell you whether you are stable or actively losing, and that is usually the more important question. Two men at the same stage can be on completely different trajectories.
Repeatable photos are what make the difference visible. The same four angles, the same lighting, the same distance, at a fixed interval, give you a record you can actually compare instead of an impression that shifts with the bathroom mirror. That record is also far more useful in a consultation than a remembered stage number.
Track Hair is built around exactly that routine: scheduled treatments, prompts for repeat photos, and a timeline you can scroll back through.