Tinder‘s ‘most right-swiped man’ has revealed he secretly wore wigs for 14 years to hide his receding hairline – before finally undergoing a £5,000 hair transplant.
Stefan-Pierre Tomlin, 35, earned the nickname ‘Mr Tinder’ in 2017 when it emerged that more users had swiped right on him than anyone else – a staggering 14,600 times.
The London-based model, who has walked the runway for Burberry, first downloaded the dating app in June 2015 and quickly became hooked, spending an average of more than three hours a day swiping through potential matches.
But behind the confident persona, he was hiding a secret.
Like many men, Mr Tomlin had been struggling with hair loss since his early twenties – and admits he ‘never showed’ anyone his real hair for more than a decade.
Instead, he relied on wigs, hair fibres and caps to disguise his receding hairline from friends, dates and even TV producers.
Mr Tomlin first noticed his hair was thinning at the age of 21 while getting ready for a night out.
‘It was one of the worst things that could happen to me,’ he said.
Stefan-Pierre Tomlin, Tinder’s ‘most right-swiped man’, has revealed he secretly wore wigs for 14 years to hide his receding hairline from dates
‘I looked in the mirror and realised my hairline was going. I immediately rushed into my mum’s make-up bag and grabbed a brown eyeliner pen to draw on a new hairline. It was a new low.’
For the next three years, he used eyeliner daily before eventually switching to hair-building fibres as the problem worsened.
The products cost around £30 a tube – but Mr Tomlin said he eventually spent more than £3,000 a year on wigs and maintenance as he tried to keep the issue hidden.
During that time, he appeared on TV shows including Celebs Go Dating and Written In The Stars, all while continuing to disguise his hair.
He was also secretly using fibres when he joined Tinder in 2015 – the start of a nine-year stint on the app that saw him date more than 50 women and receive over 48,000 likes.
‘It was incredibly difficult hiding it from people,’ he said. ‘I never had the confidence to show anyone.’
On one occasion, Mr Tomlin said the lengths he went to conceal his hairline even forced him to lie during a TV shoot.
‘There was one time I was invited to shoot a trailer for Love Island and they asked me to jump into a swimming pool,’ he said.
Like many men, Mr Tomlin had been struggling with hair loss since his early twenties – and admitted he ‘never showed’ anyone his real hair for more than a decade
The model said he would even wear durags to bed when staying overnight with women to stop them from seeing his real hair
‘But I was wearing my fibres and they can’t get wet because they smudge.
‘So I said I couldn’t swim. I often found myself lying to save the embarrassment of showing my real hair.’
Even on dates, the topic of hair was something he avoided entirely.
‘If a woman tried to touch my hair I’d dodge away from their hand,’ he said. ‘They probably thought I was a little bit mental.’
Mr Tomlin said he would even wear durags to bed when staying overnight with women to stop them from seeing his real hair.
He would often wake up hours earlier than his dates so he could fix his hairline before they woke up.
‘It’s been a chip on my shoulder for over a decade,’ he said.
‘My hair would be the first thing I thought about when I woke up and the last thing before I went to bed.
‘I didn’t want anyone to see it – especially as a model. I worried it could ruin my career.’
The secret finally came out after he met his partner, Vicki Batsford, 44, in October 2024.
In January 2026, Mr Tomlin booked a hair transplant, costing £5,000
Mr Tomlin said he eventually felt comfortable enough to reveal the truth to her six months later.
‘I couldn’t keep the act up forever,’ he said. ‘Vicki made me feel trusted and safe. When I explained everything, she said she loved me for who I was.’
But by then his hairline had continued to recede, prompting him to seek a permanent solution.
In January 2026, Mr Tomlin booked a hair transplant procedure at British Hair Clinic, costing £5,000.
Now just over a week into recovery, he says the surgery has transformed his confidence.
‘My confidence has gone through the roof,’ he said. ‘Even though recovery takes about two weeks, I already look completely normal.
‘Hair has always been incredibly important to me – probably like it is for most men. Hiding this secret for years consumed me.
‘But now I can finally talk about it and know it’s in the past.
‘I feel ready to step back out on the runway again.’
