If you close your eyes and think about 90s television, you see them. The oversized, zoot-suit-adjacent blazers. The four-button jackets that reached a man's knees. And, looming above it all like a glorious, wooly monolith, the steve harvey high top. It wasn't just a haircut. For a solid decade, that sharp, level-plane fade was a structural marvel. It was the "Eiffel Tower" of the Apollo Theater.
But here is the thing: it was largely a masterpiece of engineering, not biology.
Most people today know Steve Harvey as the sleek, bald king of Family Feud. He’s the guy who looks like a polished mahogany bowling ball with a silver-flecked mustache. But for those of us who grew up watching The Steve Harvey Show or The Original Kings of Comedy, that high top was gospel. It looked too perfect. It looked permanent. Honestly, it was.
The Architectural Mystery of the High Top Fade
Back in the day, the steve harvey high top was the gold standard for the "clean" look. While other rappers and actors were moving toward cornrows or buzz cuts, Steve stayed loyal to the height. It served a purpose. When you are a stand-up comic, you need a silhouette. You need to be recognizable from the back of a smoky club. Steve’s hair gave him an extra four inches of authority.
People used to joke that you could set a spirit level on top of his head and the bubble would stay dead center. It was a flat-top so aggressive it made 1950s drill sergeants look sloppy. But as the years went on, the questions started bubbling up. How did it never move? How did the hairline stay that crisp, even after a two-hour set under hot stage lights?
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The Katt Williams "Bombshell"
Fast forward to the 2024 internet-shattering interview on Club Shay Shay. Katt Williams didn't just come for Steve's jokes; he came for the follicles. Williams claimed, quite loudly, that the iconic steve harvey high top was actually a "man unit."
"It's a man unit... making all Black men think he got the best lineup in the business." — Katt Williams
Basically, Katt alleged that Steve was wearing a high-end toupee—or "man weave"—long before they were a common TikTok trend. And while Katt is a polarizing figure, he wasn't exactly saying anything the barbershop hadn't been whispering for years. If you look at high-definition clips from the late 90s, the "texture" of the hair sometimes looked a bit... uniform. A little too saturated.
The Truth Behind the "Man Unit"
Steve hasn't spent much time defending his old hair, mostly because he’s too busy being a billionaire. But the evidence of a struggle with hair loss is actually out there if you look for it.
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Around age 49, things changed. Steve has since admitted that he noticed "strange things" happening to his hair. The "strange thing" was nature. He was balding. Specifically, reports and old photos from NBA All-Star games in the mid-2000s showed a thinning crown that the high top could no longer hide.
Barbering experts like Ms. Cassie of Chicago have noted that Steve likely used a partial hairpiece. They would glue a unit to the top and taper the sides of his natural hair to blend into it. This explains why the steve harvey high top looked like a separate architectural entity from the rest of his head. It sort of was.
The $1,500 Haircut
Steve once claimed he paid his barber, James Thomas, upwards of $1,500 per cut (and sometimes much more when on tour) to keep that look sharp. When you’re paying that much, you aren't just getting a trim. You are getting a construction crew. Thomas worked with Steve for over 30 years, transitioning him through the Afro years, the high top years, and eventually, the "Great Shave" of 2008.
Why He Finally Let the High Top Die
In January 2008, Steve Harvey appeared on the cover of JET magazine. He looked different. The high top was gone. The suits were getting slightly slimmer. He was completely bald.
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It was a pivot that saved his career.
Imagine Steve Harvey trying to host Family Feud in 2026 with a 1994 high top fade. He’d be a caricature. By leaning into the bald look, he transitioned from "90s sitcom guy" to "America's Uncle." He traded the vanity of a hairpiece for the reliability of a razor.
He told Ellen DeGeneres that the transition was about accepting the winless fight against time. He basically said that going bald isn't something you fight because you can't win. You just have to "accept it when it comes your way."
Actionable Insights for the Modern Man
If you’re looking at old photos of the steve harvey high top and wondering if you can pull it off—or if you're dealing with the same thinning issues Steve did—here is the reality:
- The "Man Unit" is now mainstream: What Steve (allegedly) did in secret is now a multibillion-dollar industry. If you want that crisp high top look but have a thinning crown, "man weaves" are more natural-looking today than they were in 1997.
- Know when to fold 'em: Steve's biggest power move wasn't the hair; it was knowing when to shave it. If your "lineup" requires 20 minutes of spray-on hair fibers every morning, it might be time for the JET magazine reveal.
- Focus on the Grooming: When Steve went bald, he doubled down on the mustache. If you lose the hair on top, your facial hair becomes your new "silhouette." Keep it immaculate.
The steve harvey high top remains a legend in the world of Black hair. Whether it was grown from his scalp or glued on in a dressing room doesn't really change the cultural impact. It was the crown of a king of comedy, even if it was a crown he eventually had to take off to keep his throne.
Next Steps for You:
If you are currently struggling with a receding hairline and aren't ready for the "Steve Harvey Shave," look into modern scalp micropigmentation (SMP) or Afro-textured hair systems. These provide the "sharp" look of the 90s fade without the risk of your hairpiece shifting during an NBA All-Star game.