Kenny Chesney was just a teenager when he started noticing that his hair was falling out.

The singer experienced hair loss early: By 19, he was in the midst of it. He opens up about the experience in his new book, Heart Life Music, admitting that it was “socially traumatic” at the time.

“I remember playing high school football, and I’d take my helmet off, and I’d see all this hair in there, and I was freaking out!” he writes in an excerpt of the book, which People published as a sneak peek.

“Now, though, I’m really glad that happened early because I have friends my age who are losing their hair, and they are really freaking out,” the 57-year-old continues.

Why Did Kenny Chesney Lose His Hair So Young?

Chesney’s mother, Karen Chandler, was a hairdresser when he was growing up. She used to use him to practice for her beauty school homework.

In his book, the singer suggests that it might have been the chemicals his hair was exposed to during those days that caused his early hair loss.

“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,” Chesney tells People. “And I’d go to school smelling like all these chemicals.”

The singer and his mom are very close to this day, and he lists her as a big inspiration for his music and musical career.

Read More: Kenny Chesney Reveals Where He Truly Feels at Home

But they don’t agree about what might have caused Chesney to lose his hair.

“My mom is great,” he notes. “And she hates this story because she denies it, but I’m convinced that what it was!”

Kenny Chesney Says There Was a Surprising Perk to His Early Hair Loss

In his book, Chesney takes a bird’s eye view on the anxiety of his early hair loss, pointing out that in the grand scheme of things, it was just a blip in a long and eventful life and career.

Read More: Kenny Chesney’s First Attempt at Songwriting Got Him Rejected By His Crush

“Just a few years after going through that, I was the guy in the corner playing music, and that changed my life,” he says.

He also says there’s been an unexpected upside as the years go on.

“In ways, I don’t really age,” he explains. “I kind of stay the same because of it!”

Heart Life Music will arrive on Nov. 4.