The vast majority of men will at some point in their lives deal with male hair loss, and there are two important points every man facing it should know.
The first is that you are not alone. By the age of 50, half of all men will be affected by alopecia at some level, and whilst it can naturally be upsetting, in most cases, it is not a sign of a more serious condition. There is no shame in losing your hair if almost everyone does to some degree.
The other important point is that there are plenty of options available if you are losing your hair, including medical treatments like finasteride and minoxidil, creams, injections and hair transplants.
Whilst hair transplants have been an option for a while, one of the first celebrities in the UK to be open about the procedure and clear about the results managed to change how many of us look at hair loss.
Wonder Boy
Even as a teenager, Wayne Rooney was in the spotlight constantly, and for at least 38 weeks a year, not counting cup ties and international fixtures, there was no place for him to hide.
Whilst he always kept his hair fairly short, by the age of 25 his hairline was noticeably receding into a high widow’s peak and even before this it was clear that his hairline was receding.
For the most part, Wayne’s priority was on his play, and he would become one of the most decorated and successful players of his generation.
By 2011, it was clear to him that he had to make a choice between shaving it all off or taking a chance on a treatment that had not received public attention to anywhere near this level up to that point.
Follicular Unit Extraction
There are two types of hair transplant that are available, but both are based on a similar principle of extracting hairs from another part of your body and implanted into another part of your scalp.
There is the follicular unit transportation (FUT) method, where strips of skin with hair are removed, divided into pieces and implanted back into the scalp, which is a faster treatment to manage certain kinds of hair loss but is not always suited.
Instead, Wayne chose the follicular unit extraction method, where individual hairs are removed and grafted into the skin where they are desired, which in this case would help to create a fuller, more rounded hairline.
The treatment was a massive success and became a national news story as a result.
To Wayne’s everlasting credit, he did not try at any point to hide it or deny that he had received the treatment, and in doing so he became a trailblazer.
Beyond typical male pattern baldness, football leads to a lot of scrapes and scuffs to the head, which can affect players’ hairlines as they get older.
Wayne Rooney not only made men feel comfortable talking about their hair anxieties but also signposted a choice for men who did not want to lose their hair.