Hair We Go

How Wayne Rooney revealed he’d had hair transplant – now he’s off to buy some gel!

It has been a barren patch for Wayne Rooney, but now he can shout to team-mates: ‘On me ‘head’.

The Manchester United and England striker yesterday confirmed to his Twitter followers that he has had a hair transplant.

He tweeted: ‘I was going bald at 25 why not.  I’m delighted with the result.  It’s still a bit bruised and swollen when it dies down u will be first to see it.  Anyone recommend any good hair gel.  Haha.’

Rooney thanked staff at London’s Harley Street Hair Clinic and urged Twitter users to post ‘hairwego’ messages – a pun on the popular terrace chant of ‘here we go’. Within two hours the phrase was ‘trending’, indicating that it was a hot topic on the social media site.

In response, Rooney said: ‘Hairwego trending already, that was rapid thx everyone for ur support.’

His wife Coleen was quick to tweet her approval and deny suggestions that she was behind Wayne’s new look.  ’Yes Wayne’s had his hair done!  His decision not me asking him, like alot are saying!!’

Rooney’s team-mate Rio Rerdinand also posted a message saying: ‘Just don’t go down the wearing an alice band route!!  You’ll be doing head&shoulders adverts soon!  Hope its gone ok.  Good luck lad.’

Rooney’s transplant in a procedure called follicular unit extraction (FUE) has been available since 2003.  It involves taking follicles from the back of the head, where they are often plentiful, even in bald men, and replanting them at the front.

A typical treatment of 4,500 follicles costs £8,000, although experts say covering Rooney’s bald patch could easily top £20,000.

Dr Raghu Reddy, of  The Private Clinic, in Harley Street, said the big advantage of FUE was that it left no scarring at the back of the head.

‘Some techniques involve taking a chunk of skin from that area and it causes visible scarring,’ he said.

Rooney’s team-mate Ryan Giggs, cricketers Shane Warne, Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan, and rugby’s Austin Healey have all had hi-tech treatment for baldness.

A month ago, team-mate Michael Owen tweeted Rooney: ‘Your face looks like a 12 year olds but your hair looks like a 60 year old!’

Rooney responded: ‘Easy mo u know that’s a sensitive subject.’