Cricket star Phil Tufnell has revealed how he had had a hair transplant so he will look good for the Ashes this summer. The 56-year-old former England bowler had 1,000 hairs implanted into the thinning areas of his scalp using the advanced Direct Hair Implantation (DHI) technique. He posed for pictures during his ‘lunch-hour’ transplant which is minimally invasive, requires no surgery and can be done in a few hours without shaving the head to get the donor hair.
Tuffers had the £4,000 procedure at DHI Global’s Clinic close to Harley Street in central London.
Tufnell said:
I have been suffering from hair loss for a few years at the back and sides of my scalp and I wanted to do something about it.
What I particularly like about this treatment is that you don’t have to have the back of your head shaved. They literally pick the donor hairs out and then patch it back up where you have the bald spots with very little fuss. There is very little disturbance to the scalp and the final results are completely natural. It means the down time after the operation is minimal and I can quickly get back to doing what I love, which is watching cricket, without anyone knowing what I’ve had done.
The I’m A Celebrity winner realised he needed help with his hair when he spotted he was thinning in the overhead mirrors in a lift at the BBC in London.
He said “I thought to myself, ‘I don’t like what I am seeing – I want to get that sorted. I am going to need a patch-up on my barnet. There are modern techniques to address the problem, so why not get it done? I knew I would feel a whole lot better afterwards. No one likes to lose their hair and I don’t think the shape of my face is suited to a receding hairline. But my main reason is that I wanted a nice head of hair. I have always had thin hair anyway and I wanted to do something about it before it was too late. I started losing it seven years ago and what worried me was the thinning hair at the front of my hair which is most noticeable when I am on TV.
I am aware that several ex-cricketers have had help with their hair. We are like a little club of hair transplant patients. The common factor in all of us is that we are all on the TV and in the media and are aware that we need to look good when we are presenting to millions of fans. This summer is going to be really busy with the Ashes starting in June. It takes around six months for the new hair to really start showing and around nine months before the full effects are evident. So I should be looking my best with the hair fully restored when we take on Australia in the summer. I am really excited to show off my new barnet just as the boys start the series. The England team is playing brilliantly under Ben Stokes and it should be a really exciting summer.”
The former Strictly star and Question of Sport host said he chose DHI Global for the procedure because he wanted the minimum of fuss.
He said “I wanted the very best treatment in the world with the shortest down-time and that was always going to be DHI. You read about patients going abroad for hair transplants but that was never going to be an option for me. The best clinics in the world are here and it is reassuring to know that the team is next to Harley Street for the aftercare. Who wants to jump on a flight to check on their hair if something goes wrong?”
With DHI no holes are made for the implanting of the new hairs – instead they are directly implanted. The DHI technology controls the depth and angle of the new hairs – giving the most natural results. All DHI procedures are performed by doctors, who are trained and certified by London Hair Restoration Academy, the first Academy for hair transplants.
The DHI doctor who performed Phil’s sesion added: We are increasing the density in Phil’s hair on the sides and the crown. We are filling in the gaps to make him look better when he is presenting cricket in the summer. We treat a lot of high profile patients such as Phil who need to look good for their careers. They use the downtime when they are not in the public eye for a discreet procedure which can make them look years younger.
