Of all the individuals in the public eye to become a hair loss treatment champion, it's probably safe to say that Wayne Rooney would have come pretty far down on our list - if we had a list!

In a footballing profession where shaven heads are at least as common as full heads of hair, Wayne never gave the impression of being remotely bothered about his admittedly, rather early-onset hair loss, or cruel tabloid jibes about his looks generally, dubbing him 'Mr Potato Head'

How refreshing then it was to discover that Wayne does have a sensitive side and he does care. Not only that, but he is willing to share his hair loss treatment with the world.

But what did he get for his £32,000 - a figure  beyond the means of most male hair loss sufferers? And should those who can't afford it be jealous or despairing or are more affordable solutions available which they will be just as happy with, if not happier?

To go back in time, hair transplants first came to Britain in the early 70s and looked like this.

Crude plugs of hair were surgically removed from the 'horseshoe' of normal-density hair that nearly always remains on the back and sides of the male scalp however advanced the front and crown hair loss and were implanted onto the front area. Comedian Russ Abbott was one of the first men in Britain to undergo this procedure and years later, go public about it. However 10 years later his side hair had receded even further and his 'plug' hair had died leaving him with a decidedly 'Frankenstein' look. He wore a multitude of wigs for his shows, but eventually decided to have the plugs removed and accept life as a bare-headed comedian and actor.

Fastforward over 30 years and we have the same principle in action (ie taking hair from the back to put in the front and crown) but using far more refined methods of smaller strips taken from a band cut from ear to ear with the gap sewn back together afterwards, or even the painstaking follicle-by-follicle transplant (the type Wayne Rooney opted for). We see much better results, particularly with Eastenders star, Shaun Williamson although not every celebrity has obtained such good results and many find they need the procedure more than once if their transplanted hair doesn't grow and dies off or perhap they have had the procedure before they have finished losing their hair.

The best results with hair transplants rely on the hair loss of the client having stabilised, so it will not continue, thereby leaving a strip between the new hair and the original and necessitating a secondary transplant, not something any hair loss clinic can guarantee, particularly with a man as young as Wayne Rooney is, still in his 20s.

The other thing to bear in mind before spending that £32k is that taking hair from the back will make the back thinner! In addition whilst you may end up with a passable semblence of hair from a distance on the front and crown following  a hair transplant, this hair will always be much thinner than your original hair was and may not bear close scrutiny or be of a density you'd be happy to let your partner run their fingers through.

If hair transplants were suitable for women (which they aren't as hair loss patterns in women are often more generalised, meaning that they suffer all-over thinning with no particularly thick patches to harvest from), most women would not find the density of hair offered by a transplant to be cosmetically acceptable. However as a man, you may find it ok to have thin hair as long as you look like you have a reasonable covering.

Alternatively, and if you don't have Wayne Rooney's budget, you may decide that for the price of a high-quality breatheable, bonded system, a man can have what looks and feels like his original hair again, for not much more maintenance than his original hair, and regain his life and confidence to the full, as well as a full head of hair.

Every man must do what is right for him and that means considering and exploring all the options.