"God, this is getting worse and worse" - Ben Stokes reveals undergoing hair transplant procedure after seeing bald patch
England Test captain Ben Stokes has recalled suffering hair loss aged 27 and feeling uncomfortable about it. The 32-year-old went on to follow the paths of legends like Graham Gooch and Shane Warne, getting a hair transplant.
Speaking to The Telegraph recently, Stokes recalled seeing a bald patch during overhead camera shots of his bowling run-up. The seam-bowling all-rounder revealed that the hair transplant procedure gave him plenty of confidence.
"I saw the footage of myself, and the angle would be a bird’s-eye view, straight on top. I thought, ‘God, this is getting worse and worse. I’m lucky in that I’m quite tall, so I was standing above most people. But it just got to the point where it was getting too much," the England red-ball skipper said.
"So I went in, got it done, and as soon as I started seeing the results, it gave me so much more confidence, knowing that I didn’t have to worry about it as much as I did beforehand," he added.
The star all-rounder underwent the procedure named follicular unit extraction at the Harley street-based clinic in London.
"The stigma and the secretiveness have gone" - Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes admitted that he always used to derive confidence from having hair on his head, given the compliments he used to reserve. At the same time, the 32-year-old believes that those days are gone when people underwent hair transplant procedures secretly.
"Men and hair, it’s a thing. The procedures used to be kept quiet. It was almost one of those things where you didn’t want people to know you had had it done. As people get older, they want to have a good head of hair," he said.
"So whatever they can do to make them feel better about themselves, why not? I know how I felt, from all the compliments I received. It gives you so much confidence. The stigma and the secretiveness have gone," he added.
As far as Stokes' on-field affairs go, he will compete in the 2023 World Cup, starting on October 5. The New Zealand-born all-rounder came out of his one-day retirement last month and hit England's highest individual score (182) at The Oval. The 32-year-old was also the Player of the Match during the 2019 World Cup final against New Zealand.