Silvio Berlusconi

The madcap Italian Prime Minister has spoken openly about his hair transplants and plastic surgery. "I am very happy to have subjected myself to such pain" he bleated.



Back in 2004, he famously entertained the Blairs at his villa in Sardinia while wearing a post-operative protective bandana. An embarrassed and bemused Tony Blair begged his wife to stand in between them for photographs.



A successful billionaire, it is perhaps unusual that Berlusconi waited until his 60s before undergoing his first procedure. One drawback of this is the lack of 'donor hair' available to transplant. He was around a norwood 6 before his transplant, so he didn't have much hair left to move onto his bald patch.



This means the overall density of his transplanted hair is low and he is reliant on concealers to give the illusion of thickness.



Norwood Rating : an unconvincing 2-3a

Gervinho

A few players have caught my eye during this football World Cup. Côte d'Ivoire forward Gervinho, with his delicate arrangement of braids, is one of them.



It seems that his brave hairstyle is a result of him trying to hide his large forehead. I am unsure whether this is due to male pattern baldness or a feature he was born with.



As a braid wearer he is at risk of developing traction alopecia, so things could conceivably get even worse for Mr. Gervinho.



Norwood Rating : 2a

Charlie Sheen update

A few weeks ago I posted about Charlie Sheen who has recently been convicted of assault, 'criminal mischief', and 'menacing'.



At his sentencing last week, he wore a beanie hat with a suit, which is enough to arouse the suspicions of any serious norwood spotter.



He later emerged from the courthouse minus the hat, and these pictures appear to confirm my belief that he usually wears a partial hair piece to cover his recession.



Norwood Rating : 2-3

Terry Nutkins

Terry Nutkins is a wildlife expert and presenter on British television. An oft quoted fact about him is that a deranged otter bit two of his fingers off.



Most men when going bald either try to accept it and adjust their hairstyle to suit, or cover it up in some way. Nutkins however is his own man, and has instead chosen to simply ignore it.



He seems oblivious to the large swathe of baldness that has consumed the top of his head for much of his adult life. The resulting hairstyle is known as a 'skullet'. Other famous skullet wearers include Michael Bolton and Hulk Hogan.



'Uncle' Terry's distinctive hairstyle has been the butt of many jokes over the years and is the subject of at least two facebook groups, the Terry nutkins hair cut fan club and Should I grow my hair like Terry Nutkins?

Norwood Rating : 6

Del Shannon

Del Shannon was a singer/songwriter best known for the classic 'Runaway'. Unfortunately his career was overshadowed by the song and he struggled to maintain his early success.



A tragic figure who battled with alcoholism and depression, to begin balding on top of all this must have felt like a proper kick in the balls.



I'm not sure exactly when he started wearing but by the mid 60s he was certainly employing the combover.



Shannon committed suicide on February 5th 1990, his body found minus his hairpiece.

Norwood Rating : 5

Manchester United

Chelsea may have won an historic treble this year (Premier League, FA Cup and Most Balding Team) but Manchester United were a close runner up in both the Premier League and Balding Team categories.

I have previously mentioned Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney, so let's take a look at some of the rest of their squad.



Gary Neville, receding slightly but this is to be expected for a man of his advanced years and could just be a 'mature hairline'.



Wes Brown. Ok he's not balding particularly badly, I just wanted to mention his ginger afro.



Paul Scholes, the baby-faced old man. Again, a bit of baldness is expected for someone his age.



Darron Gibson, notable bald patch. And yes, he does spell his name 'Darron'. Gaelic, apparently.



Gabriel Obertan, receding and diffuse thinning.



Dimitar Berbatov, the manner of his defection from Tottenham earned him the nickname 'The Bald Judas'.



They do also have a young player called Oliver Norwood who somewhat ironically shows no sign of balding.

So, not quite as high a percentage of balding players as Chelsea, and this may have had some effect on the title race. I would advise Sir Alex Ferguson to make sure his next few signings are balding in some way if he wants to win the Premiership next year. Maybe he should go for Joe Cole or Arjen Robben.

Norwood Rating : 1-3

Bret Michaels update

It has been a torrid few weeks for poor Mr. Michaels. In April this year he had emergency surgery to remove his appendix. Days after that, he suffered a brain hemmorage and nearly died. Now it has been discovered that he has a 'hole in the heart'. And all this on top of the indignity of male pattern baldness.



But things are starting to look up for the ageing rocker. He has spoken of being given a 'second chance' and is now planning on marrying his long term girlfriend. He also just won the third series of The Celebrity Apprentice.



So, well done Bret Michaels. I must admit to being slightly disappointed he didn't use this new lease of life to ditch the wig and bandana look though.

Norwood Rating : 4-5