Justin Hawkins

The former lead singer and guitarist of The Darkness, now with Hot Leg, is somewhat unusual in the world of balding rockers.



He has spoken openly about his battle with baldness and has even written a song about it. "This one is definitely based on personal experience - my dad went bald, my granddad went bald - I'm f**ked."



The song, simply entitled 'Bald', featured on The Darkness' second album and a live version can be seen below. It contains the line "well tonight thank God it's him instead of me" in a cheeky nod to the balding Bono.



Hawkins appears to have done his research on solutions to hair loss and looks to have at least maintained his hair since 2003. I suspect he is probably on propecia, and the Sun newspaper speculated on some sort of weaving procedure.



Shots like this do make you wonder exactly what he has done, and it looks like he breaks out the wigs and extensions for those extra special occasions.

Norwood Rating : 2

Phil Collins

Phil Collins is a former child actor who later became a successful MOR musician.



Back in the 80s Collins cultivated something of an 'everyman' image. Many men approaching middle age could relate to his songs about divorce, his love of drums, and of course his rapidly receding hairline.



As he progressed further along the norwood scale, his success as both a solo artist and as drummer/vocalist with Genesis increased, reaching a peak at around a norwood 5.



When he had no more hair to lose, his commercial success gradually petered out. He eventually withdrew to his chateau in Switzerland, an extremely wealthy but mentally broken man.



He has since become obsessed with the battle of the Alamo, and owns over 1000 pieces of related memorabilia. His tragic descent into madness now seems complete.



Norwood Rating : 6

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