Prince William's very short buzzcut has the world talking. Photo./ AP
Going bald is among men's greatest concerns, with recent research revealing that almost half of men fret about losing their hair.
And is seems that Prince William has been struggling with a receding hairline after stepping out with a new buzz cut on Thursday amid claims Prince Harry "teased him about his baldness".
It was reported that the father-of-three to be paid £180 ($340) to have his head shaved by his wife's hairdresser, Richard Ward, and later decided to get the number one buzz cut - a figure that has since been denied.
A royal source said last night that William actually cuts his hair himself most of the time.
They said laughingly: "The Duke is very amused that anyone thinks he has enough hair to justify that kind of money."
It is thought that Joey Wheeler, who works under Mr Ward, trimmed his hair at his royal residence at Kensington Palace.
And while the royal plumped for a buzz cut to transform his changing locks, stylists at a celebrity hair salon say there are plenty of other options Prince William could have embraced.
From braving a hair transplant to donning a wig, celebrity hairdresser Jay Birmingham shares the hairloss styling solutions men like Prince William can opt for.
As Jay explains, patterned baldness can cause some serious anxiety and loss of confidence for men so a human hair wig can be an immediate solution to many hair loss conditions, but is only temporary.
With the growth of hair treatments, there are many available on the market to help promote natural hair re-growth but are not always effective.
Jay says one of the most trend-led looks today is the 'fauxhawk', which comes with shaved temples and a retro pompadour.
While this is a popular solution to hair loss, Jay says it's important to keep in mind your face shape and body structure. "The direction of the cut can make the receding hairline look less bare so choosing a good hairstyle is a must for people who try to keep themselves updated with the current trends and for balding men who are self-conscious about their physical appearance," he said.
A fauxhawk is a 'less dramatic' version of the mohawk and sides are fully shaven to the skin, and the remaining hair is kept as it is.
Jay believes that a retro pompadour hairstyle adds a 'sophisticated class' to any look; think Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
He explains: "The hair at the crown can be perfectly combed, matte or shiny to add dimension and be an illusion to help cover patterned baldness. It can either be simply slicked back or made into a specific angle as per the choice of the person and this style adds volume to thinning hair."
As Dr Nestor Demosthenous explains: "Hair transplants are unrecognisable these days from the old ideas of unsightly plugs and uneven hairlines. Today's procedures, particularly Follicular Unit Transplants (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), are incredibly advanced and carry a success rate of 90-100 per cent, resulting in a natural finish.
"Hair transplantation performed in this way can improve hair density at both the front of the head and in the crown area, by moving follicles from unaffected areas at the back of the head. FUE and FUT procedures require minimal downtime and most patients will have attained 60 per cent of new hair growth after 6-9 months, with almost full restoration after a year.
"It's always going to be a big decision as to whether hair transplant surgery is right for you, but if you are concerned about thinning hair or balding, and you don't want to go for the shorn style that Prince William has adopted, hair transplantation can significantly improve your appearance and your self-confidence.
"However, as with every medical procedure, it's essential that you do your research and book a consultation with a specialist hair restoration doctor, who will give you honest and informed advice about the best treatment for you."
Jay believes the combover, like the one Prince Charles sports, is the quickest and easiest solution for thinning hair because it makes hair look more voluminous.
"Men with longer hair can opt for this instead of shaving off the entire crown," explained Jay.
Hairdresser Bradley Smith said: "I would recommend that William grows his hair again but has it clipped on the side. A nice tight fade going from grade one to grade three with a scissor blend to the top and a nice comb over using Nioxin, along with a thickening powder would really suit his style.
"A closely trimmed grade one beard with sharp edges would give him a look of slightly older sophistication and being well-groomed, rather than this harsh army-style buzz cut."
Extensions
For a headline-grabbing spell back in 2014, the actor Mickey Rourke sported a gravity-defying quiff.
Rourke, who had a thick head of hair in perhaps his most famous role in Nine and a Half Weeks, has regularly turned to extensions and hairpieces to enhance his diminishing locks in recent years.
Mainstream UK salons now offer hair extensions for men, using scientifically developed bonds that require little maintenance, as a discreet solution for thinning hair.
Micro scalp pigmentation
Micro scalp pigmentation, a process by which men have tiny particles of pigment tattooed onto their scalp to create the illusion of very short strands of hair on a shaved head.
According to a hair clinic that provides the service, it's been catering to increasing numbers of balding men in search of a confidence boost with the help of the so-called 'hair tattoos'.
The Micro Scalp Pigmentation takes between two to five hours depending on the extent of the bald or thinning area, and most people have two to three sessions.
Staff at Vinci Hair Clinic in London, where the procedure was developed, claim it is pain free, with most clients describing a light tingling sensation in the scalp.
Spray on hair
It's highly unlikely a royal - or any other man - would resort to it but the 1980s saw the arrival of hair in a spray can.
Applied to thinning areas, they were designed to either colour the scalp to enhance the remaining hair in the area and give it the appearance of more thickness, or even product hair-like filaments that would cling to the scalp and existing strands.
The prince, who as a teenager used to hide behind his long, floppy blond fringe, has long been conscious of his receding hairline.
His brother Harry often teases his older brother about losing his locks and said that William 'was already bald aged 12' while chatting to a Second World War veteran in Barbados several years ago.
In 2014, the Duchess of Cambridge suggested the perfect solution for her husband's growing bald patch - an alpaca toupee.
As they visited the Sydney Royal Easter Show, Kate was shown a tuft of alpaca wool - which was a similar shade of brown to the duke's hair - and pointed to William's head, remarking: "You need it more than me."
"By having a buzz cut reduces the maintenance and while it is relatively short it is not completely shaved down to the skin, which may be down to personal preference.
"Shaving his head gives a dramatic change to his appearance as it has changed his face shape making his face appear fuller and I actually think it shows off his appearance more giving him more confidence," explained the stylist from Rainbow Room International in Glasgow.
Dylan continued: "It is great to see him embracing his receding hairline and not opting for the easy way out like hair transplant as losing your hair is one of the worst things that can happen to a guy. This look makes him seem more down to earth and an 'everyday' guy."
Jason Collier, hairstylist to Victoria Beckham, Sienna Miller, Brooklyn Beckham and Damian Lewis, said: "It can be tricky for a man losing his hair to know what to do with it; does he try and style it out, or does he go bold with a buzz cut?
"Depending on the amount of hair you have left, or the way in which the hairline is receding, you have a few options. If you're receding at the edge of your hairline, you can make like Jude Law and wear your hair slightly longer, opting for a choppy, textured cut and pushing the hair slightly forward to cover receding at the temples, which will buy you some time to decide what your next steps are going to be.
"However, too much length can make hair look thinner than it is, so it's a tricky balance to strike. If your hair loss is severe, and if it's more around the crown and on the top of the scalp, like Prince William's, my advice would be to just be bold and shave your hair off. Wear it short, and wear it with pride!
"This is definitely a brave look and not for the faint-hearted, but taking charge of your hair in this way could really help you feel more confident about your look – you've chosen the style and you're going to wear it well, your hair loss isn't a factor anymore. I would recommend, if you are going to go short, to pair it with a beard to ensure that your face shape still has structure and power, and to reinforce the feeling that you look good and you feel confident with your decision."
Dr Nestor Demosthenous, added: "For many men, the thought of losing their hair is a real concern. Our hair is a statement of our personality, a way to express ourselves, an image we present to the world.
"However, according to recent NHS figures, 50 per cent of men will experience some degree of male pattern baldness in their lifetime, and while many men recognise the probability it could happen to them, most live with the hope and expectation that it won't. The main cause of hair loss, for 95 per cent of men experiencing a thinning scalp, is androgenetic alopecia, commonly referred to as male pattern baldness.
"Prince William has clearly suffered with the onset of male pattern baldness in the last few years, and has now decided to embrace it and wear his hair extremely short, but for any men suffering the same condition who don't want to go for the buzz-cut look, there is the option of a hair restoration procedure."
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Joey Wheeler (@joeywheeler24) on
A hairdresser who came from humble beginnings in his family salon can now call himself Prince William's stylist after being invited to the palace to shave the royal's head.
Joey Wheeler was yesterday invited to Kensington Palace to give the Duke of Cambridge the number one buzzcut.
Originally from Brighton where he started out in the family salon, the 30-year-old spent some four years commuting to London where he toiled away in a top salon.
Now a sought-after stylist to the stars, his Instagram posts show him hobnobbing with celebrities including Declan Donnelly, Michael Caine and Lewis Hamilton and styling models for Vogue magazine.
Prince William is said to have received advice from the Duchess of Cambridge's hairdresser, Richard Ward, and later decided to get the number one buzzcut.
Mr Wheeler, who has worked under Mr Ward, for some 11 years, is understood to have trimmed his hair at his royal residence at Kensington Palace.
He specialises in the 'scissor over comb' freehand technique which he used on the royal's hair.
The cut is said to have cost £180, something that was denied by Kensington Palace.
A source close to the hairdressers told The Sun: '"Wills sought Richard's advice, but it was Joey who was the one to visit the Palace and give him his new buzz cut."
Mr Wheeler has also cut the hair of Rugby star and Harlequins scrum, Danny Care.
In 2015, he was flown to Silverstone race track by Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone - another clientele of Richard Ward's salon - and posted a photograph of himself beaming alongside F1 star Lewis Hamilton.
Mr Wheeler was nicknamed 'Joey Sussex' by his team at Richard Ward, after spending four years commuting from his Brighton home to the salon in Chelsea.
He completed his training in 2010 and won a number of awards before going on to work on shoots for television and Vogue magazine.
He has styled model's hair during Men's Fashion Week and now acts as Senior Educator at the top salon - but still returns to his uncle's barbers in Brighton to get his own hair cut.
The Richard Ward salon counts The Duchess of Cambridge, her sister Pippa, brother James and mother Carol Middleton among its clients.
Other stars to have used the salon include F1 star Jenson Button, Hollywood legend Dustin Hoffman, Ivana and Ivanka Trump and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho.
Mr Wheeler heralds from a family of hair stylists, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.
The family set up Master Wheeler's barber shop in Brighton, East Sussex in 1982, where Joey is understood to have started out.
And he is not the only member of his family to mingle with celebrities.
His footballer brother Nick Wheeler, 27, took a decidedly different path, shunning the family trade to become a footballer.
A former winger for the Isthmian League Premier Division side Tonbridge Angels, in July 2017 Nick was signed by National League side Dagenham & Redbridge.
He too posts photographs of himself alongside his celebrity friends including Gaz Beadle from Geordie Shore and the cast of The Only Way Is Essex.
A live cook-off featured ox heart, wapiti, wild boar and plenty of edible wildlife.