Rugby: Former All Black Xavier Rush's hair transplant inspires new business venture

Xavier Rush has undergone a dramatic transformation. Photo / Getty

Former All Black Xavier Rush is set to "transform" the lives of men suffering from hair loss.

Following a successful 15-year rugby career, Rush's confidence took a major hit as he noticed his hairline receding.

The former All Black No 8, who recently opened up about the topic, underwent a hair transplant not long after retiring from professional rugby in 2012.

It was a positive experience which now stands as the pillar of inspiration behind starting his own business to help other men transform their looks.

Portraits of Xavier Rush taken at Tredilion Park, Abergavenny. Double page spread in Cardiff Life Magazine. . Client: Sian Gunney Consulting.

Posted by Alex Lloyd Jenkins - Commercial Photographer on Friday, 29 March 2019

"I actually had a hair transplant just after I retired from rugby," Rush said in a video published on Wales Online.

"There was obviously still a bit of stigma around having a hair transplant then. But it was the best decision I ever made. It gave me back my confidence, which had been affected by going bald.

Xavier Rush in the 2004 Bledisloe Cup. Photo / Getty

"It's a decision I definitely do not regret."

Opening up on his personal struggles, Rush said "going bald doesn't happen overnight" and can deeply affect ones confidence.

"It's kind of a drawn-out, slow process where you are looking at it and kind of denying it at the start," the former Blues captain said.

"But then you see the team photos each year and there's definitely less hair each time.

"You start looking in the mirror and you are looking 10 years older, you don't have that same kind of self-belief.

"I got to a point, at around about 35, 36, where I started thinking there was an option to have treatment, so why not have it."

Rush earned eight All Blacks test caps between 1998 and 2004, before relocating to play for the Cardiff Blues between 2005 and 2012.

Xavier Rush holds the trophy with the Blues after they bet the Crusaders in the Super12 rugby final in 2003. Photo / Getty

He led the Blues to win the Anglo Welsh Cup in 2009 and although becoming a crowd favourite for the side, felt he had too much time on his hands as a professional rugby player.

Rush decided to resume his building career before becoming a property developer.

Now turning his focus to HeadQuarters Hair Transplants For Men, he could look to expand to Auckland shores.