Bald patches turn Warne to hair treatment

Shane Warne's regrowth has always been a style issue, but his baldness has forced him to join a campaign to get back his receding hairline. Warne, who is a perennial bottle-blond, has completed replacement treatment from Advanced Hair Studio in a bid to return his locks.

"It's great," Warne, the Hampshire captain, said. "My hair is growing back and my hair loss has stopped." While he hopes the program increases his thatch, the exercise also opens up a valuable box of sledges for England during the Test series starting on July 21.

Warne told an international video conference from London that he was taking tablets to prevent the hair loss and when asked if they were acceptable under the sport's drug rules he said: "Do I really need to answer that one? Of course I have. I have checked them all out."

AAP reported that he was also quizzed about ditching his mobile phone, whether he was getting paid more than for his failed quit-smoking campaign with Nicorette, and if having hair was more attractive to women. "You can speculate all you like about that stuff," Warne said. "The most important thing to me is to re-grow my own hair."

Warne, 35, said being blond was his trademark and he "wanted to feel young again". He also said he would check out Ricky Ponting's pate to see if his was thinning. "I'll have to study him very closely in the change room," he said. "I might have to pull him aside and have a quiet little word."

Turning on bald patches isn't foreign for cricketers. The offspinner Greg Matthews led a high-profile "yeah, yeah" promotion and Graham Gooch and Martin Crowe have also endorsed the product. Warne had his first Advance Studio session late in the Australian summer and will use laser therapy and a special thickening shampoo to help his recovery.