Controversial British Lions winger Austin Healey has followed in the footsteps of Greg Matthews and Graham Gooch by joining Advanced Hair Studio.

Nicknamed 'Flathead' by friends and teammates, Healey is better known for falling foul of tour officials during the British Lions' visit to Australia last year.

Amongst other things, Healey labelled Wallaby Justin Harrison "a plod, a plank and an ape" in a tour column in London's The Guardian newspaper.

But now he is back in the headlines after announcing through a media statement that he has elected to have his receding hairline attended to. "I first noticed my hair loss on the British Lions tour last year when I kept finding lots of hair on my towel after showering," Healey said.

"My fellow England teammate Matt Perry said that my head looked like a runway at Heathrow airport with the M3 and M4 motorway either side of it and all my friends called me a flathead.

"I've been on the program for four months ... I'm very happy with the results and now instead of receiving stick from my teammates, I can take the mickey out of the guys who are losing their hair."

Healey has recorded a 30-second advertisement that is about to be aired in the United Kingdom.

"I'm pretty good at dishing out the verbals but in all honesty not so good when they come bouncing back so I decided to give the treatment a go and get people off my back," Healey said yesterday.

"I started in September and it has involved two trips to Nottingham every week for the laser treatment and applying a lotion of Minoxidil twice a day, first thing in the morning and last thing at night. As long as you catch it early, it's the perfect remedy for receding. If you wait too long, it could become a problem."