James Nesbitt's '˜new' hair '“ the professionals give their verdict

He appeared at a football awards show on Monday night with a substantially fuller and darker head of hair than before – leading some to wonder whether the largely balding actor was displaying a new hair transplant, or a wig.

Mr Nesbitt – who first came to prominence in the ITV comedy Cold Feet in the late 1990s – had publicly acknowledged having hair transplants to boost his hair over the last several years.

In one testimonial from him, on the website of the Blackrock hair clinic, Dublin, he said: “I really felt that my hair loss could affect my career prospects.”

Opinion was split among some Belfast professionals on Tuesday after he unveiled his new look while co-hosting Fifa’s Ballon d’Or awards ceremony in Zurich.

Just a week before, he had appeared on BBC One’s Graham Norton Show with a notably thinner hairline.

Niall Friel, 40 and from the Hair Loss Control Clinic on Belfast’s Malone Road (which carries out hair transplants), said it was probably the result of hair extensions, glued onto his existing transplant.

“It’s likely extensions, it’s unlikely it’s a hairpiece,” he said. “Purely down to the fact he’s invested significant amounts of his money and time in getting hair replaced surgically – why would he go backwards, and throw a hairpiece on top?”

Ultimately, he could not be 100 per cent certain.

He added: “It’s impossible to grow that amount of hair within a week – that I do know.”

As to whether it actually suits him, he said: “I’m not completely taken. In my opinion, it’s too dark for him.”

Barber Sean Lawlor, 42, who runs Cambridge Barbershop at Queen’s University, said while it was probably done to boost the actor’s confidence, “I don’t know if it’s an improvement”.

He added: “It’s a wee bit long for that style.”

He believed it was impossible to have got a fresh transplant done within that space of time, and said: “I think it’s a hairpiece, if anything.”

Sean McStravick, 42-year-old owner of Vision Hair in the city centre, when asked if he preferred the old or new style, said: “I’d have to say new. I think it’s really good – very dashing.”

He wracked his brain in search of the character whom Mr Nesbitt now reminds him of, before deciding it was Mr D’Arcy from the BBC’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

In Zack’s Barbershop, 24-year-old customer Matthew Haswell from Newtownards said: “It’s definitely different, put it that way. To be honest, at first glance, I wouldn’t have recognised him.”

He said if he were going similarly bald, “I’d probably take all my hair off”.

He ultimately approved of the change, saying: “Everyone likes to mix things up.”