The Gro Diaries Podcast

Episode 8: NRL Legend and Radio Presenter Ben Hannant talks to us about his hair loss and hair transplant!

• Gro Clinics • Season 1 • Episode 8

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Having this legend on the Podcast was an absolute treat! Recording this episode was like having a one to one session with a motivational public speaker. Trust us, you don't want to miss this one.
Ben recently had a hair transplant with Gro so we grabbed him and his broadcasting expertise to join us for chat and tell us his story.
From a QLD schoolboy struggling to keep up academically and athletically to representing Queensland, Australia, making 245 NRL appearances and being the only player in History to win 2 Premierships with 2 different Queensland teams.
Ben opens up about his childhood, growing up in professionals sporting environment, mental wellbeing and his journey with hair loss leading him to a hair transplant.
This episode is EPCI! Take a listen and let us know what you thought!

Follow Gro on Instagram @groclinics and @benhannant

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Introduction to Ben Hannant
Hello everybody and welcome to the Gro Diary Podcast where we will take you on a journey breaking down stigmas, myths and misconceptions of all things hair loss. We'll have some discussions with people in the industry as well as clients and we'll share their experiences and journeys of hair loss, leading you to the ultimate destination of hair regrowth. Hey everybody and welcome to the Gro Diaries Podcast. Here with me Andy and Mark and we've got a special guest today, the legendary Ben Hannant, Gold Coast regular, born and bred. Took some of these stats from Wikipedia so I don't kill me for that. Oh you Googled me, that's nice of you. 245 NRL appearances, 12 State of Origins and 6 appearances for the Kangaroos. So pretty well experienced, pretty well. It's gone around so Roosters, Broncos, Bulldogs, Broncos again. Yep, man, I finished up with the Cowboys for the Premiership 2015 and I was loyal to whoever paid me. And you told me the other day, and I mentioned this, I've got a good friend who's a big NRL fan and even he didn't know this, that you are the only person to

win two Premiers with two different Queensland teams. Yeah, only person in history to ever win a Premiership with two Queensland teams. So you go through the history, there's only three now, four teams in the NRL that are from Queensland. I won in 2006 with the Brisbane Broncos. I was part of the Cowboys, the only other Queensland team that's won a Premiership, which we did in 2015, which was incredible.

All down to you, I assume.

Of course it was. Of course it was.

My little stint off the bench was definitely me. A bit of pub quiz information there, so if ever that comes up on a pub quiz then you can thank us for the answer.

But yeah, that's pretty impressive because no one's probably ever going to do that

any time soon. Not any time soon, I don't see any Queensland, maybe the Cowboys will win again, but the Broncos are a few years away. And the new team now obviously the Dolphins Brisbane as well and also the Titans are a few years away from success I think.

Have you thought about managing or getting back into footy?

Actually I got my manager's license so I went and did the proper course you had to do. It took a fair few weeks and you had to Skype in down with Sydney and do some really serious tests and assignments and got qualified. But the thing is, it's like being a parent to those kids. If you're going to do the job properly, some people do it and be a manager and do the bare minimum. You have to see the client twice a year. If someone wants the third party with them, they'll come and approach you for it. But the way I look at it is if you're going to manage someone, if I was going to do it, you do it properly. And those kids are used to everything being done for them. They know exactly when they have to get up, when they have to be at training, what they have to eat. It's like being a parent to them. And so I've got eight kids of my own, so I'm going to stay clear of that until my kids are grown up but definitely I'll be looking to get back in either the coaching circles or involved in the NRL some way when my kids are older and I've got more time to focus on the players.

Being managed in sport, is there anything that you've taken out of that and applied to your life with your children?

Being Part of the 1% That Make It

Everything. I've actually taken everything because when you think about it, in the rugby league world, there's millions of people who want to play rugby league, want to get to the top level. When you look at life, 1% of people have everything. 99% of the world, 99% of success, there's only that 1% of people have it. So I've learnt how to get to that 1% in the rugby league field. I was able to maintain it for 12 years. So exactly the same skills, the same lessons I learnt to get there, I've now applied in my radio career now. I now do breakfast radio here on the Gold Coast. I can't read, I can't write, I'm dyslexic. I never did school. At school, I went to Palm Beach Currumbin High and back in those days, as long as you're winning footy games, it didn't matter. So my subjects were rugby league, physical recreation, sports management, marine aquatics and everyday English, which was just readingthe papers or watch a movie or wag and go to the beach. Read the sports pages. Exactly all that we did. And spare periods. So I didn't own a book in year 11 and 12. I was too scared to even start trying to read or doing any of those sort of things or English was the last, public speaking was the last thing I ever wanted to do. But the skills I learnt from football, taking feedback, working as a team, all the different things along the way that you learn and keep trying to improve yourself, don't try to maintain, keep getting better, all the things I learnt from that has made me by far a better work colleague, by far a better husband and father as well. So most footy players, if they channel the stuff that they learnt to get to the top, if they have the confidence to do it themselves, which they have the skills to do it, they could do anything in this world.

Yeah, because it's not very, it's like football, soccer player, it's not very long, or any

sports profession I guess, it's not a long career.

Well the average life expectancy, life I mean playing-wise on the field is two years, 50 games. That's it. Two years is the average from the bloke that plays one game up to Cameron Smith who played 350 or whatever it was. So the average is only two years. I was lucky enough to do it professionally for 12 years and I retired early at 31 to actually quit footy to do this radio career which it scared the crap out of me because I couldn't read, I couldn't write, I've never public spoke. I was that quiet bloke in the locker and there's an opportunity to test myself and looking back now. I've just signed another year's contract as well. So be I've done six years going seven years on breakfast radio

Developing Leadership Qualities

You don't strike me as a man that would have been quiet in a locker room You seem to have that kind of leader leadership quality about you. Is that something that you've developed after footy definitely developed even in football?

I developed it because the big thing in life and this is a key for anyone if you're young, you're old, male, female, it doesn't matter. When you know who you are it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks you have confidence in what you're saying. I got to the top 1% in rugby league. If someone asked me about football I know I'm confident to be able to give them the answer because I've lived it, I've breathed it, I've done it. Same with being a husband, being a father, all those things. I'm confident, I know who I am, I know where I'm going, I know what I stand for and that makes me confident in what I do. So when I see a new challenge, do I get scared 100% when I fought Paul Gallen in a boxing fight. I didn't know how to fight. I'm a lover not a fighter. I've never got in a fight in my life. Yeah. But an opportunity came when no one else would do it and it was an opportunity for me to test myself, do the work first. Once you do the work, you're confident it's going to happen. You're not if, but, maybe it's going to happen but it gives you confidence you can do anything.

Yeah, for you going back to your school days you said you know reading and writing and general school life wasn't your cup of tea, did that get you down? Like was it was it literally just footy? Did you know from a young age that you were destined to be in that 1%? How do you control that? No, not at all. Anxiety and kind of teenage emotions around like what you can't do?

Ben Hannant's Lifechanging Moment

Well, I got brought up by good parents. I was lucky I had a mother and a father in the home and my mum was a stay-at-home mum which was fantastic. So she was always there but she always taught me, if you want something, if you're willing to do the work and do the right things, good things happen. If you're religious, it's along those lines but if you believe in karma, whatever it may be, that's what I got taught from my mum. Now, I never made a rep team in my life until I was 17 but I was lucky enough when I was about 16 and a half years of age, I got invited because I got kept down in grade one because I was so dumb, I didn't know my ABCs, I got kept down in grade one, so I repeated it, which meant when I got to year 10 and I went to PBC High School, I played in a year 10 competition. So even though I'm born on the 31st of December, because I got kept down, I was still just older than the other guys and I actually stood out and looked half decent. So I wasn't making rep teams in my age group, but I did well enough that the Broncos invited me to an elite training squad, which I thought was amazing because for me, I never ever thought I'd be in this situation. I always wanted it, wished it, but I rocked up to this camp, we got given brand new Broncos equipment, which for me, I was like, oh my goodness, I've made it. Look at me, I'm wearing the Broncos logo. How awesome is this? Yeah. You know, I'm the bloke that my parents were poor. We lost everything when I was a kid. So my boots, I borrowed from Lost Property. I never got a new pair of boots until I was signed up by the Brisbane Broncos. So that's where I was at. But I got there, I got this new outfit and I'm thinking, how awesome is life? And the first thing Wayne Bennett said, Wayne Bennett ran this camp, which is, you know, he's a godfather of Rugby League. He said to me, not just to me, he said to the whole group of boys, we're all there feeling pretty excited and pretty proud of ourselves. He said, boys don't get comfortable. Out of this room here, only one of yous will make it. I looked around the room I see Sammy Thaiday, I see Neville Costigan, I see all these other players that I knew were way better than me. I went crap, it's not going to be me. Then we started doing all the tests, fitness, skills, agility, weights and all the testing I'm at the bottom end. Some of these blokes already had their man muscles, they're doing extra training, they're in the Brisbane competition which is a lot stronger competition. And by the end of this camp I felt pretty down low about myself and thinking my dream of being a football player, I'm not smart at school, I've run and hide from doing this stuff at school because I didn't feel comfortable doing English or maths or any of that sort of stuff. And my only thing I thought I really wanted was a football player and that dream was just getting ripped away from me. And then it came to the second last night before we left and Wayne brought us all in after dinner to have a chat to us all. He said something that night that changed my life forever. If there's one thing you get from this podcast or anything I've ever said, this is the one thing I want you to take. He said a lot of things that night, but the one thing that stuck with me is he said, boys, there's no one better than you, but you're no better than anyone else. He goes, I'll repeat that. There is no one better than you, but you're no better than anyone else." I left that room thinking, what the hell is this tall, long neck bloke even? What does that mean? And then all of a sudden it hit me. I went back to my room. I couldn't sleep, kept thinking about it. And it finally hit me and I realised I can be the best. I can be better than anyone else. If it's football, field, whatever it may be, I can be the best. But everyone else has that same option. We're all born with greatness in us. Am I willing to work harder? Am I willing to sacrifice more? If someone's twice as strong as me, I might have to go to the gym three times the amount that they do. It's not fair. I get that it's not fair, but if he's fitter than me, I might have to do an extra two extra runs a week more than him. And I started to do this. So as soon as I left that camp, I thought, I want to be the best. I'm going to be the best out of all those kids. So I worked harder than anyone. If I found I'd find the best person that if it was fitness or weight in my team and I'd make sure that they beat me at the start, I'd pair myself with the best. It's one of those things, who you hang out you become. And before I knew it, I started running 100, sorry, doing 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups every night. I'd run an extra 5Ks every single night and my body started changing. Within the six months I made the Queensland team playing before State of Origin and the following year I played for Australian schoolboys, sitting on the schoolies on the Gold Coast. I was in England and France playing Test football. Following year I'm signed by the Broncos. I'm playing first grade. I win a competition. I'm playing Origin. I play Australia, All stars with another comp. It all comes back to, it makes me realise that I can be the best in anything I want if I'm willing to do the work. But it also teaches me to be humble and realise I'm not better than anyone. When I look at you, I realise you're just like me. You've got greatness in you. If you're willing to do the work more than me, you'll become what you want to become. Some people want to be doctors, some people want to be football players, some want to be teachers, some want to be mothers. But if you have that attitude that I'm going to be the best, I'm willing to do the work, you can do anything you want in life. And it was that little setback about being kept behind a year that probably teed you up with what happened that following year and being able to go to that camp. And it's just one little thing like that, one setback, but it can set you up for everything else. We all have moments in our lives where opportunities come to us. A lot of people hear great stuff and, oh, that's fantastic, but you've got to act on it. We've got a saying I go to church, faith without works is dead. Everyone believes everyone wants but unless you do the work nothing's going to come from it and that's exactly what that's saying. I can be the best. You can be anything you want in life. Anything stopping you is yourself. I don't blame anyone. Anything that happens in my life I'll never blame anyone else. It's me. Everyone's going to have tough times. Everyone's going to have setbacks. Everyone's going to have unfair and bad things happen to them. I don't think anyone, have you heard anyone in life that's gone through life rosey and never had a setback? No. No, because that's what you learn from. How does the muscle grow? You've got to tear it, you've got to fatigue, you've got to fail it. And that's got to tear a million times over for it to then heal itself and grow bigger and stronger. That's exactly what you are in life, I think.

Ben's Advice for Life & More

Do you think that speech came at a time where you needed to hear it? Do you think that four years earlier if a teacher in school had

delivered the same speech with the same conviction it would have resonated and you would have become more interested in academic? Yeah I think it definitely would have definitely helped but I was leaning towards sport I loved them and that's what made me open my ears and listen was because of the sport. But it's one of those things in life where I would desperately wanted to be something. I didn't want to be famous, I just desperately wanted to be good at something. I had ten brothers and sisters. My little brother was representing Australia for swimming already. He went on to world championships and all that sort of stuff and did great fantastic stuff. My older brothers were great at triathlons, accountants, lawyers, dentists all the different things, So I needed to find who I was and what I wanted to be. Now I grew up, people may think, oh, you're brought up in a privileged lifestyle, whatever. No, I wasn't. My family lost everything. We lived in tents. I have 10 brothers and sisters lived in tents at the back of Benogan and Mudgeeraba on the neighbor's property. Then we moved to a rough area in Nerang where my two next-door neighbors were criminals in and out of prison. And we lived in a two-bedroom duplex where I slept three bunks high, my other brother, with no air con, hot, my mum and dad slept in the laundry. So I desperately was looking. The thing is, you can either be a victim and feel sorry for yourself or you can try and fight your way out. Most footy players come from tough backgrounds because they want it more. And that was a stage in my life where I desperately wanted to make something of myself. I didn't want to be a victim. I didn't want to make excuses. I wanted to work hard and find out what I could actually do and And it's a now I guess it what the formula works. Yeah, so a lot of positive

The Stigma of Hair Loss

Stories, you know as far as life goes and stuff in that team environment When you look at it from the outside, it feels like it's super competitive In professional sport and there's a lot of egos and stuff like that. Was mental health a big part of that? Was there support? Like, you know, obviously we're here talking about hair loss and where you came from. That is obviously a big issue for a lot of people, something that a lot of people can't speak about or don't want to speak about because of the stigma. What's it like in that professional sports environment? Is it similar?

Like, obviously... Oh, it's cutthroat. Back when I started because I'm religious so I don't drink. I don't root around, you know, I've been with my girl forever since I was 16 today That's it's just not me  Each to their own if you want to do that you want to do drugs whatever you want to do in your life. That's on you and I will not as long as doesn't affect me and my family If I've got the freedom to be me, I've got to allow you the freedom to be you. But back when I first started playing footy, I got called all different sorts of names under the Sun because I didn't drink or didn't... They used to pin me down, literally by my throat and feed it into my throat to make me drink to be part of the boys. And I thought, I needed to fit in and be a part of it. But by the time I hit about 18, 19, 20, I thought, this isn't me. I don't need this stuff. For me, I need to start making my own identity of who I am. If they don't like that, that's on them. And sure enough, once I had the courage to stand up and say, you know what, nah, this is me, you can call me whatever you want, do whatever you want, after about six months of them, they just stopped trying and they respected and loved me for who I am. And now look at the NRL, there's hundreds of players that don't drink, there's a lot of religious players in there, and people respect that now, but back in the day, it used to be a real, man's got like, it's real tough and you had to be this, you had to be that.

Do you think it's changed?

It's definitely changed. It's fantastic now for the young kids coming through. You see them on the field, they've been praying on the field or whatever they may want to do. Stuff pre-game, they understand all different types of religions, beliefs. I play with a lot of gay players as well coming through and it made no difference. As long as you played footy well, we loved you. No matter what you are, even if you've got different beliefs, different thoughts, footy was really good. It brings you together as one. You can achieve so much as an individual, but you can achieve five to six times that amount as a team. And as long as you come together, you come from different backgrounds, as long as you buy into the same plan and you're on the same page, you're going to achieve greatness. I was a part of some really good teams that achieved a lot of great things.

Social Media & It's Effect On Your Confidence

And it says a lot now because even, so now with social media and it's a lot easier for people to criticise players and after performances and it's a lot easier for those players to get on Twitter and see what people are saying about them.

Rugby league players are the worst, we read everything. We try and pretend we don't, we don't watch the news and that. Trust me, any article written about you, we all read them. Unless you're maybe a Darren or someone at the top that are old and experienced. Footy players are worse than teenage girls, mate. We worried about what every media person is saying about us, how we're perceived in the public, all those different things.

I think society is like that now, though. That's why people get so obsessed with social media, right?

Yeah, but these people have... we've have profiles, too. So we have thousands, you know, most people's Instagram probably have a thousand followers. We're talking 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 200, 500,000 followers, where people are watching everything and scrutinising everything you do but the big thing is that's all fake. Everything's fake. You tell me, unless someone's trying to get attention to say, oh, I'm feeling bad today and how many likes they get, look, everything's fake on there. It's all fake.

Oh, it's all just somebody's opinion. They don't know what that professional player's been through, how much effort they're putting in during the week, what they do, you know, all the

hard work. Well, let me ask you two a question. How many times have you put a photo up where you know you look terrible in that photo? You wouldn't do it, would you? Yeah. No, when was the last time you put a photo up where the person actually looked great? First thing you do when you look at a photo someone takes, you don't look at the other person in the photo.

Who do you look at?

Yourself. Yeah. My big thing, I've changed that completely. I don't give a damn. As long as the person that's put in the post, they're happy with it, this is me. Yeah. It's what it is. And realistically, Instagram lasts for however long you're staring down at the phone. The whole life, open your eyes, get up, see what's around you. There's the surf here on the Gold Coast, there's activities you go for a run, you've got your mates,

got pubs to go to. Does that worry you with kids and Instagram? And obviously I've got four kids,

you've got eight. I'm a bad parent because I don't let my kids have phones. I share phones and they're monitored constantly because they're not ready for it. It's an addictive thing. Why do you think it's a money thing where the more you're addicted, the more you look at it, the more endorphins get sent off. It's an addictive thing. And as adults, we're addicted to it. But then we think, hang on, we're going to let our kids do it and they're not ready for it either. So that's one of those tricky things where I don't know how society is going to keep on because if anything, it's causing more mental health problems than anything because everyone's looking at other people's like yeah why do they get more likes why their photos look like

this I train the same as them why is this that's it's just one of those things where we're constantly looking out at others yeah when we should be looking at how we can better ourselves. I think that one of the biggest things I look at from my childhood to like my kids now right is that when we were younger we could go roam for as many hours as we wanted and as long as we were back before the streetlight came on, that was all good. Back then our parents had less information, there was less information going on, there was still you know people being murdered and kidnapped, all that stuff was happening but it wasn't in your life every day.

Because your parents trusted you. They trusted you but they also didn't hear it right? It wasn't in their face every day.

right we as parents worry because the information we get comes out so fast rightthat our kids don't go roam for five or six hours.

Ben's Advice on Raising Kids

One of my favourite sayings is from Jordan Peterson which is you've got to allow kids to do dangerous things carefully. So my wife is a city slicker from Sydney. So when we first had kids she wanted to wrap them up in cotton wool. I'm the opposite. I've got ten brothers and sisters. We were allowed to roam. I grew up on ten acres. I bought a farm in Tallebudgera for my kids to do the same thing. Well, I took her out west on a hunting trip at my mate's farm. They had two young kids. One was eight, one was six. Now, the eight-year-old would go to the feedlot, get in the huge big tractors, dozers, lift the food into the big augers, spin it and send it out to the feedlot. The six-year-old would drive my wife around the farm to take the kids to do certain things. And on that trip, she realised those kids our kids more than capable to do all these things that we would never ever let them do. So that point forward changed my wife's perspective on everything. So my kids are now just like those kids out West. Yeah. Well we allow them to do dangerous things carefully, chaperoned,

watched over and they're responsible

then. And they learn that way as well, they learn new things. That's the only way to learn is to push yourself outside your comfort zone with support and mentoring along the way and that's exactly what we're trying to do with our kids. Do you think it would be possible in suburbia? It definitely could be. As long as you've got rules and safe ways to be whatsoever, why can't they play in the streets? But the problem is, back in the day most kids were taught certain values. A lot of kids now in today's society, I don't care if you hate me for this o- a lot of people aren't raising their kids. Both parents are working, which they're doing their best to put food on the table and mortgage, but who's raising your kids when both parents are working? Your phones are, so the internet, do you think that's a safe place for the kids? And the teachers at school. Now the teachers at school might have completely different values than you do. So you're laying it to the teachers and the internet and themselves and kids are smarter than us. You might put locks on your phones or your computers. If one of their friends are looking at something I bet you they're going to show them the same stuff. A lot of things on that internet is addictive. Yeah.

Effect of Hair Loss on Confidence

And realistically who's raising your kids? Childcare, school teachers and iPods at home. I think it's really scary times that as parents we are to blame with the kids that arcoming through right now. Just going back to that, going back to ways that you've learnt how to respect yourself and do you, be you, what led you to, and this journey started a couple of years ago I think, what led you to making the decision about doing something about your hair loss, was like was hair loss something that obviously didn't like affect your confidence.

I did, I hit it. I thought it never happened to me. I thought it never happened. One of my older brothers started going completely bald and then my hair, it was only like after 2015, starting to thin out a little bit and then some people started, I noticed it and I thought other people can't see it and then some of my teammates noticed it, and would say a couple of jokes about it. But what really got me the most is when my wife, I could see that she could really notice it, and that's the person I love the most. And you know when you get caught, well, chicks know if you're checking out their boobs, right? They can see your eyes glance down. Now, whenever my wife was talking to me in my arms and giving me a kiss, whatever it is, and talking to me, I could see her glance up to my forehead, up above to my hairline. Every time she did that, I knew she was checking out the bald spots on my head and it drove me insane. I'm one that's like, I know what you're doing. And then she'd know, eventually I'd say something to her, then every time, she knew when I caught her out. Just the slightest glance, I knew every time someone did, I'd comb my hair across. Like it wasn't bald. A lot of people after I got the hair transplant done didn't even think I was even that bad in needing it. But I definitely did and I was doing everything possible because I still feel young. I still feel that same bloke at 18, 25, 30 years of age that I looked in the mirror I'm like this does not match the person inside. So I thought chicks can do all different things - they get their lips done, their Botox, their boobs done, whatever they want. What's wrong with me literally not getting plugs put in or

some fake hair but literally just transferring, I've got plenty at the back. It's like the backyard of grass, just transplant some at the front and

that's honestly the best thing I've ever done. Yeah, why do you think it took an extra bit of time to get there? Was that a mental block or a time period block

What was the, from deciding you wanted to get it done to was it almost two years, a year and a half later?

Breaking The Stigma of Hair Transplants

Yeah, that's because I thought, you have that thought as a bloke, like I'm a man, I should be fine, but just shave my head, go bald, but I didn't want to do that. And it came to that point where I was going to do it and I was like, oh, what if someone finds out about it? Oh, what do I say? Do I lie and say, no, no, I'm just shampooing my hair with some magic hair shampoo or something? And even when I did get it done, I thought I was going to do it silent over the Christmas break, just pay and get it done, do it silently. No one would ever know. And hopefully just the people close to me would know, but no one else would realise. But I thought, stuff it. There's thousands of blokes just like me that want to do something, but there's no other role models or – I would never call them – I'm not saying I'm a role model in any way, but there's no real guys out there that are comfortable in who they are, getting it done and just continuing living their life, their best life. I thought, you know what, I work on the radio on the Gold Coast. A lot of people listen to me in the mornings and they understand me. It feels like we're best mates. And the response I had after doing it on air on the radio and saying I'm going to do this. Then following the journey of me doing it, I've had hundreds of messages of blokes saying thank you very much and I'm going to get it done. I'm saving up to get it done myself now. I really wanted to do it. I thought it was a scam. I didn't know it was real. But you know what? Yeah. I'm doing it now. The great thing is it's the best thing I've ever done. I've got so much more confidence. I love getting up in the morning and I hated cleaning my teeth because all I could see in the mirror was the bald spots on my head. Now when I look in the mirror I can see my hair growing, I'm like, I'm doing alright.

Did you expect that?

How Ben Hannant Felt After His Hair Transplant

What did you, you know, like before the procedure, what was your expectation of how you would feel after the procedure?

I was hoping that it would be, that it would be good enough and it wouldn't look fake or anything, but now seeing it, it's ten times better than what I thought it was going to be, which is a real bonus because now I'm excited now, once I had to have a month off training and I've let myself go a little bit, now I'm excited to get back into training, get fit again. I might even do another boxing fight, who knows? But I feel confident. I actually feel like now my hair looks the way it is, I feel that way, now I need to make sure my body feels that same 25, 30 year age range where I can get out and keep playing footy and having fun.

Yeah, because there's a photo that I think Andy took of you looking in the mirror when you first saw your hair post-procedure and just that like really raw look of delight.

When you can see the hairline, yeah.

Because it really hurt me for at least five years where, at least five years where that's all I could see. And the thing is what ate me up is I love to take the mickey out of myself and joke about myself. But I had to I overdid it constantly had to take the piss out of my hair constantly. But deep down it was cutting me really hard, but I had to be that bloke you getting in there before others get exactly So I'm constantly making note of it. So others know that I'm happy with it, which I am Yeah, I was happy if it could never never existed. That's fine. I'm happy with the way That's like it's the 2.0 like I've gotten up. It's like getting the car and getting an upgrade. It's as simple as that and it's it's one of those things now where? I'm excited to see you know what it looks like my son has an undercut. He's 17 likes his long hair. I don't like it so guess what now I can grow an undercut. I'm gonna have the same haircut with you now until you cut it so now it could be an extra bonus for me as well. Yeah I think

it's something that we talk about a lot is that initial reaction and people you know they it's hard to explain pre-procedure or to people who are looking into it like that sudden impact that a hair transplant can have on you right. You don't have hair yet really you've got a you got bloody bloody scalp with like little bits of white stuff and hair kind of popping out right but to you in that moment the weight of the pain that you carry around or the torture that you've been doing

for yourself just disappears. Yeah it does because it's never going to be the same ever again you know that part of you that you didn't like no longer exists from that moment on but one day's effort like I was in that chair for eight hours yeah four hours when they took hair from the back individual hairs and then four hours on my front when they're putting it in. One day of, it wasn't even painful even, one day of just sitting in an uncomfortable situation not knowing and by the end of that things will never be the same ever again for me in a positive way. So to me one day of being sitting there not knowing what it may be, one day of the procedure, I'm excited now for the next 50, 60 years of my life.

Yeah, you can't say that about a lot of things, right?

No, you can't.

Being The Best Version of Yourself

You know, as a man, there's not a lot of things that you can do for yourself and think, this has changed my life forever.

Well, for a bloke, it's important that you look, you know, you want to be the best version of yourself. You can go to the gym and all that. You can control a lot of things about yourself. There's probably two things you can't control. Well, now you can control one of them. One's how long your wang is, how long your pecker is, and the other is your hair on your head. Really that's the two things that blokes realise there's nothing they can do about it. That's just them and that's it. But now, guess what, 50% of the stuff you really worry about that you can't control, you now can

control, which is pretty awesome. Yeah, and the conversation that we have over and over again with people is, obviously you've got eight kids is trying to justify spending that money on yourself as a man, right? That's not something as a father that is easy to make that decision on anything in life, right? You

Should Men Feel Selfish About Getting A Hair Transplant?

think, oh well that 15 or 20 grand could be a holiday and we could go here and we could do that. What is it for you that you know you think that they get out of it by you doing that and not seeing it as a selfish thing? Well that was one of my biggest issues as well, not only people knowing about it but obviously coming up with the money to do that. So when it came to this, I could be buying my kids a motorbike or a horse or something for the farm or paying for extracurricular activities for them. But the thing is, they want the best version of their dad and if I just sacrifice a little bit, now all my money goes to my kids my whole life. I don't have toys myself. Everything goes to my kids. But every now and again, I'd invest. If my wife needed a boob job, if she wanted it, I'd find a way to do it for her. But we're very reluctant to spend money on ourselves. But the thing is, out of this, already my wife can see a better version of myself. She's excited. If anything, she's more excited than I am about the old Ben coming back. When she glances up now. I get more the winks of like come on yeah yeah I'm ready for you. Number nine. I've had to snip so don't worry that can't happen. But the big thing is with the kids as well they want their dad to be young and fun around them and confident to be in photos with them or whatever it may be so at the end of the day everyone benefits from this because if you're not hiding back and you're confident in who you are in every way, not just what's on the inside but what's on the outside as well, the whole family benefits. So that's one of the things that you just put money aside, you'll always find a way of it. It means something to you, you'll find a way to get it done. And this is something I believe that it's very worthwhile to finding a way to get it

done. Yeah, I agree. I mean when I had mine done, obviously I wasn't working for Gro but it's been a wildly appreciating asset in every aspect of my life, right? And there's not many things that I can say in the last 20 years I've bought that have been appreciating assets. Most things decline.

Why Hair Transplants was one of the best decisions for Ben Hannant

Isn't that funny though? Like I got it done. I feel like I'm a salesman for Gro now because everyone that asks me, I'm excited to tell them how positive it was, how good you should get. Every time I look at someone now who's going bald, I see the back of their head, they've got heaps of hair at the back where the blood supply's different. I'm like, mate, you have so much, if you got this done, you'd have a full head of hair again. And I feel like now I could be a salesman for Gro because it's so easy because it's the best thing I've ever done.

So. Yeah. And that's what we've tried to do with building this community of guys that have had it done to then, you know, make it better, you know, make it seem good for somebody else to go and pass that message on to your friends, your family, you know. There's other guys that are in the same, you know, that are in the same band that were in exactly the same position as you, and they've gone and done it, and if, you know, one guy can help one guy,

can help another guy can help you know it just but that's the thing that we just get rid of the stigma that blokes shouldn't get stuff done to themselves to make themselves better like girls there's no stigma behind it whatsoever yeah but before I got it done then I was booked in to get it done about a week out before getting it done I ran into someone at the shops I haven't seen for years good-looking bloke he's older he's in his late 40s early 50s and got talking and I was like stuff it I'm gonna tell him I'm getting a hair transplant. And I told him, he said, where are you getting it done? I said, I'm getting it done at Gro. So he's like good on you, those blokes are lovely down there, they're amazing down there. I got talking and because I was confident and excited about it, after I finished that conversation he goes, by the way, I've got my hair done at Gro. I've already had it, I was like, no way, you wouldn't even know. And also such and such and three of my other mates have already been to Gro a got it done as well. But the stigma around of not telling like they're so confident and they're you'd never ever think they would have had it done. Yeah because the hair just looks it is their own hair anyway. So natural. But the stigma behind talking about this sort of thing as men they didn't feel comfortable until someone else brought it up. Yeah. And the good thing is now I believe I want people to be comfortable to be able to do anything they want to do.

Yeah, and that's the thing for us. It's you know obviously our primary care is hair loss and helping men through that journey. But really we're opening the door so people to feel comfortable to talk about anything. Some of the conversations I've had with people is one minute We're talking about their hair and then the next they're telling me about you know their problems with sexual health or something they leave and they're like, I don't know why I felt like I could tell you that.

Have you guys got a special transplant for that?

If you be rich.

What Being a Man Is All About

We don't, but it's just about making people feel comfortable, letting them know that being a man is not being shut off and internalising everything and sucking it up. It's about being good to other blokes. It's about being, you know, understanding empathy and compassion and listening to each other. Like women have been doing it for hundreds of years. You know we're so far behind as men. As men we're so busy

just flat out just keeping a roof above our family's head. Everyone says that you know men are trying to down-tread women. It's the total opposite. If anything the reason we haven't got time for ourselves is because they're so busy working for our families. Yeah. I've always worked two jobs constantly, long hours, getting up before my kids, even out of bed. I'm at work already. I'm doing extra stuff on weekends constantly. It's not to down tread anyone or whatever it may be. It's so my wife and kids have the best life possible. And the great thing is what gives me confidence to do that is being the best version of myself. Now when I get up in the morning I see myself when I clean my teeth in the mirror I'm like, flamin' oath, you're a good bloke, you're looking good, let's go attack the world. Which means I feel more confident to help others. If I'm feeling good, you can't help others unless you're, if you'rein a dark place or you're struggling. It's very hard to help others, but if you're in a good place, you have more confidence to go out there and approach others and be there for others because you're not so focused on yourself. Because if you're feeling good, you've got more to give to others, I believe.

No, it's good. And yeah, just like you said like if you Look good. You feel good. I still you play good In life, you know, you just feel a better version of yourself And like we said before it just it passes that on to all the people that are that you call it your work colleagues your family your friends if they can see that in you and something in you that can then help them and make them become a better person

or whatever, then that's what it's all about, is being blokes helping blokes.

Yeah, well that's what I'm saying about being the best version of myself actually help, like getting that done and saving up and paying for it, it benefits the whole family. It's because say I was a brickie, I'm building a house. Now if I wasn't qualified to be able to build that house and someone needed me to build them a house because they were struggling with something, I couldn't do it. I couldn't be there for them to help them with what they need. But once you're confident, you're doing everything right for yourself, you're feeling good, you're mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually feeling great about yourself, you're in a much better shape to help others build their house and build their confidence and build fitness, physical fitness, mental, emotional, spiritual self as well.

Big thing, you're a pretty inspiring dude. I wouldn't say that, I'm just a normal bloke from the Gold Coast, born and bred in Mudgeeraba, raised by good parents. I think that's why, you know, we've already, you know, had a couple of people, I think that's why people are so, they listen to what you say because you are a humble guy, very endearing and people believe what you say at face value because it is what it is. You're not a guy that's out there just bullsh#tting and doing all this and spades of spades.

I'll just try and be real, I'll try and do me because at the end of the day if I'm fake or I make stuff up or lie to you, I'm going to come. It all comes back to you.

It all comes back around to you.

If you tell lies, you're going to have to remember a million more lies to try and cover that than just telling the truth. So my big thing, I love the Gold Coast. I'm born and bred here. This place has made me who I am. So any way I can help anyone on the Gold Coast, that's why I do radio here on the Gold Coast, and be real and tell true stories about my family that really genuinely happens. Some good, some bad, some funny, some taking the mickey out of my... Whatever it may be, it's because I'm just like everyone else everyone else has the same struggles everyone has good times bad times funny moments sad moments and let's ride that roller coaster

together and help each other through it yeah and and using that platform you know you use that platform that you have on the radio like I've listened in the morning for a long time and not just hair loss but a lot of other you know issues out there it's not always just a simple. You know our happy smiley radio show you do talk about you know some of the issues That are big in life, and that's what it's about is using that platform that you've got Yeah

Ben Hannant's Key to Success

But wouldn't life be boring if everything was perfect like if you didn't have to - like if you think of the best things that's ever happening to you in your life And if you listen this podcast right think about it right now the best moment the happiest you've ever been in life I bet you it wasn't something given to you. I bet you it's something you worked really hard, you failed a couple of times, there were setbacks, hard stuff, you had to push through it. That's where real happiness comes. If you're given something, you won't respect it, you don't cherish it, you don't work, you don't look after it. I look back at the best moments of my life were the hardest times of my life, but by pushing through it, never giving up. I was never perfect with it either - but just never quitting. Every time I fell down, I picked myself up and took another step forward. They're the best. It's not winning the trophies. It's a journey along the way. It's a mateship. It's a friendship. It's a family. They're by your side, picking you back up and helping you strive in the direction you want to go. That's what real happiness is. That's what you're really chasing after is moments, it's not going to be easy, life isn't. Forget that, don't be a victim, the worst thing you can do is blame others or blame a situation. Look at yourself and think, it's okay to make mistakes, it's okay to be wrong, it's okay not to be perfect and not the best. That's what you do next in that moment, which is if you can produce the right decision, happiness will start to come.

The Circle of Life

Do you have a big circle? Is Benny's circle big or small? What does that look like? I mean, a man who's won trophies and, you know, like been through big, big times with teammates and, you know, through work, like, I imagine you must have a pretty big circle, but is that true?

It's just in family. I've got my parents, I've got 61 grandkids from my parents. That's just on my side. My wife's side, there's 20-something. Christmas sounds expensive. It's huge but my circle is still open. If anyone wants to jump in my circle, you're welcome. My circle will always, I love every cab I get in, every Uber, every airplane. I don't listen to music. I straight away start talking to the person next to me. It's like a game of tennis. My circle will always grow because I play tennis whenever I meet someone. I'll ask them a question about themselves. I'll keep asking questions about themselves until they hit the ball back. And then the more I find out about them, the more I want to know something more about them. It turns out they're great blokes, they've done this in their life. You never have that unless you're willing to open your mouth and put yourself in that situation. I love having friends. I love my family. Eight kids takes a lot of my time, plus the radio show. I don't know. Some of my best mates have been, I joined the gym EMF a few years ago and some of the older guys I've met that I thought I'd never ever speak to and they're my best mates and we speak every day. So don't ever close the circle off. There's good people around you everywhere and I'm excited. I hope the whole Gold Coast from the radio show joins my circle and wants to be a part

of it. I try to take a lot of that on board because that's a big thing like for me you know I only have four kids that's 50% of what you've got trying to just control like a few people in my circle sometimes feels overwhelming so it's really good. What's stopping you

from doing more? What do you reckon the difference between four kids and eight kids?

I'm not saying about kids in general but you know like probably like what you said, I put a lot into my children, right? So for me, a lot of my time is wanting to raise them and teach them life skills, whether it's my passion is food, I'm a chef by trade, so on the weekends we spend a lot of time making stuff. And if they take one thing off their dad in their life, it's their ability to cook something and make something magical for not just themselves, but for the people around them right it's kind of my love language is is that right so that takes up a huge amount of time given them what I think that they need you know I have a good relationship with my parents they were very hard workers the one thing my

The Importance of Spending Time With Your Kids

dad always said to me was you know my biggest regret in life was not spending enough time with you guys when you were younger hmm I took that on right so then I want to spend a lot more time with my children so then how you feed in your circle around. So my big thing is and this is what I don't know how it works but my mom and dad had 11 kids and when we had three or four my wife was struggling to keep up and I was struggling to do it. I've got four kids on the spectrum two of them medicated they know that and the Aspergers they've got Aspergers and two of them have ADHD two of them dyslexic. So my kids aren't perfect either and they've got struggles in their life and they need help and they've gone through really tough times. But the big thing is, when I was asking my mum, how do you do it? She goes, you just learn to do more. The more you do, the more, it's like a football player. How do they learn that foot pass? It's years and years of doing, working the basics, building that foundation and they can add extras to it, whatever it may be. So my house now with eight kids is cleaner and things run smoother with eight kids than it did with two, not because of the kids, because myself and my wife have learned to just do more. Instead of whinging and complaining, this is hard, you just go and do it. The Nike slo, just do it. We're putting the ceiling on ourselves right now, not just as parents, within the workforce, with our friendships, whatever it may be. If someone needs help, if your wife wants to have another kid, whatever it may be, it doesn't need to be a ceiling. If you just do, you will find a way. And that's one thing I learnt from my mum is in any situation in life, there's no way I thought I'd ever be capable to do what I did in the football field ever, let alone in the radio world, let alone as a father, as a husband, any of that. But once you just take one step forward and you're willing to take the roof off and see where it takes you, you can do honestly anything in life.

Yeah.

Final Remarks

So that was a bit deep, wasn't it?

No, no. Bloody beautiful. I think we really appreciate your time and I think there's a lot of stuff that we'll take out of that, that the listeners will take out of that.

Hey, listeners, wake up. You're there?

Should have, you know, should have booked it for another hour. Yeah, I think it's one of those conversations that could go all day, but we really appreciate your time. We thank you for coming out today. We appreciate it. Look forward to seeing your hair grow, possibly seeing you coaching, you know, the Broncos or someone in the future. And listen, it's only, you're only, it's one month since your hair transplant, right? One month. Yep. Let's see how it is in 12 months maybe we'll do part two in 12 months. Yeah I'm excited, let's do it again boys, appreciate your time. Thanks. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Gro Diaries podcast brought to you by Gro Prescription Hair Care. If you would like any more information on hair loss or anything discussed in this podcast please visit groclinics.com.au for all your hair regrowth needs.