GWENT may have seen humid and sticky temperatures at the weekend, but Andrew Bowen was so cold he went out to buy a hat.

For the rock fan had just had his metre-long hair chopped off for charity - and is now completely bald.

Andrew, 32, had 17 years' worth of haircuts in one go when he had his close shave in front of an audience of 200 at Twyn-y-Ffald Constitutional Club, Cefn Fforest, on Friday. "I feel cold," he said the next day. "I just had to buy a hat. And I keep going to grab the hair, but it's not there."

Andrew's charity stunt has raised almost £3,000 for Cefn Fforest Football Club, and he is hoping sponsorship money for the Royal Gwent and St Woolos Hospitals Cardiology Fund will add up to at least £350.

He wanted to help the football club because his nine-year-old son, Luke, plays there, and also decided to help the hospital fund for family reasons.

His father, Joseph, died last year after suffering heart problems, and his mother, Teresa, who lives in Caldicot, has survived two heart attacks. Andrew, of Alderman Close, Blackwood, had not had a haircut since 1983, when he was aged 15.

His hair had grown to below waist-length, and Andrew had to keep it tied back, especially at work in Blackwood's Somerfield store."I had been suffering headaches because it was so heavy," he said.

And while he doesn't regret going from one extreme to the other, it took a while for Luke and his sister, Amy, to get used to the new look.

They had never seen their dad with short hair, and both were crying as Andrew had it cut. So was it worth taking the plunge?

"Yes, because I haven't got any hair anymore," said Andrew. "But no, because now I'm cold."