Ok, so here is the latest full cap. Don't have a heart attack.....it was purposefully cut "rock star" style.

Keep in mind that the stylist did the styling. I just got home and haven't touched it yet to make it more to my taste. Thought I would snap a couple of quick pics before messing with it.





My observations so far:

-The highlights look really cool in person
-The density is a bit high but that's ok....I can use more product to cheat it
-The sideburns might have to go. The stylist and a couple of other people said I should keep them, but it's getting into the transition where the hair in that area SHOULD be a different texture and they look too blocky
-No way no how will I be able to expose the PSB hairline. PSB on a full cap should be BACKUP UNIT ONLY
-Can't wait for the unit to settle, it's way too poofy

I will post more pics after I tweak it a little.

Looks great !!!

Rob, any chance you could post a photo or two, perhaps one of these showing (maybe with a red line or something) where the edge of the unit is on the side and rear of your head ?
I'm trying to get an idea of how to make my template...
If I remember correctly, you had said once that you really don't have the template "contoured" around the ears, but simply cut straight across, then straight across the rear of the unit.


Thanks,
Fred

FredTJ Wrote:Looks great !!!

Rob, any chance you could post a photo or two, perhaps one of these showing (maybe with a red line or something) where the edge of the unit is on the side and rear of your head ?
I'm trying to get an idea of how to make my template...
If I remember correctly, you had said once that you really don't have the template "contoured" around the ears, but simply cut straight across, then straight across the rear of the unit.


Thanks,
Fred

Thanks Fred.

This is a skin perimeter piece and the template was done with a curve above the ear since it is a lot more difficult to modify skin. All of my lace pieces still go straight across the top of the ear though.

The back is straight across at the base of my skull. If I bend my neck back the piece sits directly above the crease.

Keep in mind that these things always get better with age. With a LITTLE age, anyway.

Here is a diagram of the base area. You can clearly see that something has to be done with the sideburns. Oh yea, and this template was made with too much recession, IMO, hence the big slope above the temple point.

ROD APPROVES THIS MESSAGE!

wow rob that looks great it really does

JRob, can you grow you real side burns out and have them come down a little more from where the piece ends now, then thin the piece down to blend into yours. I think that would make the sideburns look better. Overall, that looks great though.

Rod

mate really all i can say is wow.. you've seriously given me some hope.

amazing!! whats the density of this? this is exactly the kind of style im looking but maybe a bit longer at the sides and maybe a bit thicker

LOL @ Xeon!

Rod Wrote:JRob, can you grow you real side burns out and have them come down a little more from where the piece ends now, then thin the piece down to blend into yours. I think that would make the sideburns look better. Overall, that looks great though.

Rod

Absolutely.

I actually HAD growing sideburns up until Halloween, when I shaved them off so I could be Mr. Clean.

The real sideburns give the ultimate effect. The only problem there is the fact that mine are a bit too thin on one side and sometimes require a touch of concealer for proper effect.

Here's the secret though. If you want to incorporate the sideburns of the piece, you have to keep them SMALL.

There are two reasons for this. The first is that they ventilate the exact same hair into the sideburn area that they tie into the rest of the piece. This one even had highlites in the sideburns! I don't know about you, but if I grow a beard it doesn't look anything like my head hair. So shaved down to sideburn length it looks like a "carpet" patch, as you can kind of see from the pics. I suppose you could specify "afro" hair to be ventilated in that area, but I'm not sure if I would want to chance it. you might end up with afro curl halfway up the side of your head, hehe

The second reason is that since we genrally build the base in the back to be SHORTER than where our normal hair grows (we stop it at the base of the skull) longer sideburns don't help with the overall illusion of the piece. By keeping the sideburns to a minimum it helps to make the piece look more properly proportioned in the back.

Ultimately this is going to be an easy fix. I will start out today by cutting the base of the sideburns up 1/4-1/2". There should be enough length of hair on the piece to make it look good. I want to try to avoid using any of my real hair just so I have the option of going out without a piece, but if push comes to shove all I have to do is grow a little of my own hair there and the problem will be solved.

nuts1986 Wrote:amazing!! whats the density of this? this is exactly the kind of style im looking but maybe a bit longer at the sides and maybe a bit thicker

This is all #64 with PSB perimeter, color #17 with 20% (1/4"??) #14 blonde highlights, 70% back, 65% top and temples, and 68% sides, medium wave.

Keep in mind the density of this one is a solid 5% lighter in the lace areas than on the poly. I believe that the piece should have a bit more density on the sides to conform to my specs. overall they did a good job all around though.

Also, if you plan to go longer, everything is easier and you can get away with a LOT that won't pass with a shorter cut, so you're lucky. My problem is that longer hair on the sides makes me look like I weigh another 50 lbs and I don't need that hock: