first off, that norwegian guy s video looks awesome, you could never say he wears.

apollo, having a Full Poly system made me itch like crazy and combing over and over again was very very enjoyable/ almost orgasmic lol, so much that I ended up with a bald spot in my crown area. Imagine on my first day of wearing, I had told my hair club that I wanted the longest and strongest bond, so she put some glue and this whole thing lasted a whole month on my head (the itching was unbearable).

It was worrying really, I remember one time I was so frustrated with the itching that I went in front of the mirror, found an edge, detached it, just to run my fingers against my scalp. i felt a relaxing massage sensation run down my spine lol. this couldnt be healthy.

since i started using toplace system (an all lace system), not only it is more realistic both to the eye and touch, but it is so much more comfortable and havent experienced any itching at all! In fact, just before wearing, I bought peppermint-refreshing spray (the ones they use for dreadlocks) cause I thought that when I feel some itching, I will spray some, and since it is all lace, it would seep through and refresh my scalp without the need to scratch/ rub/ comb my scalp.

but i have had no use for it, i look at it and think of it as a waste of money lol, but its better like that. i sometimes use it to add a nice smell to the hair.

as regards to the adhesives, I like a solid 7 to 10 day bond.

what i do is, I tape the whole perimeter and glue the front bit. i like the tapes because they are easy to clean, but for the front bit, i prefer glue because they offer less detectability.

i used iGlue (a white glue - not a very strong smell) and i honestly had to touch up every couple of hours because i experienced lifting. I have now bought the acrylic UltraHold, and it is AMAZING. In my country, it is both very humid and hot weather, but I have had amazing success with the UltraHold. it is clear in color, has a very very strong smell (kinda like the ones you buy at an ironmongery) and is very sticky! I applied once to the scalp (managed to get some glue stuck in my hair which was extremely hard to clean even with a combination of alcohol, oil and lace release) and voila, the bond is like no other. I feel very safe using this.

As for the tapes, I totally swear by Blue Tape and Walker No Shine. The Blue Tape probably gives a better long lasting bond but it gets very messy to clean after a week... so I only use it sparingly or when I have a week planned for strenuous activity (to have my mind more at rest). I tape the whole perimeter with Walker No Shine tape, the middle strip from front to back I usually do it in Blue Tape (dont know why lol). I could probably get a good 15 day strong bond like this (and in a bad weathered country), but like I said, I remove and clean and reattach after a week to 10 days. I like a nice clean and fresh attachment.

Also, I can also say that the Scalp Protector is an amazing product!

I feel I am getting better at this, and feeling more comfortable. Last time I detached, I used the mirror slide to success! It worked like a charm, all the glue was released from the lace in minutes!

In my situation, I dont think I will ever go back to wearing poly systems.

Good luck!

im just thinking , how much iv spent over the years on meds, propecia,herbal,and to be honest they made no diff, well maybee they prevented further loss, maybee not.
just wish i'd spent it on a decent system.
but having seid that my density was pretty good then so nanogen(concealer)was a good option, and way cheaper than a hair system.
if mother nature had been kind to me and my hair loss had remained unchainged
i'd be hapy to stick with concealer,but i coudnt be that lucky
my densitys becoming less all the time.
i need concealer to hide the concealer, lol
but above all its" dam bloody great" to know theres a soloution.
just pleased i wasnt born 20 years earlier thank god for that.

btw i spotted a olde guy wearing concealer,while at the bus station,well i say concealer, i thought ohh my god you can see it.i was gutted,
but he had no density and musta just tipped a pott on his edd before going out, my god it looked terrble.

"Power to the People"

some wonderfull posts here, very lenghthy but when youre intrested in the subject its a riveting read,

im pretty sure in 20 years time, the new generations will say thank god we havent been here 20 years ago lol

i second your thoughts, if mother nature was kind to me, id have stuck with concealers, they only took 2 minutes max and the only thing that bugged me was black fingernails lol.

(08-24-2010, 07:07 AM)mrjoejohn Wrote: im pretty sure in 20 years time, the new generations will say thank god we havent been here 20 years ago lol

i second your thoughts, if mother nature was kind to me, id have stuck with concealers, they only took 2 minutes max and the only thing that bugged me was black fingernails lol.

Hi Joejohn!

Very nice and informative post and nice to see that you had my experience with the skin piece as well....

I will order a system probably in the style of the TL600 exercise base and I would appreciate if you could give a detailed explanation on how you do the gluing routine with the ultra hold - since I am also looking for something that won't need touch-up's at the front too often...

Please explain your procedure with gluing and especially how you release and clean the lace front as I have never before tried lace pieces (always used conventional systems from Apollo).

If you could recommend the brands of the products you use for the cleaning up part, I would also like to know their names :-)


Thank u so much in advance!


.A.

hi apollo

youre welcome.

me too am gonna buy myself an exercise band/base this time just to see how it compares to my all lace unit.

the products I use are:
Ultrahold glue for the front hairline bit
Walker No Shine Tape, and Blue Liner Tape for the perimeter area

Ultrahold glue is really really strong. I have gone now a week without touching it up and is still looking like a very strong bond. (And, mind you, the weather in my country is VERY humid and VERY warm). Make sure you do not brush any hairs with it. I have brushed some by mistake and they are still gelled up together and I wasnt successful releasing them lol. I will try to release them better when I take off my attachment. The Ultrahold is really simple to apply. The tap of the bottle is a brush in itself. I apply just one thin coating of Ultrahold, let it dry for about 5 minutes and press base in it with a comb (I usually spray some lace release on the comb so that the hair doesnt get tangled in the glue).

The Walker No Shine and/ or Blue Liner Tape, is easy to apply, just peel off the backing and place one next to the other (overlapping by 2mm).

To release the lace, I have bought Citrus Lace Release (from ebay), Isopropyl 99% 1 Ltre bottle (from ebay) and I use regular Extra Virgin Oil.

I use the Isopropyl 99% to spray is sporadically on my hair system. Wait about 10 minutes for the isopropyl to seap in the lace and I see if any edge has bulged. When I can feel an edge (try pealing from back to front, some say you will protect the hairline doing so) you can start pulling it from your scalp. dont pull too hard or you will damage the lace, just spray some more isopropyl and it will release in seconds!

I then use Citrus Lace Release (which is a small bottle and is relatively more expensive than isopropyl) to rub and clean my scalp with it. I also spray it on the base of the system, so that any residue will be released. it is less stinging and has a much nicer smell than isopropyl. But imo you could really do without Citrus Lace Release if you have Isopropyl. To be honest, I bought it because I heard people mention it but I dont really find any special use for it. What it does, is easily done by isopropyl and/ or virgin oil at a much cheaper price. Maybe it is less harsh on your system, I dont know.

The Extra Virgin Oil, I use it when I `touch up` (when I have put the piece in place). If you are not perfect (like me), you will probably smear more glue on your forehead than you require. the extra glue is better cleaned off, because you will have a sticky forehead and a sticky forehead will attract dirt and it wouldnt look too nice. So I dab a cotton bud / qtip (the ones you use to clean your ears) in an extra virgin oil bottle, and 1. release any hairs that are stuck in the glue to my forehead and 2. clean the excess glue which has seaped on my forehead. I am a big fan of the extra virgin oil. it works wonders, instantly, at a fraction of a cost and it is somewhat soothing when applied to the skin. so, thumbs up for extra virgin oil.

One tip which I have found works wonders as well, is that, when you clean off your forehead from the excess glue, just spray some hair freeze spray (any one will do, you will see a couple of people here vouching by the G2BG Hair sprays, I dont use them to be honest, and I still have a good result) across your hairline. I have found that in doing so, you will protect your hairline. Glue does not seep, and you will have no worries in doing any touch ups that require you to clean your forehead.

Hope this helps. Let me know. It will all come together when you start experimenting. You will find your own ways.

(08-26-2010, 07:07 AM)mrjoejohn Wrote: hi apollo

youre welcome.

me too am gonna buy myself an exercise band/base this time just to see how it compares to my all lace unit.

the products I use are:
Ultrahold glue for the front hairline bit
Walker No Shine Tape, and Blue Liner Tape for the perimeter area

Ultrahold glue is really really strong....

Hi Joejohn!

Once again thank you very much for all the information - I'm sure this will be very helpful once I start my "new" hair career ;-)

One last question though:

I've always been used to go to a salon and have my conventional piece glued to my head with very strong and transparent liquid glue which is "painted" both on the perimeter of my head and vice versa on the piece - and then after drying for about 10-15 minutes the two are put together forming a very strong bond which lasts easily for a month.

Using this type of liquid glue, the stylist have always recommended to have a 1mm (0,04 inch) thick hairline around the perimeter of my own scalp where they put on the glue - this is supposed to make the bonding extra durable. To do this, my piece have to extend past my bald area as the sides and back of the hairpiece where they put on the glue is about half an inch to an inch wide (1-2 cm).
PS. Hope you understand what I am trying to explain here...hehe).

I guess the theory behind this is that my own hair will sort of grow into the glue mass and that way make it stick longer and better as opposed to putting glue on a hairless shiny scalp where the glue only have your scalp to hang on to ;-) My experience with this is that most of the times the glue will stick better to my scalp than to my hairpiece and so the theory is proven!

So finally to my question... I have never used tape only around the sides and back to attach a hair system and I am wondering if the tape strips will stick better if there is some hair for them to attach to on your own head or will you get a better bond if you tape the piece to a shiny, hairless scalp? :-)
If so I should order a system which is a bit smaller in size than the one I'm using now...


PS. Feel free to share your own experience with this too, Paul in Ireland or anybody else :-)


Regards!

Apollo2009

hi apollo,

hmm... I am not really sure about that to be honest.

I personally always clean shave my scalp. By the time I come to remove it, the hair would have grown a bit (about 1 mm) and it is true, removing it where there is hair is a pain in the ass having to spray a lot of isopropyl!

So, I think that yes, maybe your salon guy is right when he says that glueing it on a little hair will make the bond extra strong. However, I shave all hairs and place the peace on a clean area, and if you do it correctly, you will still have a VERY VERY strong bond! And whoever read my other threads would know how psychotic I am about having a very strong attachment! So, rest assured, when I say that the bond is extremely secure (doing it my way).

You might also want to think twice about glueing your system on existing hair. If you are like me, you will WANT an undetectable edge. If you place your system on existing hair, your edges will become detectable. In my experience, I always try to shave a couple of mm more than the area of the system.

More experienced wearers will probably be better to answer this question. I know that most people do not clean shave their hair, they just BUZZ them down with a clipper. I personally use a regular Gilette shaver.

Ps. With glue, I only put a coating or two on my SCALP only and let it dry. I think with POLY bases you can apply on the base as well, but I am not so sure about Lace bases. I would think it would seep through the hair and will make a big mess. Tape, especially Blue Liner Tape is VERY VERY strong tape, and tapes are much easier to clean.

(08-27-2010, 04:07 AM)mrjoejohn Wrote: hi apollo,

hmm... I am not really sure about that to be honest.

I personally always clean shave my scalp. By the time I come to remove it, the hair would have grown a bit (about 1 mm) and it is true, removing it where there is hair is a pain in the ass....

Thanks again!

Sounds like there is no need to change my size than cause either way it would probably bond quite well ;-)


Regards, Apollo2009

Hi guys ..... you`re better off just applying / bonding your system to your skin only ,not onto growing hair. This gives a seamless/ undetectable join, to the touch. If you use a strong glue or tape and part of it is stuck to your [growing] hair it can literally be a pain when removing as you will tend to tear hair out by the roots -- it can be painful enough when the short stubbly hairs grow beneath the bond and the system has not been de-bonded for a while--you go to remove it and it can bring a tear to the eye !! When I used to wear all -poly and went to the salon, the bond would be in place for 3 /4 weeks and in winter [cold]weather the glue would still be very strong --boy did that hurt --almost felt like a layer of scalp was being peeled off !! Paul.

Great great posts everyone!
I watched the video and the base and way of attachment is EXACTLY, the one that my stylist recommends.
My question is: how about a 3/4 system with this kind of attachment and base?
The guy at the video looks great, it would never ever pass my mind that he wears.
Paul you said that you too have thinning sides, any news or thoughts on what you'll do next? Can we contact eachother to share some info?
you all take care!