Ive been lurking here for a few months and am finally coming out to play! Here's the story. Guy at work had a completely shaven head, shaved close to make all his scalp shiny. I never thought as him as a hairloss sufferer or never concluded he had lost his hair. He starts growing his hair out for a little while, first nothing then covering with a hat. After a 1 month vacation he comes back with a full head of hair.

He claims he got a hair transplant but he is wearing the dreaded "Bad wig." I am mesmerized by this and every time I see him I cant help but to stare at his head. It just looks awful, he became a laughing stock at work and people are relentlessly poking fun at him.

I've looked over and over again and for the life of me I cant specifically point out whats wrong with this wig. But the second I do see it I just know that something is not right. I would almost go out and say that he is using a quality wig but it just not applied right.

I don't notice and color shift, although all the hair and the wig are died. I even secretly took a photo to closely scrutinize this piece and this had a very interesting effect. From my reading here I was under the assumption that hair pieces look worse in photo's. When I took this picture it actually looked perfect in the photo as opposed to real life.

Basically this is driving me crazy and it scares me. If I want to come into the hair wearing game I dont want to have a similar result or make the same mistake as this guy. What can I do to try and determine what the problem is here? Give me some pointers or things I can look for. It's almost as everything passes the test but it just doesnt pass the smell test. It's scary because I know theres a problem but I dont know what it is. How will I possibly avoid this myself????

it is just a bad coming out!!!!people focalize on the quality of hairpiece (they're right), but forget how to introduce it! if you knew this guy with his hairpiece from the beginning you know him, maybe you will think differently.... same for his work friends.
ps: sorry for my rough english!

You said it`s Dyed, so that alone is noticeable... or maybe it`s a synthetic system? Could be any one of a number of things, including badly-positioned on the head, too dense, a not-so-good cut -in, maybe not graduated properly at the front.... something is obviously `off` though. In view of the fact that people have been teasing the guy, it`s `out in the open`now, and while he claims it`s a transplant [couldn`t possibly be, as it takes a lot more than a month for transplanted hair to `come-on`] If it were me, and I was on friendly terms, I`d casually say to the guy not to take any notice of them teasing him [he must be very self-conscious now and probably doesn`t know what to do] and casually mention you came across a link to a site [THIS one !!] dealing with hair-issues, while searching for some hair-care product on-line..... I know it`s a bit of a thorny situation, but maybe he`s not even aware of on-line replacement etc. ... if you DO decide to mention it to him, and tell him the name of Toplace, you can just remove this thread, and I`ll remove my post so he`ll be none the wiser,as he`d know by reading this, that it was him being mentioned. ... I feel sorry for the guy, must be very embarrassing for him, when there`s no need for that nowadays.

(03-31-2012, 05:26 AM)PipperStef Wrote: it is just a bad coming out!!!!people focalize on the quality of hairpiece (they're right), but forget how to introduce it! if you knew this guy with his hairpiece from the beginning you know him, maybe you will think differently.... same for his work friends.
ps: sorry for my rough english!

You make a great point and I have thought about this before. Up until recently I was never good at pointing these things out, I wouldnt even notice a bad wig if it was hitting me in the head! If I never knew him I probably would be much less likely to notice. But nonetheless what I am seeing does exist.

I remember one time I walked into a convenience store filled with people and my girlfriend immediately laughed and pointed out the guy all the way across the store with the wig. Girls notice this stuff right away, it's like they have radar! Thats why I feel it's important for myself to be overly critical.

(03-31-2012, 05:28 AM)Paul In Ireland Wrote: You said it`s Dyed, so that alone is noticeable... or maybe it`s a synthetic system? Could be any one of a number of things, including badly-positioned on the head, too dense, a not-so-good cut -in, maybe not graduated properly at the front.... something is obviously `off` though. In view of the fact that people have been teasing the guy, it`s `out in the open`now, and while he claims it`s a transplant [couldn`t possibly be, as it takes a lot more than a month for transplanted hair to `come-on`] If it were me, and I was on friendly terms, I`d casually say to the guy not to take any notice of them teasing him [he must be very self-conscious now and probably doesn`t know what to do] and casually mention you came across a link to a site [THIS one !!] dealing with hair-issues, while searching for some hair-care product on-line..... I know it`s a bit of a thorny situation, but maybe he`s not even aware of on-line replacement etc. ... if you DO decide to mention it to him, and tell him the name of Toplace, you can just remove this thread, and I`ll remove my post so he`ll be none the wiser,as he`d know by reading this, that it was him being mentioned. ... I feel sorry for the guy, must be very embarrassing for him, when there`s no need for that nowadays.

Yes it's dyed and I think that could be an issue. My problems with that reasoning though is people with full heads of hair dye it and although you can tell it's dyed it doesn't look like a patch of hay is on their head!

It has this overly dyed look and the hair just almost looks like a Halloween custom for Dracula. This person always uses a lot of product on the hair. He has hairspray or gel all over and on the sides. Every time I see his hair I kind of wish he would wash it all off and just leave it soft. I was under the understanding that product in the hair benefits a hair piece, could this be a case of too much product? How about leaving it natural without product?

I never once made fun of him, I even went as far as to try and tell people maybe he did get a hair transplant. Some people even believed he may have but they still felt it was ridiculous he did such a thing.

1 thing I want to point out that the density on top is definitely a full density. I will say that it is pretty consistent with the hair on his sides though, maybe the sides have slightly less but i dont know. Could slightly more density with the extreme dye and a ton of product in the hair cause this phenomena I am looking at?

Thanks for the great replies.

Yeah ..too much product [ depending on what one/s were used] can defeat the purpose and leave a system looking `dead`....the hair may be heavily-processed too and has no cuticle-layer, that too will add to the lifeless look. Sounds like there are a few things `going on` with it.
I only use Enhance leave-in conditioner and occasionally a little Brylcreem..that`s what works for me.... I used to use loads of things before ...all that happened was, build-up, leading to a lifeless,dull look, needing frequent shampooing.

(03-31-2012, 07:12 AM)Paul In Ireland Wrote: Yeah ..too much product [ depending on what one/s were used] can defeat the purpose and leave a system looking `dead`....the hair may be heavily-processed too and has no cuticle-layer, that too will add to the lifeless look. Sounds like there are a few things `going on` with it.
I only use Enhance leave-in conditioner and occasionally a little Brylcreem..that`s what works for me.... I used to use loads of things before ...all that happened was, build-up, leading to a lifeless,dull look, needing frequent shampooing.

OMG!!! I think you figured it out!! Referring to the system as "dead" is hitting the nail on the head! The hair looks like its the driest "dead" hair imaginable. Maybe one day I will build up the courage to confront him to come here.

Would I have much luck using no product most of the time? My hair looks like crap every morning, I take a shower and it gets nice fluffy and lustrous. Can a hair piece pull off a good look with absolutely no product?

As long as you get a decent-quality system to begin with, that`s over half the battle... you can`t do a lot with hair which has been heavily processed.
The main problem from day one, with any system , is dryness/lack of natural oils etc.
Hair is not actually `dirty`like growing hair can be.....there`s no need to shampoo a system frequently as such..... a good leave-in conditioner such as `Enhance`, applied a few times a week, and daily spritzing with water, works best for me. Occasionally I`ll use a serum when a system is beginning to `age` a bit ..... even the best-quality hair will deteriorate over time and need to be replaced with a new system.....serums have silicons which give shine and lustre, so I use them as the sytem begins to age.
I often just rinse the [lace] base in water which I`ve added shampoo to, to wash sweat-residues and scalp oils off, purely from a hygiene point of view.... I just rinse the hair under running water to freshen it up......that`s just what I do, other guys have their own ways and preferences.

(03-31-2012, 07:18 PM)Paul In Ireland Wrote: As long as you get a decent-quality system to begin with, that`s over half the battle... you can`t do a lot with hair which has been heavily processed.
The main problem from day one, with any system , is dryness/lack of natural oils etc.
Hair is not actually `dirty`like growing hair can be.....there`s no need to shampoo a system frequently as such..... a good leave-in conditioner such s `Enhance`, applied a few times a week, and daily spritzing with water, works best for me. Occasionally I`ll use a serum when a system is beginning to `age` a bit ..... even the best-quality hair will deteriorate over time and need to be replaced with a new system.....serums have silicons which give shine and lustre, so I use them as the sytem begins to age.
I often just rinse the [lace] base in water which I`ve added shampoo to, to wash sweat-residues and scalp oils off, purely from a hygiene point of view.... I just rinse the hair under running water to freshen it up......that`s just what I do, other guys have their own ways and preferences.

I agree with Paul, the less product the better. I also only use leave in conditioner daily, and a dab of Brylcream once or twice a week. My pieces are still soft after 6 months.

If it isn't the color or density it could be the shape of the hairline in relation to the rest of his hair. Sometimes it is hard to put a finger on why something looks "off" when it is as simple as the hairpiece not having the right shape to go with the existing hair.

From what you have said though it sounds more like a hair quality issue. Sometimes these things can look good out of the box but after you wear and wash them a few times it becomes evident that the hair is a little over processed. It is also possible that he is using the wrong styling product or that there is product buildup on the hair. No matter how good the product is, if you don't clarify from time to time it can make the hair look nasty.