Hey, everyone!

I have been experiencing hair loss for about five years. My hairline is receding at the temples and I am getting tired of constantly having bad hair days, so I am considering using some hair replacement to fill out the thin parts.

I know that many of you are going to recommend I search this forum, but I already have and though I did find someone in my situation, I can't find any posts after they started wearing. Maybe I will rectify this if I start wearing!

I went to two local hair salons that specialises in hair replacement. The first one told me it was impossible and tried to rush me into a hair transplant. [A good transplant would probably be best, but I would like to think carefully about it for at least a full year before I do anything!]

The second one I went to was a bit more understanding, but I was told that my hair loss was too light to wear hair replacement and that the results would not be natural/satisfactory. But this person also told me that he had never done hair replacements on the temples before - only full caps and severe areata cases.

Is there a minimum size for hair replacement parts? Doesn't seem that way from what I can see in the forum and I know that Toplace even sells partial flaps!

I would like to start with two small flaps that are roughly 1x2 cm (that's about 0.4x0.8 inches).

Is this too small?
Will they not be attached securely?
Is it difficult to make this look natural?

Hi Scandadude

I can't see why there should be any minimum size for a piece of hair replacement. A lot of people (especially those of us who are bald as eggs!) would think you were worrying about nothing if your hairloss is 1cm x 2 cm, but if it is important to you, I say go for it. I guess you would likely buy a full hairpiece and cut out the small pieces you need - you will get a lifetime's supply out of one unit! It will be fiddly to fit the units, but once fitted you shouldn't have any difficulties with adhesion. I think the look will be fine if you are just using the hairpieces to augment your existing hairstyle. If you are planning to expose the (artificial) hairline then you will need a higher quality finish, which will take more work and practice to achieve.

I found the attached video (look at the first video) which shows a well-known Singaporean model called Allan Wu using two tiny hairpieces to fill out his receding hairline. They look to be about 1cm x 3cm, which is about the smallest I've seen. He is exposing the false hairline, and it looks fine:

http://new.himo.co.kr/ezhair/event.html

Thank you! A lot of good news in your post and the model in the video is somewhat comparable to me (the hair loss, not necessarily the good looks).

My hair loss will get worse over the next years, so I figured I would get in the game early so no one would notice anything.

I was very impressed when I stumbled on some of the modern hair replacement solutions about two months ago. Before that I only knew about the old types that would blow off in the wind. These new things are amazing!

I believe that over the next years, hair replacements are going to be much more common and a lot of the stigma is going to go away.


Could you tell me more about the "high quality finish"? Do you mean using hair replacement with a swiss lace (or what you call it?). Sounds like a cunning plan! ;)

Yeah, they really are amazing these days if you know where to look, and getting into the game early is a good idea if you want to keep it under the radar. If you plan to expose the artificial hairline then Swiss lace and a glue attachment is best, and I think you might also want brushback or flatback ventilation, depending on your current style. That's what I mean by a high quality finish.

Here is another video of my man Allan Wu. Not so much dancing around, and you can see the hairpieces better. Chances are you wont just be able to chuck them at your head and get a good result like he does though, LOL.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OAPZyDodjzg

Hello ScandinavianDude.....Welcome along.
Just a few points which may be worth considering...... depending on your temple -density [the density you are looking to achieve] and if you only need two relatively small ` bits` of lace/hair, John might just be able to order a square bit of lace equal to the amount of material normally used in a topper-system with a uniform density throughout...you could then just cut out sections to fit the areas needing coverage......there`s no point ordering a normal topper in your case as it`s curved /oval shaped and has varying densities .....you only need two small bits so I can`t see why it wouldn`t be possible to order such a thing...... you could then just trim/cut off several ` bits` as you need them.... obviously the density would have to be pretty ` light` to match your own hair in that area.....also, just order short hair..no point in getting the standard [default] hair-length of 6 inches!!
I sent an old system to a guy in Europe a while back as he only wanted to cover a pretty small area on which he had visible scars where the hair wouldn`t grow...he trimmed out some pieces but he found it wasn`t possible /practical as they wouldn`t stay on ....I don`t know what size he wanted to cover but probably smaller than what yours sounds like .....I guess, several layers of glue might be needed just to make sure they`d stay in place.... and as Baldrich said, you could get it ventilated [the direction in which they tie the hair in onto the lace at the factory] into a brushed-back style.
It sounds do-able ..you`d also have to specify single -tied knots as double-tied knots might lead to ` visibility` in that particular area, as the hair would be light-density and the casual observer would be able to see through the hair to the underlying skin ....usually they do an ok job in bleaching the knots, but sometimes it can be an issue ..can look like black ` dots` if they tie the individual hairs in with two knots..... the trade-off with single knots, is they can become undone and hair sheds out early...this can be overcome by applying knot-sealer to the underside of the lace ..it`s a liquid acrylic which dries to form a ` skin` and seals the knots, preventing them from untying....
I know you have a lot to consider before deciding what to do, but hope those suggestions may help you in your decision/s.

Thanks a lot for the answers, guys. This is good stuff. Would probably have taken me ages to find out all of this on my own.

I am still a little on the fence and still considering what I am going to do, but I feel that hair replacements are the way to go for now. Hey, it might buy me a few years until someone can find a proper cure!

PS. I find this forum quite refreshing. Most forums that have something to do with hair loss have been some of the most depressing places I have visited on the internet, but this place seems friendly and upbeat!