Hello,

I will try to keep this short. After much deliberation I decided to go for Advanced hair studio replacement systems as it was a new area for me so I wanted someone from in my city to handle it for me. I planned to go for DIY Toplace later when I was kind of settled with the new changes with my life.

So I got my first unit hard bonded, they told me to come back every month and pay a hefty sum to get it 'refused'. Having read that it wasnt as sanitary as one would expect and being the rebel I am, I ordered solvent and tape and started using them on the system.

I followed a remove unit, shampoo and condition in a big bowl routine for the first 3 times every week. Today I tried to do the same but when I took the unit out of conditioner it started to shrink and crush (pics attached). When I looked closer the hair are kind of turned inwards and very jumbled together. Plus hair seem to be coming out of the base downwards on the inside, which looks weird.

I don't know what happened cuz for the first 3 times it was ok and I was loving it.

Note: last time I removed strips made of plastic from the plastic that is still there on the perimeter. I thought those were just reinforcements and I din't need those.

Please have a look at the pics and help me . Let me know what would have caused this and what is a possible solution to get it back into shape

The hairs coming through to the underside of the base are normal. That happens over time, and you just have to cut them off. It happens more quickly if you rinse the piece with water pouring from the hair side to the base side.

Are you saying that the poly (plastic) rim has become deformed and crinkled up? That would seem to suggest it was affected either by heat or by chemicals - I can't see how it can have been caused by conditioner. The only thing I can suggest is that you try to straighten it out by playing a warm hairdryer on the poly and rolling/stretching it flat. If that doesn't work maybe you could peel the poly rim off and use just the lace? Is the piece wearable as it is, or have you got a spare?

To be honest, this doesn't look like a hairpiece of the quality you would get from Toplace, and even if you can salvage it I am not sure it is going to be wearable much longer. My feeling is you should be ordering a stockie pretty quickly so that you don't get left exposed without a wearable unit. Where are you based?

Sorry, about the tangled hair, you can buy detangler at a pharmacy, or leave-in conditioner does something similar. Rub it gently onto the tangled bits being careful not to get it onto the base/knots, then very gently comb the tangled out of the hair being careful not to exert pressure on the knots. It's a slow painstaking job, but doable.

Hello Baldrich, Thanks for the tips, I will try out the dryer and detangler.

Yes I am in the process of ordering a Toplace unit, just learning from the forums as much as I can before I order one. Can you point me to a place for learning how to prepare a template in detail?

I`ve never seen something like this before.... Poly. is normally very robust ....did you expose it to very hot
water? That might explain why the hair tangled too ...heat causes the little ` scales` on the hairs to open..bit like a
pine-cone, and because the hairs are not placed into the system in the same ``direction``, when those `scales` open
they`ll get snagged into the surrounding ones......certainly, wetting the hair, and applying conditioner liberally and letting it
sit for a while, should help you untangle the ` lumps` without breaking too many of the hairs ... the lace part is fused into the
poly..... I don`t think you`d be able to cut off the poly part and have the system cover the same area of your head, and it
would also affect the overall ` look` ....It`s possible that whatever solvent you used affected the poly too.....you said you
applied conditioner 3 times in one week ..that`s far too much..... all you need to do with a new system particularly, is clean the base
and simply dampen the hair daily and apply some leave-in conditioner 2 or 3 times a week...spritz with water in between applications.
Hair in not ` dirty` or oily like growing hair, therefore there is NO need to shampoo it often....just use a mild shampoo on the base to remove
sweat / oily residues and bacteria....shampooing hair will dry it and cause the colour to lighten..... being as that you`re now in this
situation and have no back-up system to hand, the quickest solution would be to order a stock system from John and have him send it
to Debbie for a ` remote cut-in` ...she does a really good job and her prices are reasonable too ---it`ll tide you over until you get a template
made and order a custom system .....that could take anything up to 7 /8 weeks and looking at the photos, your system may not last that long.
You could measure your bald area side-to-side and front-to-back and Debbie will even trim the lace base to fit that area !!! Whole thing would probably take 10 days!
The stocks are a middle-of-the -road solution for most wearers ...they are a ` standard` size and density and the shape [curvature] most
likely will not fit like a glove and you can have ` ripples` or ridges around the perimeter but it`s only you who`ll ` notice ` it really......it`ll get you
out of your present difficulties and buy you a bit of breathing -room ! Stock systems have a use ..this is one of those times they can really come in handy...hope that helps.

There are a few template-making videos on YouTube. I think this is one of the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFQX0Bv_8N8

Let us know how you get on.