Hi all,

I've been a wearer for a few years now. I've never been able to get more than 5 weeks out of a single unit. It sheds smack at the 5 week mark religiously. The shedding when it happens is so dramatic it changes the unit appearance considerably. I can go from looking like I have a full head of hair to losing my hair over night. No matter whether it's French or SFS it still happens. I typically stretch them to 6 or 7 weeks by wearing a hat until a new unit comes in. As you can imagine this really puts a damper on my life because during that week to two week period I tend to avoid showing my hair, etc... My social life changes a bit.

Now I would buy 2 or so units at a time but times are tight and I can't really afford that. I have truly taken such gentle care of every unit I own and for the life of me cannot figure out why my units shed at 5 weeks where others say they can get 6 months. That's a huge difference 5 weeks and 24 weeks. I wish it was something I was doing but I can't seem to figure it out. I do all the careful things everyone else does. Nothing other than filtered water ever touches my hair. I gently detach from my head (probably more gently than most). Never wash in the shower. Change every 3 days, I spray desolvit on both sides of the unit and gently slide the glue off. I put only conditioner on the shaft and not at the base to avoid any knots coming lose. I've used the knot sealer. I've done it all. Has anyone ever been able to pinpoint what there problem was and solved it. I'd do anything for a solution.

Rob

I honestly believe its a factory thing. I have had units that NEVER shed. and i mean never. My famous partial thats god knows how many years old, still has not shed lol. and another unit i have that I got in 2005 has not shed either. Then i got some new units that shed in 3 weeks. and it is nothing i did differently. I think it depends on what worker u get at the time and how good they tie the knots. I mean there in the business of producing volume. I wouldnt be surprised if the factories make sure the knots aren't too sturdy.

I have only had one unit with poorly tied knots, the rest of the units that shed were due to the quality of the hair.

Incidentally, the two worst shedding units had the most curl, and I had to lighten them a bit.

At first you might think that the lightening of the hair was the main culprit, but think about it.....when you bleach the knots, you are bleaching the weakest part of the hair, right where it bends, and if THAT doesn't cause shedding.....but then again maybe that IS the problem???

My last two full caps...when I pulled them out of the envelope i wanted to erect a shrine and worship them, because I IMMEDIATELY knew that the hair quality was absolutely superb. And guess what? No shedding, I mean ZERO. I was so disappointed that they had some other issues that rendered them pretty much unwearable, but the hair.....oh my god that hair.....

I showed BA the difference, and he said sometimes you get them one way, sometimes another, and that's pretty much been my experience.

My current order for four units is for straight hair. If that doesn't help to sufficiently solve the problem, I might even resort to ordering pure blonde hair and coloring the whole thing myself. At least that way I won't have to worry about knots either.

I am lucky in that I can order a high density with the full caps and let them shed down, but it would be nice to figure out a way to keep the hair in the base, cause I could probably get a year out of a unit by starting out with a higher density, if the hair didn't shed so badly.

Oh yea, and incidentally, the diameter of the hair seems to correspond with its durability. The last two units I got the hair shaft was quite a bit thicker.

Yes JRob, I also order units with a higher density so that over time they will never look too thin on top. One of my most realistic units was a low density SFS, but after 8 weeks it just looked too thin on top...

I think every unit is different. And every ventilator is different. They aren't made by a machine, and nobody's perfect