Well I suppose at that price, that is cheap for a Salon --they are usually much more expensive. I have been robbed by Salons and got pretty crap service on top of it, at one in particular, despite the high price I was paying. Again it`s your personal choice as to whether you start off with the Salon or order from Toplace --- unless the Salon provides you with a stock system, you will have to wait, probably the same length of time as from this site due to the fact that they have to make a template of your balding area and send that off to the factory, where it gets into the Q.
Any Salon I dealt with, a template was made and then I had to wait up to 2 moths for delivery /fitting. One thing I would bear in mind if I was you, is that if you order from the Salon, if you then chose to supply your own [via here ] further down the road, the `attitude` of the Salon may not be as helpful [just my own speculation here ] Did she outline the time -frame of their procedure ? Did she tell you she`d make a template and send it off to the factory or did she just tell you she can /will supply a stock system ? I cannot see how she`d happen to have a stock system with your colour and percentage of grey, to hand.
All I`m saying is that [ naturally enough ] she`ll want to sell her system/glues etc. but I cannot see any major advantage in tying yourself to the Salon. I agree with her observations on the expected `life`of a system --it depends on many factors [frequent washings, sweating, products such as gels etc ] --- some guys can get months out of a system, others will not get so long [ my first Toplace system was still in good nick after 6 months ] As to 12 months --- a skin base could well last that long, but real human hair will oxidise from normal things like exposure to sun etc. and will eventually become more brittle and will shed. It`s not an exact science really --depends on many factors. Paul.