Hairlosssucks,
I'm glad to hear you got the unit.
You can cut the lace. All units come with extra lace that is trimmed by the customer. Some people like to leave 1 or 2 rows of lace and if it does fray they just cut off a row of lace. The hair will fall out but only from the row that you trim into--it will be negligible since the lace is so small. Best of luck.
Regards,
John