hairykrishna Wrote:"Micro-fine transparent substrate" - er, you mean lace? Hahah!

This looks pretty good, but I think both men could do with some temple points. Maybe it's just because my eye has been trained to spot these things, but it's weird to see such a strong head of hair without any temple points. And those men whose temple points naturally begin at the same level as their sideburns - well, guess what? They also look like they're wearing a wig!

The only person I have ever seen skirt this problem is Mr. Burns, with his handy yet slightly limiting temple flaps. Male pattern baldness affects hair globally across the scalp. This includes the so-called "permanent regions." Just because it's not barren doesn't mean it hans't changed too. I believe it's possible to tell that a man is bald without ever seeing the top of his head, particularly if he is in the later stages of hair loss. A glance at the sides is enough for me to make my diagnosis. This is why balding men in baseball caps look like...well, balding men in baseball caps...This is why bald men in great-looking wigs also sometimes look to me exactly like that: bald men in great-looking wigs.

Hopefully JRob will prove to us with his new DVD that this doesn't have to be a problem anymore. I can't wait, man!

Hairy,

Thanks for the very cogent description of hairpiece giveaways and tell-tales. Like you, I'm not (yet) a wearer perhaps in part because I've spotted too many "good" toppers (and, recently, a not-so-great full cap), which is always discouraging. My eye is so keen -- I believe -- that I have even spotted a wearer who was wearing a baseball cap over his piece -- and not a cheesy Howard Cosell toupee.

The recent bestseller "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell describes how we're able to make split-second judgments based on a life's experience. The book opens with an anecdote about an ancient Greek statue in pristine condition being offered as a recent discovery. The Ghetty Museum is prepared to spend millions of dollars for it, but after looking at for only a few moments, the director of the New York Metropolitan Museum Of Art is convinced of it's a fake and his hunch is vindicated.

I didn't find anything persuasive in the ContactSkin video linked here and precisely for the reasons that Hairy points out, namely the week temple points. (And I don't know how anyone can persuade themselves otherwise by a low-def, grainy 3"x 4" streaming video.)

I've admired many of the best of the best user photos I've seen here. And while I think their results are good enough not to raise any crimson red flags, to the trained eye (thankfully a small number), there's always a tell-tale (ironically, at first, too few flaws which then draws the eye in for closer inspection).