I understand what your saying biltmore but theres reasons I havent done that.

1. I've started meds, I'm about 3 months in, if my loss stabilizes and even manage to grow some the ability to use my own hair will remain good.

2. The small piece will still give me the look I would get by shaving and getting a larger piece.

3.Plus if I did shave to hair in the middle I would still buy a small piece and mix my sides etc with it, yes th parting would look better but I should be able to manage a similar look without shaving.

4. The idea of wearing a large piece fills me with dread, I feel much more comfortable using my own hair with the piece not only does it make me feel better but looking in the mirror knowing the majority of hair I can see is my own is a huge bonus.

5. I am thinking of having a HT down the line and don't want to damage hair that might be healthy by wearing, not sure if it does but I'm not sure I want to risk it.

6. I think most people would be happier to use there own hair mixed in with a piece not just because they can still use their own hair but the mixture of my long hair with a very small piece would be impossible to detect.

So in some respects shaving would be an advnatage but in many ways it wouldnt so far not shaving means the pro's outway the con's.