(11-02-2011, 01:20 PM)jordo06 Wrote: I wish someone would respond to this.... I have noticed my hair seems less thick on the sides- when is the time to go full skullcap?

OK, I'll take a crack at it. Up front, I'll say that I wear toppers, but have scoured every spec of info and pics on this and other forums as I make the leap from a salon/contract situation to the DIY world of wearing. I've paid close attention to the full cap gurus as well ... check out Jrob, Dino and Paul

It's not that one style looks more wiggy than another, they have different strengths and weaknesses.

The big advantage to full caps is no blending issues w/ side and back hair (the biggest weakness in toppers) ... there's a lot that can be off ... color, texture, density, ventilation direction.

Guys usually make the leap to full caps when their temples have receded, and side and back hair have gotten too diffuse to blend convincingly.

The challenges to full caps include:

the nape area - getting the hair to lay down against your neck, and attachment weakness caused by natural movements of the head.

temple and sideburns - ventilation is touchy here, if the hair is ventilated forward or straight out from the base, it can cause an unnatural look. Being specific about ventilating the hair down and back here helps a lot. Sometimes a little less density at temples helps too.


So this is only a basic "101" on the differences ... and I don't mean to be sexist here ... there are a lot of female full cap wearers. With longer styles, the issues at the nape and temples are less pronounced, but still present. And there is much info here on ways to mitigate the weaknesses of each base style, some of these include:

To hide temple recession when wearing toppers, some will try adding temple flaps to their base design, or wearing a "curtains" hair style, in which the hair has a center part, brushed out to either side to camouflage the temple area.

With full caps, wearers will try to tweak ventilation directions and density at the problem areas (as mentioned) or try to keep a thin strip of their own growing hair at the nape and temple area to soften the edges.

Hope this helps,
FB