Trey,

Yes using concealer is a daily maintenance thing, but so can wearing a hair piece.
By trying concealer, you will also get to test how you will cope with 'passing off the illusion of more hair' that concerns you.
You'll be able to see if anyone notices or comments and how confident you are about carrying it off.
If you feel incredibly self conscious just using a concealer, chances are you'll be equally self conscious about replacement hair.

Lots of us who wear today went down the concealer route first.
When the proportion of concealer exceeds the proportion of natural hair, its becomes obvious and much more trouble than a hair piece.
In fact a hair piece becomes a breeze at that stage.

Concealers for blonde/brown hair can be difficult to match and using a combination of 2 tones is often recommended.

Good luck.