Not sure what all the fuss about shampoo is all about.
It's rare that I wash the unit itself, after the first initial wash before I attach a new unit.
Washing seems to be the single biggest cause of color fade, not the sun, contrary to popular belief here

Even BA has said before that there is usually no need to wash the unit as often as so many people seem to.

Y'all that wash so often must crawl under your vehicle, daily, rub the top of your head in axle grease and then go out in the yard and push the top of your head around in the dirt , or use a ton of some product that doesn't renew with some water misting and/or doesn't rinse out

I commonly get 10 months ~ 1 year out of a unit, with no shedding and very, very little color fade.
I wear for 7 days at a time and I do shower everyday and shampoo my existing hair. This does get the rear and the sides of the unit some, but the top doesn't get washed and only sometimes, maybe once a week or so, rinsed while I'm in the shower.
I use no product in my hair and I'll use, maybe once a week, a very little spray, leave in conditioner, very lightly on the unit itself.
Over use of conditioner will certainly contribute to shedding if it's allowed to get down to the knots.

I mentioned this before, over on the old forum, about the lack of shedding and the lack of color fade that I get.
Everyone said that if I got a SFS unit it would shed and fray (I usually wear french lace).
The last custom that I got, I ordered SFS and just a couple of months ago changed it out after 10 months of wearing. The only reason that I changed it is because I'm wearing my hair longer now.
The unit did NOT shed and has only minor color fading, not enough to worry about.
Also, regarding the lace fraying, it frayed only a very minor amount at the very back of the unit. None at all on the sides or front.



Fred