Ah, glad to be of help. Yeah the serums are good, especially when the hair has been freshly washed ..helps seal -in moisture and of course the reason you get a nice shine from them is they contains silicon/s. You can apply them onto the hair nearer the base..not just at the tips.
I wore all -poly systems before, with full [all -over] glue bonds.... for up to 4 weeks at a time.Don`t know how I didn`t end up with a major infection on the scalp from the accumulated sweat and skin-shedding which goes on daily all over the body ..... all that being `trapped`under [basically] a layer of rubber..used to go to the gym a lot too...no way of washing the sweat off from under that lot !
I like the breathability of lace.... and even if you don`t want to do a full removal as in after sweating a bit, you can allow water onto the system to water-down the sweat....acids in sweat will attack any base material over time. With a lace, you can just do a perimeter-bond using glue all the way, or a combination of glue at the front and tapes around the rest of it......this allows the scalp to breath and you feel cooler in summer too..... it`s ok to wet the hair/head after your gym effort...no need to shampoo... the bond won`t usually be negatively -affected by water...... it`s impossible to say what will work best for you in terms of hold....that`s really a bit of a personal learning/experimental curve initially ...... you certainly pushed the boat out in terms of buying supplies..... you may end up not using many of them.......but at least you can try them..... if you allow your lace-release time to penetrate properly , your lace should come free of the adhesives, with little or no residue on the lace...most will be on the scalp...... a little glue-melter onto any residues on your lace, will soften it, and you can easily use a strip of bubble-wrap instead of a mirror [saves cleaning the mirror later] to rub any residue off the lace....... for the stronger glues and tapes which will usually be on the scalp, I`d recommend one of the citrus -based solvents as these literally attack the adhesive materials and dissolve them, so you can easily wipe them off your scalp...... the ORWG seems to give a really strong hold and resists oils/sweat..... I use Walker no-shine tape and find it gives a pretty firm grip..... I`m very lazy with my bonds though...only use a few little strips of it, but if I was going to be doing strenuous things like gym etc. I`d use more ..... the trick with glues is apply thin coats, allowing each one to go almost dry, before finally pressing the lace down onto it...don`t ever ever push your lace onto wet glue.....a big boo-boo. In view of your more active lifestyle,you should be able to get at least a week [ possibly more] if you use ORWG ....many guys get far longer bond-times with it, but it may need to be replaced if you`ve been profusely sweating....... as you go to the gym so frequently, I`d really advise you to do a weekly de-bond and if at all possible, leave the thing off your head at least one night over the weekend....just to give the skin which has had glue/tape on it a chance to `breath`and go completely dry....
The reason your skin stock still looks thick on top is because they`ve probably thinned it with a thinning scissors...all this does is shorten some hairs....the `stubble` is still there near the base..... if the hairs have been machine-injected, they are still anchored in to the skin...if they are looped they will eventually work their way out over time..... with a lace base, you can thin out the hair from the underside using dabs of hair-removal cream ..this removes the knot and hair...is far trickier to thin a skin system. Stocks have their limitations , but as long as the colour match is ok and the medium density is matching your remaining hair, they can be fine..sometimes the edge will get ripples in it due to the head -shape it`s sitting on.....custom are normally a snugger fit, but some guys get a perfect fit with a stock, plus the `Freestyle` ventilation can be pretty easy to train into a particular style.
Don`t apply knot sealer until your system settles `down`....maybe 10 -14 days into wearing...especially if you want to `train`the hair into one style.... once it`s applied it tends to `lock`the knots into place..... it`s basically an acrylic skin....apply very very sparingly...just barely dab it on with a cotton cloth moistened with it--- if you can see it `wet` on the lace, you`re applying it too heavily and it will seep through onto the hair causing clumps. One small bottle is enough to treat a minimum of 6 systems, if not more, so go very easy with it. Sorry I can`t be more specific on the bond-duration, but it really really is a case of `` suck `em and see``...hope the Friday outing will be great !