Today's experience:

So I debonded, tried to clean, and rebonded with only ONE very thin layer of glue around only the perimeter. I got most bumps out (though I found one small one, but no biggie) and made the hairline look pretty good. Impressions: Overall looked good. I fixed the color to match perfectly, the hairline looked really good (which didn't matter because I combed forward anyway, just to be safe). Under close inspection (using two mirrors to see the back) I thought it looked really good. Showed enough scalp to be believable, hairline position was good. In the middle of the hair (where it wasn't bonded) if I looked super closely at certain angles I could kinda see the lace. But if had to really look for it.

So I decided to give it a whirl. First to see me, my sister. I saw her first because I knew of all people, if she noticed and asked what was up, I could be honest and she wouldn't judge at all. She said, "Wow I love your hair!" See, I had dyed everything a dark brown, I thought throwing off the color might help disquise it was thicker. She bought it. She commented that whenever I dye my hair (which I've done before) it always looks thicker and better. This gave me some confidence.

Next were two of my friends, a guy and girl. The girl hadn't seen me in a while and kept commenting on how good I looked with brown hair and that it makes my eyes pop and looks great. The guy said it looked good but was so different it kept throwing him off, like he was looking at someone other than me. When I told him I also shaved (I had a pretty full gotie going) he was like, "OOOH! That's what must be so different. I was so distracted by the brown hair and brown eyebrows I didn't even notice you shaved too!" So he seemed to buy it. I was getting more confident at this point.

Next was my brother. I knew this was a tough one, because he, too, is suffering from hairloss. The first time he saw me with concealer he seemed to be staring at the hairline to figure out why it looked fuller. He commented how good it looks brown and that with brown hair I look more like him, which means he thought I looked damn sexy. Narcisist.

Then I went and played volleyball with a big group of people. All my other friends saw it and said they almost didn't recognize me with brown hair, but no negative comments.... UNTIL.... one girl said something that is eating at me right now. Keep in mind, I see this girl maybe 2-3 times a month, and the last 4 times I've seen her I was wearing a hat or had convincing concealer. She said, "I love your hair by the way." I said thanks. Then she said the words that haunt my thoughts, "what is it?" ........ ya...... how the hell do I answer that? So I said, "what is it? What do you mean?" She repeated, "ya what is it?" I said "darker brown...?" She said, "Oh so you just dyed it?... sorry... made that awkward."

So ya, here I am sitting here writing a novel freaking out a bit. Was it superbly obvious and everyone else was just being nice? I checked a mirror after I said that and everything was fine and in place and looked great to me. So WHAT on earth made her say that? I could understand that if she saw me regularly and noticed a drastic change, but she sees me so rarely I consider her more an acquaintance than a friend.

So now the devil and angel on my shoulders are arguing. "Shave it off!" "Keep it!" "Shave bald!" "You can do this! No one else noticed!" "Everyone knows! They are laughing at you right now!" "You got so many compliments, everyone loves it!"

Oi. And she was never less than three feet away from me too. I wish I had pulled her aside and asked what she meant. Thoughts?