Hi Hersute.... I agree there`s a distinct lack of photos and input from Fullcap wearers over the last year or so...it`s a pity really, because I well-know the feeling and frustration when I was dealing with ever-thinning hair and having to ` work` harder to make a topper look ` invisible` on top of ` weak` side / back growing hair..... I really just said to myself I can`t be bothered with all this any more ..just go for a ` proper` full head of hair again...... a few guys used to post info. and photos here, of their Fullcaps ..most notably JRob... and once I could see it was possible, I just decided to go for it..... so for any guys here reading this or seeing what`s possible, hopefully the photos will help.
In the 2nd-last one you can just about see that there`s grey hair...about 10% of this system is grey...... I think too that over time, the factory has gotten better and more skilled with producing these Fullcaps....the style I wear is very easy to pull off too..... you have no colour-match issues either,which can really be a heart-breaker with some toppers. You can , of course, have issues, from one system to the next, as these are made by hand, and the main one for me has been the ventilation on the flaps..it needs to be tied-in ` flat` to base as far as possible....I had one a few months ago and the hair was literally standing out at right-angles to the lace.... I got one of those [very cheap] hair-straightening kits in an Afro shop..the one for doing kids hair...I applied the mix to the knots and was able to then pull the hair ` down` / against the lace... thankfully this one shown here is really well-made...... I always leave the hair at the nape on the long side initially, in order to see how it ` settles` ... after a while I can do a little snipping here and there with the thinning scissors to give it a more ` gappy` ` chopped` look.....the trick is not to go ``across`` the back but rather hold the scissors` down` [ crown-to-nape] so that only the tips of the blades grip/cut the hair in small sections.....if you go ` across` at the back you tend to get a ` straight line` look and it looks ` off`.
I get an average of 12 weeks wear from these and I wear a hat /cap at work which isn`t ideal but in fairness, I haven`t suffered any shedding in particular areas from wearing them...I find once [normal-rate] shedding starts, it`s around the ear-flaps that I notice it first.
Oldwearer : Measured them ..they`re 1 inch [25 mm] long.... I guess it`s just that I haven`t shortened them recently-- I occasionally take a little bit off the bottom of the sideburn hair just to ` tidy` them.... I feel having that little bit of real hair there just softens the look of where the system hair ` ends` or lies in against the face .... my template is slightly over-size in that area and the temple area too...I then trim it to fit with a blade... I was always terrified of cutting the actual base , but with time your confidence grows and once you just trim a tiny bit at a time [maybe 2 or 3 grids of lace] you can get it to the shape you want....usually the bottom of those flaps is almost twice the ` width` of the sideburn hair..I then trim the base to ` fit ` !!
It takes me about 10 minutes max. at night to remove this, apply new strips and ` prep` them so I`m good to go in the morning ... takes me literally 3 minutes in the morning to sit the thing on, peel off the papers and press the tapes to the skin... I use Walker no-shine.