Thanks again guys for the feedback.
I've been to quite a few hair system places around Melbourne and the general consensus with durability is 4-6 weeks for a Swiss Lace and 2-3 Months with a French Lace. They do mention that the systems start to show wear and tear after these times which is why they recommend replacing the systems before anyone notices.
I definitely trust the advice on this forum over these places and it would obviously appear that they are just trying to sell me more systems. I actually had to walk out of one place where the girl there repeated "hair today, gone tomorrow" to me about 8 times. That was about 3 years ago and as you can see from the pics, hair is still there
.
Max - Firstly, thank you for your response, I agree i could leave it for a few more years and still have hair to play around with at the front. The main reason for me though is to transition to a system while i still have a lot of hair at the front so no one would really notice the change. Another issue for me is i don't have a flat head and missing the hair on the sides means i can't style my hair the way i want with short hair which is why i keep it longer. I'll post full before and after pics once the system arrives to hopefully show what i mean with the short hair look.
Just for reference I've decided to go with a Swiss Lace first at 65% density.
Other Specs are
Hair length - 3 Inches
Style - Freestyle
Wave and Curl - Body wave - Option 1
I've created the base design and will be sending the order via mail tonight with a hair sample also.
Will post pics as soon as the system arrives.
Cheers and thanks again for the support.