Thanks to BA and Debbies efforts I'll have my new Hair Piece in a couple days which means chances are good that I'll be gone for awhile, I pretty much have caught up on my reading and getting the new products and ideas to keep me busy for awhile. If some of you are like me I'll pass a few things on to you before I go.

1) in the beginning you're sitting there and very little makes sense
2) Much of what you read here are from people taking wearing to a very high level , you need to concentrate on just getting the piece cut in, figure your density out, color, length and style that works, and getting the damned thing to stay on your head a few days at a time. Once you are wearing for a week or so all this other stuff will start to click
3) glue and tapes are trial and error for all of us as everyones body chemistry is different and climates we live in make a difference also. You simply keep trying until you find whats right for you
4) how long you wear it before washing it, is strictly up to you , generally speaking I would say wash it about twice a week but again you'll get all kinds of varying opinions here. Personally I do my washing every 3-4 days when I remove and reattach and I shower every day and put conditioner in. I never use blow dryer on hot, use it cold after you damp dry in a towel.
5) just because someone is complaining they have hair fallout problems does not mean you will. I have had two HP's since I started wearing, one lasted a little over 6 months and the other 9 months. There are far too many intangibles to figure out how long a piece will last for each person but contributing factors are , how often you wash it, how much product you are putting in your hair, types of product you have in your hair , do you brush it when its wet, etc etc etc. Persoanlly for me any HP that lasts 4 months or more is a winner. That means I'm only replacing it 3 times a year, I'll let you do the math but its obvioulsy cost effective solution to our problem.
6) When you are new to wearing allow extra time in the beginning to make sure it looks right on your head, now it takes me about 20-25 minutes to take it off, wash it, dry it and reattach if I have two systems(I highly recomend having 2 systems for this reason alone).
7) Age varies greatly here also, from college age to people like myself that are in 50's or older. Keep that in mind when reading posts
8)" Ideas are a dime a dozen but the people that use them are priceless" That sums up this forum in a nutshell and the reason that Top Lace is in a class all by themselves.
9) stop worrying about who knows you're wearing!!! When you look in the mirror and know "you" look better. No one in their right mind criticizes self improvement, your friends and family wont either. I have 2 days a week I hate and thats the days I have to remove and reattach. Not because of the maintenance involved but because I hate seeing myself bald again. lol I'm serious here, it freaks me out. lol
10) I have 2 women that I see pretty regularly , both of them know I wear, both of them thought I was kidding them when I told them and neither of them will ever see me without my HP on because I simply wont let them. lol

Anyway hopefully this helps ya get started

Best Regards to all of you,


Bill