tunners Wrote:I use blue liner at the back which holds like shit to a blanket!!! So that isn't a problem. I use supertape everywhere else. I go weekly for changes, find it best for clean up!!!! A full cap when attatched is so much more secure in my eyes than a topper.

What are the specs Tunners?

hi i just wanted to say you look like your losing your hair for a reason other than male pattern baldness,i would suggest you see a doctor about your hair loss and maybe you cna reverse it,because the way your thinning evenly all over your scalp is not the norm, for MPB, you might just be deficient in something or have a different form of alopecia.

My specs are Roughly 70% light brown, that one was all french lace with a poly perimeter. Now I am going to go ALL french lace as poly is detectable to the touch. I had to grab a girls hand if she would try to hold the back of my head and that can kinda ruin the moment cos you are then thinking about for just a millisecond!!!! I think the all lace will be MUCH less detectable to the touch, it can't be unlike the front to the touch and that is very hard to feel.

If you could go with a bit longer hairstyle, you may get by with the full size topper - that is, 8" x 10". With the curl of your hair, if you can match that then somewhere around 4" - 5" length will cover your thinning sides and back. The curls will blend together, I used to wear my hair this way until it got so that it won't grow enough. I would suggest that if you can afford it, buy a stock system and experiment with it. They come in 8" x 10" usually, most cut them down. French lace with a poly perimeter is a good system to start on. You can plaster your hair down under the system with hairspray, and attach with Red Liner or other tape. You may need to color or perm it to match, but you can learn a lot without making the commitment of shaving underneath. It won't look as good as when it's shaved underneath, but you can get a better idea of how it can work for you. When you're ready, I'd advise you get at least two systems cut in and fitted before going full time with it.



I would say that your hairline looks good enough to leave a strip in front and attach the system behind, but from reports of those who have done so it's pretty difficult and seldom worth the effort. Many here said they ended up shaving off the front hairline, even some who had transplants there.

I guess that, considering I have an overall thinning, including sides and back, it wouldn't make sense to go for a topper, as I would still have to wash my side and back everyday, as well as apply dermmatch on them. Then I would have to make sure it would match with the topper, which could not happen, as the amount of dermmatch I put and the styling products will yeld slight different tones everyday.


I don't know if a full cap is that much harder to maintain and get to look real, comparing to a topper, and considering it isn't I don't see any reason to go for the latter.


And now I would appreciate it a lot if you guys could answer my other questions. :-)

Here's the deal.

Anyone who tells you to slap a nice unit on the top of your head and continue to paint on the sides on has never had to paint concealers on the sides of their head, or at least has not taken the plunge and tried a full cap, because if they had, they would be telling you that a full cap is the ONLY way to go.

There is still "resistance" in the hair community to wearing a full cap. This mainly comes from people who have good side and temple hair who mean well but do not know what it is like to have to deal with the issues that you face. My situation was a little less severe than yours, but I was absolutely sick of dealing with the whole concealer mess that I decided to try a full cap, and if that didn't work I was going to go back to shaving. Lucky for me the full cap thing worked beautifully.

Tunners went through the same thing I did, but he was lucky enough to have been able to see some examples of full caps (he saw mine in person) before taking the plunge. He started off with a topper and ended up with a full cap. He looked great with his first partial unit, but my concern was him being able to replicate what Debbie did when he got home and had to try to make new units work without her help.

Verdict= Full Cap, no question about it.

2- My scalp and skin is extremely oily. I have to wash my hair every 24 hours, or it will look awful. I'm worried that this will cause me trouble with an hair piece. Do you think I can keep my hair piece for at least 5-7 days, even having an oily scalp?

Hard to say.

You will have to try different glues and tapes to see what gives the best hold.

3- Is it possible to try a topper/full cap without shaving my hair, and make sure it will look good, until I take the plunge for the shaving?

Not really. I would order two full caps and when they arrive make sure the specs are good before you proceed. There are a few critical areas that will determine whether they are useable, and if you post pics or a short video I can tell you if they are going to work. As soon as you get two good units, shave it all off and go for broke.

4- As to costs... I currently spend about 125dollars (perhaps more) every month in products for my hair... do you think the hair piece route will be cheaper or costlier? By how much?

If you care for the units properly you will probably spend less money.

5- As to my girlfriend... I never told her I use concealers. She respects my privacy a lot, and she never interrupts me when I'm in my bathroom. I don't honestly know if she knows I use them, but I try to believe she doesn't. Anyway, our relationship is strong, and I know that one day I'll have to tell her, but I would like to wait at least an year before I would do it. Do you think a well applied hair piece can be undetectable even for someone who is near your almost every day of the week? I'm not worried of her running her hands through my hair, because she fortunately never does it, I'm just worried if it will be noticeable.

A well applied, properly maintained hairpiece is very difficult to detect. To my knowledge no one has ever spotted my hairpiece unless they were told. That doesn't mean that it is impossible to detect, but a good unit is all but impossible to spot.

6- How much time do you think I'll have to spend with the maintenance and adjustment of the hairpiece? How long does it take to clean it? How much time will I have to spend daily adjusting the hairline, etc?

I spend about an hour maybe an hour and a half per week. Cleaning only takes about 20-30 minutes. Daily adjustments aren't necessary unless you expose hairline, and even then you might only have to touch up every few days.

7- Are hair systems detectable in bars/night clubs which have that purple light that makes white things glow?

Get an all lace base and you shouldn't have to worry about that.

8- About the cut... I think I don't have the courage to go to a salon and tell someone "hey, I'm wearing a hair piece, would you please cut it for me?". As such, do you think I could manage to get a decent haircut made by myself?

If you were going to do that what I would do is make sure the base is trimmed up to your liking, and send it to Debbie to get cut in. You will probably still have to tweak it a little, but there is no substitute for a professional cut.

JRob Wrote:3- Is it possible to try a topper/full cap without shaving my hair, and make sure it will look good, until I take the plunge for the shaving?

Not really. I would order two full caps and when they arrive make sure the specs are good before you proceed. There are a few critical areas that will determine whether they are useable, and if you post pics or a short video I can tell you if they are going to work. As soon as you get two good units, shave it all off and go for broke.

Thanks a lot for your help JRob!


What do you mean with checking if the specs are good? If I do a custom proper template (by following the tips in your site for exemplo), and get debbie to cut-in the piece, is there still a possibility that the piece will be useless, after spending 350 dollars on it?!

hairze Wrote:

JRob Wrote:3- Is it possible to try a topper/full cap without shaving my hair, and make sure it will look good, until I take the plunge for the shaving?

Not really. I would order two full caps and when they arrive make sure the specs are good before you proceed. There are a few critical areas that will determine whether they are useable, and if you post pics or a short video I can tell you if they are going to work. As soon as you get two good units, shave it all off and go for broke.

Thanks a lot for your help JRob!


What do you mean with checking if the specs are good? If I do a custom proper template (by following the tips in your site for exemplo), and get debbie to cut-in the piece, is there still a possibility that the piece will be useless, after spending 350 dollars on it?!

There are still some kinks in the manufacturing process for men's full caps. The most common problem is improperly ventilated temples. If you are wearing a longer style this isn't nearly as much of an issue, but if you are cutting the hair short or even down to an inch or two it can become a real problem.

The other issue that can happen with any hairpiece is improper density. It's not a science. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes it's a little off and you can work with it, and on rare occasions it is way too thick or too thin.

John is good about getting a unit remade if the specs are too far off to work with, but unfortunately it takes quite a while to make one of these so you should have two useable units before you start to wear, and as soon as you get up and running with your first unit you need to order at least one more to make sure you always have something in the pipeline in case you end up with a unit that has to be remade.

Your first couple of units might not last as long as future units, but if you order an all french lace base and care for the hair properly, you can probably get a year maybe even more out of two units.

JRob Wrote:There are still some kinks in the manufacturing process for men's full caps. The most common problem is improperly ventilated temples. If you are wearing a longer style this isn't nearly as much of an issue, but if you are cutting the hair short or even down to an inch or two it can become a real problem.

The other issue that can happen with any hairpiece is improper density. It's not a science. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes it's a little off and you can work with it, and on rare occasions it is way too thick or too thin.

John is good about getting a unit remade if the specs are too far off to work with, but unfortunately it takes quite a while to make one of these so you should have two useable units before you start to wear, and as soon as you get up and running with your first unit you need to order at least one more to make sure you always have something in the pipeline in case you end up with a unit that has to be remade.

Your first couple of units might not last as long as future units, but if you order an all french lace base and care for the hair properly, you can probably get a year maybe even more out of two units.

Shouldn't it be possible for John or the folks from other hairpiece companies to request directly to the factory that the ventilator should pay the needed attention to temple ventilation?


Currently I cannot afford to immediatly buy two units, and order another unit as soon as I receive the first too. I think my best bet will be to buy one full cap made to custom specifications, request Debbie for a cut-in, receive it, apply gel or something to my thin hair so that it doesn't occupy much volume, and see how the full cap looks on me. In case I find it acceptable, and know it will look better with my hair shaved, then I'll take the plunge, order the second one, and shave my hair when I have two units with me. What do you think of this?