I've been lurking around the site for a bit and have been very impressed, impressed enough to take part.

1) I am a current club member and am getting RIPPED off for a mono. Keeping that in mind I need a good transition plan and a good way to get a template. Any ideas? Keep in mind that I am wearing one now and that the club shaves down my real hair to attach the system, approx the width of the binding. From pics here it looks like you guys don't do that. If this is the case, grabbing an old piece and sending it in wouldn't do.

2) I don't trust myself at all to maintain this at first. Putting on,maybe - but blending? I'm not so sure. Speaking to this topic how much do you guys need to cut when you receive yours? After a few tries is it that easy to get on straight? I understand practice makes perfect but I need a little clarity here. There is a list of stylists but there doesn't appear to be anyone in my area, what have you guys done?

3) I live a athletic (read sweaty and helmet wearing) lifestyle. What is the best combination of bindings and adhesives for this? With those of you that live a similar lifestyle, can you give me an example of your maintenance cycle? How often do you 'service' your piece and how often do you redo your front? How long does your piece last?

Thanks for your time.

I was in your position not long ago, and I encourage you to start doing it yourself. ESPECIALLY if you live an athletic lifestyle. It's scary, but the financial benefits and the freedom you gain is well worth the initial heartache.

Blending a piece to your own hair is easy once you get the hang of it. Since you're currently with a hairclub they must've shown you some styling techniques. These help with blending. Puffing the hair around the edges is a good trick, it gets rid of that 'line' you sometimes see when someone is wearing. I have it every time I get out of bed. When I wake up I spray my hair with water and leave in moisturiser and gently 'puff' the hair around the edge of my piece up. And I also comb the hair in such a way to create a crown. Since you already have a piece you can try this. If you don't already have one, get a small mirror as your second mirror. This way you can check out your hair from all angles. The back is important too. Mix it up, don't be afraid to experiment. The more you change your style the less drastic length and colour changes will be to the people who see you on a regular basis. Plus women love guys who have a sense of style, that don't always have the same look day in day out.

Another important thing is getting a good colour match. Try to get the right colour for your piece (if your anal about colour match place highlights in your piece, it should distract the eye from any small colour inconsitancies). Get a stylist to cut it in, in my opinion this is a MUST. Spending hundreds of dollars a year combined with time taken with attachment to walk around with a piss poor hair cut just doesn't seem right (I might be wrong, maybe some people do a great job cutting their own hair - but I don't fall into that category). I was lucky and found my stylist through this forum (she deals with wigs). If you don't have luck through this forum start googling. Call up hairdressers and barbers in the area and ask them if they are comfortable with cutting wigs. You won't know unless you ask.

I attach and reattach once a week. It isn't hard to do, but it's fiddily. I have some new methods I want to try with attachment. Methods that will hopefully make it quicker and neater. At the moment though I make a perimeter of tape on the outside of the piece by cutting up pieces of tape (contours and rolls). I do this to avoid getting any lift on the sides of the piece. Then I place a line of tape down the middle of the piece. Line up the hairline and place it on my head. Once again, browse through youtube to get an idea of how this is done. The hardest part about placing it on your head is getting the hairline right. Once you've got the hairline right the rest of the wig should fall into place. I use tapes because I find they hold well and are easy to use. Note, I play soccer which involves running (and I sweat ALOT!) and sometimes heading the ball. I haven't had any troubles yet. Tapes don't turn white and cause itching when I exercise (glue I had when at a hairclub did). Plus I didn't feel secure when sweating, I could sometimes feel the glue's bond loosen. I don't think it was loose enough to come off, but it was unerving. Sometimes I use glue for touch ups on the hairline, but I have wholehearted faith in tapes. You can order many products and see which one suits you best. Many people use no-shine tape on the hairline and supertape on the rest of the piece.

Also, I believe Toplace has a service where you send in an old piece and they make a template out of it. I'm sure John could confirm this...

Hope that helps.

Hey There Folks,

some great advice on this thread. I'm in a similar boat to the original poster, just awaiting my first system, but some of the advice here is fantastic.

hairhat - I play a lot of Soccer, Handball, and Rollerskate a lot. I'm undecided on my hair-line what type of addhesive that I'll use. Do you get an ok hairline with using tape, or do you brush your front hair down? We call it a fringe in Scotland, but I think it might be 'Bangs' in the US? It's called. Right now, I have some hair on my head and with the help of concealers I can just about get by disgusing it, or at least, I think I can, but I brush it down as I'm receding quite a lot, and don't know if I have the confidence straight away to brush up my new hairline as I've never had a quiff/type thing for a few years, but is it possible to have a detecable hairline with tape? and where abouts do you apply the Tape, right on the hairline or just behind it?

Also, how long does it take you to attach/clean up etc. I don't mind the hard-work involved and I'm quite looking fwd to the challenge, but I am bit worried about it going on squint, or something.

Sorry, a final question.. How do you cut your hair? and your real hair? Should you buy a hair clipper type thing in the Michigan Baldy DVD and clip your real hair, once a week, trim it a bit, this bit is worrying me a bit as I'm scared incase I cut it too short, or is it a piece of cake , onc e you get started?

all the best
kevin

I don't have a set way I wear my hair. Sometimes it's combed down, sometimes not so much. You can pretty much expose your hairline as much as you want. I find walker-no-shine is a strong bond and you can expose alot of hairline. To illustrate this here's a photo of Bruce Willis in a wig when he was in sin city. I can't say for certain what attachment method he uses there. But just an example of how exposed you can get a hairline.


There's a guy who is a long time poster on here, he goes by JRob. He posted this picture a while back. It's my favorite hairline picture in terms of wigs. From memory JRob uses tapes and uses Walker No-Shine on the hairline?


I find the attachment process difficult. Though I've never been much of a hands on person. I'd imagine some people find it easier than others. If you put it on badly, you can always take it off and put it back on. I've done that once or twice. :oops: I think the attachment process is like riding a bike. You have to get on the bike to learn how to ride.My haircut is pretty close to a fauxhawk. Beckham sometimes sports this style.

As for cutting your own hair. You can buy clippers from Debbie to cut your own hair. I don't do this. I get my stylist to cut it rather short on the sides and keep it long at the back, as you can probably see in the above picture. It's convient because it's a style that needs a bit of growth before a trim is required. Plus, there's ALOT of short hair on the sides after I get it cut. In my case the blending on the sides and back is really good. I don't think anyone would see me walking down the street and say: 'Oh that guy's hair looks like a wig'.

A good note is when you first get a wig. It isn't going to behave the way you expect. THe hair might be a tad curlier than your own. It might stick up funny. Just use product in it. And the products have to be gentle on the hair. You don't want harsh chemicals in your piece. It will reduce the lifetime of the piece. Use gells and water to tame the hair to how you want it to look. When you force the hair to sit a particular way, the more it will tend to do that. Kinda like bending a spring. This morning was the first time I woke out of bed and saw the piece and couldn't believe it's a hairpiece. It looked amazingly like bed hair. Great personal achievment for me.

Hope that answers all your questions.

Hey There,

Thanks again for the pictures and help.

Yeah, I've gone for Super tape, and non-shine walker tape. I'm going to go for walker at the front at first. I've not had a hairline for a few years, so I'm not sure if I'm ready to expose it yet too much, and also being a newbee tape might be easier to play around with at the start.

Your hairstyle looks good, and I might consider something quite spikey fauhwakish for my next style. I used to have Spikey hair when I was a bit younger, I'm 27 on Wednesday, and was always know for having my fauxhawk when I was 19/20.

take it easy, and thanks again

Hairhat, can you post a shopping list of all the products and materials you use? Which system to you use? Or anyone else w/ a similar lifestyle, could you post?

For everyone, do you shave some hair then apply the piece or do you simply tape/glue the piece onto your scalp? The club actually shaves some hair and applies glue to that, i'd imagine it creates a longer hold, but it's also a bit more complicated to take off and put on.

Thanks again.