Hi everyone, first post for me here.

I'd like to thank John and some of the prolific posters here such as JRob and Paul, but also everyone else.. its made this adventure so much more bearable.

My history with hair wearing has been 1 topper from toplace..Started this year. Unfortunately due to stopping propecia a topper is no longer viable for me, so I'm ordering my first full cap.

When you look at my template, keep in mind that I am 24. The full cap templates I've seen on here have a generally flat temple area, and thats what I'm most concerned about on my template. However, please give me your advice about any part of my template, I'd really appreciate it.

Hi fate.. are you going to trim it to the purple line? If so, the back looks good and around/over the ears.... it`s important [as you realise] to get the temple/sideburn area to look `right`....basically you don`t want the hair to fall/be too far `forward`onto the forehead or face.... just a little `tweaking`will set you right. I`ll lift 2 of your pics later today and mark a line with my suggestion and post them. The 3rd -last pic --view of the right side of your face , shows a curve at the temple [which is more natural in my opinion] and the 2nd-last pic showing the view of the left side shows more of a straight line up at the front edge there....that may look more `artificial`...... I notice you have some hair growing underneath the template just there ...are you going to keep that ? I kept that little bit there--just about a few millimeters to provide a visual-buffer in case the system hair looked a bit `stark` or somehow unnatural against the skin there.......something you might like to consider too ? Wait until JRob has a look too as he`s so experienced and such a Fullcap guru !! Looks very good so far though...... Paul.

Hi Paul.. was hoping you'd post

I wasn't actually planning on cutting along the purple line (its just to indicate single hair vent/bleached knots, I picked that up from JRob's blog) , do you think the template protrudes too far? I can trim it a bit if you think its a good idea. I'm not sure if I will integrate some of my own hair into the design.. the temples are quite receeded, my hair overall is in quite bad shape. I'm sending in another hair sample for color matching too, as my last color was a bit too bright; so I guess it depends on that a little bit too.

I'll wait for your recommendations before I make any modifications. Thanks for helping me out with your input

fate..you have good hair at the back there and the purple line looks to me as if it`s sitting just under the occipital bone there which is the correct place to have your perimeter. If you keep that bit of hair there [from where the edge /perimeter will sit] it will give a really good visual effect whenever you incline your head forward and down ..... a casual observer wouldn`t notice a thing. I`ll mark a few suggestions for you shortly.....also, it`s better to have the edge not sitting directly onto the ear ..you have to allow a little gap there for styling etc. otherwise the hair even though it will be relatively short, will be covering the ears ...probably wouldn`t really feel too comfortable either.... I pondered on that area and how to `approach`it for quite a while, and I may [on a future order] make a new template to allow for an even bigger gap between the perimeter and the point there where the ear meets the head.... as you can imagine..if/when hair is cut short there, it can feel like little needles sticking into the skin of the ears, and be annoying......also bear in mind, that while very straight lines and right-angles on a system perimeter can look a bit odd, a very curvy one can be problematic if you want to use tapes for bonding ,as they obviously come in rolls and have straight edges, so the more curves you have in a particular area, the more likely you are to have to use glue always for practical reasons....just something to factor-in to your plans!
I`ll post again later....cheers, Paul.

Now fate...this is my suggested outline... you`re young so you don`t need to build in much temple -recession, but a little IS needed for a natural look ..one of your pics there looking at the left side of your head is very much a straight line up from the sideburn and then across the front.... a little curvature about half-way up and then a small curve `back` [temple area] before following around at the front will give a nice appearance. Please excuse my shaky line..I`m doing this on a laptop and have no mouse -just that little touch-pad thing so it`s hard to draw steadily..... I`d leave about 1/4 of an inch `gap`above the ear rather than have it resting on the ear itself and I`ve also suggested `stopping`/ending the flap there[ as shown] slightly higher up in front of the ear to allow for a `fall`of hair there.....if you come down too far [exaggerating now] the hair tips would be kind of heading down towards the jaw...JRob has utilised his sideburn hair there very effectively to give a nice `seamless` effect...if you were to come down too far there you`ll totally cover any growing sideburn hair..... as I said earlier, you have pretty good long-ish hair at the nape .... I imagine you intend to wear your system in a similar style ? Your present perimeter-position at the back there is just a bit too low [down below the occipital bone it looks to me] so you`ll end up having to remove a lot of that growing hair and you`ll be attaching to the actual nape-skin which is moving constantly so the bond will be prone to lifting/loosening etc...... you`ll be fine with the long-ish hair if you have your perimeter attached just immediately below that bone and allow the hair to fall down over that bit of your own hair...... I`ve also swept the line from the nape in a more gradual sweep heading towards the ear.... the hair will more than adequately cover that area as you won`t be cutting it very short there as such...... it`s a natural tendency in our effort to `cover up` to make a slightly bigger template than required and also many guys simply order a density which is way too high for the same reason i.e. wanting to cover their baldness....... I hope that helps or at least gives food for thought..... the front/temples/sideburn area will be the most visible to anyone meeting you ...it`s the first part of your appearance that they see so it`s important to get that right...remember, the hair will normally fall slightly `forward`of the perimeter at the sideburn parts so don`t come too far forward `onto`the face.... I stayed about 2 or 3 millimeters `inside`the line of my own side-hair there and I think it`s worked quite well...... cheers for now anyway ... Paul.

Now I have question since I'm gonna try my template this week. From looking at fate's template he has good back and side hair. Am I wrong in assuming when you make a template that you just draw your lines around your bald spot on top as well as the front hairline or do you do the whole head like fate's? Also if you have good back and side hair why do a full cap or am I just not understanding full from a partial? Last question is for fate, your balding area looks almost exactly like mine although your back is longer, do you have any idea what kinda style system your gonna be getting? Short or long? A picture of the type of style? Hope you can post pics when you get it.

Fate`s going fullcap now... I can`t see with the template covering his head/hair but it does indeed look as if his underlying hair is ok..he`s had a topper but now says it`s no longer practical so I`d have to assume the hair is too thin to `work`with. Eric you simply mark your bald/ing area as you described there...your sides/back are stronger than fate`s so a topper will be fine / less hassle for you to begin with and hopefully you won`t need to go Fullcap for a long time yet if ever...just goes to show how cruel Mother Nature can be to some younger guys... I`m 52 yrs. old now and only gone Fullcap this year....he`s a guy half my age and he`s in Fullcap-land at such an early age....still, on the positive side of that coin, at least he HAS that option nowadays...only relatively recently guys had to `grin and bear it` as this wearing game was still very much in it`s infancy and materials etc. were really hard to disguise......also the costs were prohibitive for most `ordinary`guys.... at least now we have an affordable, quality solution to what is a devastating situation for many...best wishes....Paul.

Hi Eric... my side hair actually is incredibly thin. Its getting to the point where you see portions of the scalp through it (big portions) so my template is to cover the whole head rather than just my balding spot.

I'm currently closest to a norwood IV, with more advanced side temple and side recession. My back hair is also thinning near the top so I guess its just the luck of the draw - I didn't exactly have a thick hair shaft as a child so every little bit of thinning is that much worse.

Your question about template making - you can make the template any way you want, traditionally if you're doing a template for a topper you only do the top of the head and not the full head (like me) and it doesn't matter if you don't get your balding area exactly - a little bit bigger can be trimmed down, but getting it just right is a better option. In my experience though, I wouldn't do it too small.. I brought michigan baldy's dvd (hes a topper wearer, at least in the vid) and he said he likes to make his a little smaller so he can strech it .. but don't take that as advice for yourself, bigger is better than smaller - but ideally the exact balding area is better.

I attached some pictures of hairstyles i'll be going for at the bottom - note though as I'm getting a fullcap it makes it much easier to pull off (as I can ensure an even density of hair). I don't know what your side hair is like density wise so keep that in mind.

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Paul, that looks awesome, much appreciated. I agree with your input and especially the tendency to make templates bigger.. I'm not sure what style would suit me as its been quite long since I've had enough hair to choose any style (when I started wearing a topper my side hair density wasn't hot to begin with) but I was thinking of the styles pictured below. Either way, I'd like to include some of my hair at the nape as a transition as you say - soften it up, depends if my color match is close enough I guess.

I'll snip up my template tonight according to your suggested line and post up some pics tomorrow / this evening. Thanks!


attached are some hair styles I'll probably go for, although my color will be different

You`re welcome.... some nice styles there.... the first pic there has the front hair standing up---that will expose the hairline so you`d need to be mindful of that....the style in pic 2 would be more forgiving/ a little easier to `work`with ...it`s a nice casual, slightly `wild`look... if you are going for the exposed front, you`re probably better having the front done in Swiss, just as it`s less visible . Your back hair will mostly be covered by the system hair anyway so you won`t have to worry too much about color-blending..it`s handy to have it there though just to `soften`the visual effect for a person casually glancing at the back of your head if you were to incline the head forward and down as I said...it`s far less noticeable with a little growing hair `tight`in against the skin there........ bye for now... Paul.

The specs I'm going to go for on my order will be straight hair, spikey front, ventaliation as per pictures (including those 4 with my order) 65% top and temples, 70% side and back. French base with Swiss front. I was considering highlights after seeing a picture of JRob with highlights.. but I'm not sure I can choose the right color at this stage ..

My topper was bodywave and it didn't blend that well.. I'm a bit weary of ordering straight here but I've heard good as well as bad things about it. I guess I'll have to wait and see!