After my false start to wearing earlier this year
(See this thread for the full story - http://forum.toplace.com/showthread.php?tid=5137 ),
i have finally received my new piece from Toplace.

Topper Stats:
65% density, french lace with sfs front, blond front, medium wave.

I ordered the front blond so i could color it to match the rest of the piece and my own hair but not have the stress the knots with factory bleaching.

the color of the piece was a perfect match to my sample. I applied color to the front blond hairs and brushed it back a little into the rest of the piece so it blended well. unfortunately though, i think the color i was using was a bit too dark, and maybe i left it in too long.. cause the piece came out WAY darker than i expected. It was never going to blend with my natural hair like this, so i decided to color my growing hair the same color.
I'm so glad i did.. because the blend is so good, even i can't even see where the piece ends ad my hair starts!

I've been letting my natural hair grow a little out of control while i've been waiting for the piece to arrive. i've looked like i've needed a haircut for a while. I've decided not to cut any of my natural hair at all yet. sure the whole thing would look neater if i had the back and sides trimmed.. but i've already made quite a visual change with the darker color, i don't want to change the overall look of my hair too much more yet.

I've got a few days off work, but when i return, i have a feeling it's going to go quite smoothly. cause my hair is so much darker now than it usually is, all people will focus on will be the color of it.. not so much that the hairline is healthier looking... and i know the blend is good enough that nobody will notice that.

Take a look at the pics attached and let me know what you think.

Also worth mentioning: The hairline was really quite straight which i realized when i placed it on my head, was just not going to suit me... so i used a little Nair Cream in the hairline to give the illusion of recession, and it makes the hairline SO much more realistic on me. (see photo of template)

I can't see where your hair starts or ends.
It all looks 100% natural, all round.
The density is perfect.
You have TOTALLY pulled this off and done a brilliant job.

Unfortunately when you dye a piece, because the hair has been highly processed, it absorbs the dye very quickly, unlike your natural hair would.
10 minutes is about the max you can leave it on the hair.

But hey, you made it work out in the end.
I hope your pleased. You should be.

Great job.... I`m sure this will inspire/reassure potential wearers as to what`s possible..also, not to give up if things don`t go to expectations at the first attempt. When colouring system-hair, a softly softly approach is critical... apply colouring product for a max. of 5 minutes or so, rinse it out, dry it and see how it looks...if it needs a deeper shade, re-apply it, and again, only for a few minutes.....to achieve the same depth of colour on growing hair, you`d need to leave it in for 15-20 minutes, but system- hair grabs colour VERY fast.
You must be well-pleased with your efforts...well done.
Also, if you happen to go too deep by mistake, if you apply undiluted Creme Peroxide to the hair, it will lighten the shade again, but the best approach is as outlined above.

Thanks Paul,
Undiluted Creme Peroxide.. Is that the stuff people use to bleach their hair blond?
Can that be picked up from a pharmacy?

if i apply that to my piece, and natural hair (which as mentioned above, are much darker than i usually have it), will it just fade the color back to a lighter shade, or strip it of all pigment and make it look grey/white?

You have to be a bit careful.
If you lighten your piece & your natural hair, the colour may be lighter, but the shades could be completely different and its likely there will be heavy red tones to the piece.

There is another product thats more gentle called Goldwell System Color Remover available on eBay.

Whatever you use, PLEASE do a strand test first on all types of hair to gage what the results will be & how long to leave it on for.
Otherwise you'll get in a vicious cycle of lightening & redying that will kill your piece.

Just a little update:

I've been wearing this new piece for a week now, and i couldn't be happier with it. i've spent a bit of time in the sun, and washed it a few times, so it's not quite as dark as it was before.. it looks really really good.

The thing i was most nervous about was returning to work. Last time i wore, my blend wasn't very good, and i got wayyyy too many questions from people at work about why my hair looked so different.. But this time it has gone really well. People seem to only notice the change of color. Had some comments about how fast my hair is "growing" (cause i shaved my head bald after i abandoned wearing my last piece).
I don't even think most people have noticed this time.. a couple of people have said "oh you colored your hair.. looks good"

Even though my having to color my hair darker was an accident (see first post), i would actually really highly recommend this trick to new wearers. So long as the blend is good, and the hairline looks real.. people are pretty much blind to changes like density/length... the only see the new hair color.

Sorry for the long post.. i'm just feeling really good this time around. i'm not constantly thinking about my hair and paranoid that people are looking at it. i KNOW it looks great and totally believable.

Thanks so much everyone for their fantastic posts on this forum.. it's made this whole experience so easy.

Hair looks good. I was wondering what you procedure you used for coloring the hairline? I want to try the blonde front so I'm looking for the easiest way to get the color down to the lace. I don't want to use the vaseline trick and spend time trying to get that off. I was considering brushing it in.

Yeah i just brushed it in with a fine tooth comb, and used a mascara brush down close to the lace.. but don't stress about getting RIGHT DOWN to the lace. if there's a bees dick length of blond left at the bottom, it's not noticeable at all.. in fact, i think it improves the visible scalp look with a smidge of blond at the bottom

Don't have anything to add but I think your hair looks great man, It'd feel good to have it down to that point.

Black_Nail,
Congratulations! You look great! And thanks for 'sticking with it.' Your first experience in hair wearing wasn't the best but you hung in there and got it right!
John