I want to take the plunge and try wearing hair but the thing that's stopped me for a long time is the need to shave...
I am still *vaguely* getting away with using concealers- it's not really a secret that i'm bald(ing) or using concealers, though most people tell me they can't tell - but admittedly i'm pushing it at this point. definitely a bit nervous walking around like that on a bright sunny say. perhaps they're being polite.
i'm looking at shaving as the point of no return - shaving my hair on top to wear a piece would mean 4 months of misery wearing hats and feeling lousy while i wait for my remaining hair to grow back (and some prob. won't grow back) should it not work out.
i'm wondering if there's a way to try this out without shaving? not for a very long time but just to see if i can handle wearing and get to grips with it first. so that if i can't, i can just take it off and continue as before.
i do not have enough hair to get away with wearing a partial at this stage.
it might be worth saying that i'm not necessarily trying to fool anyone, other than maybe myself. i probably will admit to most friends that i'm wearing a piece. dating-wise, i've told my dates outright that i've got gunk in my hair to make me look less bald. and they shouldn't touch my hair or it'll get on their hands. never been a problem or put anyone off, most have said they won't care if i'm bald, and i've explained that the concealers are for me not them
i'm more embarrassed about total strangers funnily enough.
i'm also ultimately planning to dye my hairpieces in crazy colors (i made another thread on that a few weeks ago), whether or not that is something that will help with realism (because people will focus on the color) or not (because it'll draw more attention to my hair)... i do not know.
Its a bit like road testing a car but never leaving the driveway.
Sure you'll get an idea of what its like to have something on your head, much the same as wearing a hat.
But as a taster to what wearing would be like, in my opinion, it doesn't really work.
A system bonded to the scalp is completely different.
It becomes a part of you and you can't tell its there.
It feels secure.
This in itself helps you to start forgetting about the fact you're wearing at all.
Besides that, its easier to blend and style when its bonded.
Its always possible to grow your hair again under the system.
But if you were determined to try without shaving, then you can use clips, sewn to the system base which clip on to your natural hair.
Over time, these clips can weaken your natural hair and therefore increase the area of thinning.
I used concealers for far too long and the day I left them and the mess behind to start wearing was the best decision I ever made.
I spend a fraction of the time maintaining my system than I used to do using sprays & concealers.
The result is 1000 times better and I don't have to worry about lighting, pillow cases or rain!
Yeah in the early days using concealers when you've got
More density fir the hair fibres to bond to it looks how it should
Natural.
But , , Here's the thing please don't carry on using concealer s
Beyond what there intended for
You'll spend hours styling and believe me you'll be dissatisfied with what you see for all your time and effort...its heartbreaking
.iv been there
As I rekon many have
Wearing has changed my life
Im no longer suicidal? Depressed as hell
Staying in on sunny day's ...no more
Im not bothered about wind rain
As iv got the density of hair that's like having a new strong fence
Rather than a rickety old one
Move on to wearing. ..I really can't see you regretting it.
You care a he'll of a lot about you're hair you're appearance
That's why you go through the ordeal of using concealer
Take the next step ,
You're here because you know its time. ...
You owe it to yourself to feel the way you used to feel before hair loss
Hi,
Yes you can wear over your existing hair without shaving,providing your existing hair is not to thick,where you are going to locate the piece.
I used blue liner tape and attached over my existing hair,pushing the piece down onto my scalp to make sure the tape stuck,that way i was able to just wear on weekends to try everything out before i fully commited and shaved my head.The blue liner was actually sticking to my scalp through my thinning hair,it works well.I just used plenty of alcohol to release the piece,that way it didn't pull any existing hair out,you can then go back to your existing hair between wearing.
yeah, at this point my hair is VERY thin on top for the most part (see pic).
i'm at a stage where most people probably would have made the transition a while ago.
i'd like to try this taping without shaving thing but i have a patch in the front that is still thick enough to potentially make taping over it a bit problematic.
I've brushed my hair for this photo in a way that reveals as much of the baldness as possible. Obviously, I'm doing the opposite when i style my hair for use with concealers - piling all the thick hair from the sides on top of my head.
IMHO the concealers never looked 100% realistic, even 4-5 years ago when i had substantially more hair on top. Worse now of course but in bright enough light it always looked bad.
I find the "like wearing a hat" remark a bit worrying. Hats are not really comfortable to wear for hours at a time, let alone days or weeks. But since the noob "does it feel like wearing a hat" thing has been covered to death on here, i won't retread over that ground... while i care enough to bother with concealers, i wouldn't be able to keep a hat on my head for 24 hours without taking it off.
I've attempted making a template tonight (no fun!), which i will post a separate thread on shortly. So i am taking this plunge one way or another. Or at least a test drive. Thank you all again.
Don't focus too much on the 'hat' remark.
It was more to make the point that if you're not fully attaching a system as you eventually intend it would be, perching a system on your head was never going to be a good representation of what it is truly like to wear a system.
Therefore, why bother to do a trial run with a system, you might as well use a hat.
But I will say that in my opinion, the quality & quantity of hair you have left is not worth you being so precious over.
The majority of the area has hair that is so fine & sparse, you don't even need to bother shaving it. You could glue/tape over it and still get a decent bond.
The hair at the front is slightly thicker and you could try getting a very light density system and sit the front of it behind your natural hair and blend it all together.
Then, if you ever wanted to go for a higher density, you could decide to shave off the front and cover the entire area with a system.
But in truth, I think you're more emotionally attached to the hair you have left than the reality warrants.
That said, looking at what style you achieve with concealers, the result (in photos) is remarkably good!
But I promise you that dumping the concealers and committing to a system will be a day you remember as the best thing you ever did.
No more mess, no more hours in front of the mirror and so many more styling choices.
One of your concerns is about gluing your entire head and the thought that the scalp can't breath.
At this stage, that concern is just a thought and without shaving your head, it will always remain just a thought.
Thats what I mean about not really being able to gauge what wearing will be truly like by compromising the experience.
You're not giving yourself the right opportunity to address your concerns.
I recently switched from a lace system to an ultra thin skin system and I had all sorts of preconceptions about what it would be like. It turned out that none of them were founded and it was other things that I hadn't even considered that were more relevant.
One of my concerns was that the scalp wouldn't be able to breath.
Don't ask me why, because I still don't understand it, but its actually not a problem at all.
After 18-20 years of wearing lace base replacement hair, I thought I'd have a pretty good idea and was 90% certain I wouldn't like wearing a skin system. I was completely wrong.
So this is why I feel you'll never really know until you try, but that 'try' has to involve giving it your best shot.
The best way to do it is to commit to the idea of wearing and go for it properly and make it work for you.
At the start, the likelihood is that you'll encounter a few issues and you really need that determination the push you through the difficult early learning stages and persevere.
All my hair fell out in one weekend and the subsequent transplants left me with no option but to cover my head with a system.
Looking back, I'm kind of grateful it happened that way because I HAD to make it work.
I think if I'd had an alternative, I might have given up and that would have been a big mistake.
I wish you all good luck in whatever you decide to do.
not so much that i'm emotionally attached as i know can make do with it if need be (i agree it's amazing what you can get away with using concealers). whereas with a piece i won't know until i try? and i KNOW i'll be miserable with a shaved head if it doesn't work out- tried that before.
it's a safety net, basically. maybe that is what you meant by emotionally attached?
what you're saying is it's a risk worth taking - the worst that could happen is i'll be stuck with a shaved head for a few months. vs. a lifetime of wondering.
you're spot on about that...
fwiw, i only spend a few minutes in front of the mirror doing my 'hair' every day... as much as anything else, i'm going this route NOW b/c i want to make crazy colors happen as much as anything else... that must sound ridiculous coming from someone whose head looks like that^ but it's true!
PS. I added some more comments to my previous post re my own experiences and the 'benefits' of NOT having a safety-net back up plan
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But as I said before, you wouldn't have to walk around with a shaved head.
You could grow your hair back underneath a system.
If you can achieve that good a result with concealers in a few minutes, then you have built up an excellent skill level that will stand you in VERY good stead when it comes to wearing a system.
I believe that hair (if you want it to be) is one of the best ways to express yourself and how you feel.
Therefore, if you want crazy colours, there is absolutely NOTHING ridiculous about it.
Why not?
Pleasing yourself & others is what life should be all about!
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences so generously. talk about being thrown into the deep end head first. I can't imagine how devastating that must have been. it was hard enough for me over a period of several years!
my brother had it way worse than me, he lost his hair very quickly (although not in a weekend, but a few months tops) and he was only 18 at the time. he tried propecia, went to hair club (and left promptly in disgust) then started shaving by 19. he now wears a baseball cap everywhere he goes (there's nothing quite as odd as the sight of a guy in a suit and baseball cap). he's tried my concealers but it got him nowhere as his head is shaved - i explained this but... really hoping that if wearing hair works out for me it might be something that helps him too.
thanks for the compliment on my "skill" i don't know tho... i just style my hair in a way that covers a lot of the bald parts, and i'm very lucky that my style of choice happens to lend itself to that is all.
tho i have been cutting my own hair since i was 14 and i colored it myself lots of times before so much fell out... those things will help i'd imagine... some people are doing those things for the first time once they start wearing. so that is part of the battle already fought for me. diy is the only way for me, that's for sure. but using concealers is a whole different beast= i spent 3 hours trying to make a template tonight and my 4th attempt is still not right! thought it'd be easy! so i'm anticipating a massive learning curve, largely with positioning and bonding/debonding. with concealers there's not much to learn.
all i meant by ridiculous is that from someone whose hair is on its last legs, switching to a piece not because it should look more believable at this stage but so that i can make it pinkish purple!
one thing that's refreshing about this forum is that the people understand biology is not destiny! no shame in fake hair. or blue hair. or no hair, if that's what one chooses! if there's no shame in getting a new nose or a new chest, or even a new gender (and i believe there isnt)
i guess i would ask you also whether you think a skin system would be a good thing to start of with. that would be diving right in, wouldn't it?!
FloristFire
"i guess i would ask you also whether you think a skin system would be a good thing to start of with. that would be diving right in, wouldn't it?!"
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No, not necessarily.
I might have said so before I started wearing one but in many ways its a lot easier than a lace, especially in terms of the clean up.
Plus with your dark hair, a skin system would mean there were no knots to consider.
You seem to have understood the limitations in that an injected thin skin isn't necessarily best for an exposed hairline and as you're not planning on that style, it won't affect you.
So all-in-all I think it might be a good option for you.
I would recommend that for the first few attachments you try the more temporary bond of Got2Bglued because that will help you get used to positioning and placement and if it goes wrong, then you just rinse it off and try again.
With regards to making a template, have a look at this as it might help with the theory of designing it. http://www.hairlosshelp.com/forums/messa...did=105964
For practical tips on making a template, have a look on youtube.
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Possible to try wearing without shaving? (photo)
