I am a guy in your age group currently thinking of getting a piece. I have some of the same privacy issues as you, so I am attracted by the idea of a hard bonded piece which stays in place for 4 weeks at a time. Could I ask you a couple of qs?

With your hard-bonded HCM piece, is it OK when the wind blows up your hairline or messes up your hair, or would that expose the edge of the piece? If so, would that potentially give away that you are wearing a hairpiece?

You said that you have to do some maintenance of the front of the piece. What does your maintenance routine consist of? Do you ever get hygiene or itch problems with it being in place so long?

Incidentally, how much of your hair is fake and how much is your own?

Hard Bond has pro's and cons. It holds for several weeks but it does eventually start to break down and get uncomfortable. It also gets pretty itchy and oily under there and takes a while to get used to (I dont even notice anymore). It doesn't have an odor or anything though so thats pretty good I guess.

I don't know if you can tell by my pics but my side hair is actually fairly thin, always has been since I was even like 14. I haven't noticed any change in my hair thickness in a long time which would show you how long ive dealt with the problem but it's never posed a problem with wind considering I work on the beach and i'm an avid kiteboarder where the wind is basically my religion.

The piece is only a topper.

Thanks Mate. What about your maintenance on the front? What do you have to do, and how often? Can you clean under the piece, or do you just have to put up with the oil and gunk that accumulates? Does it get loose by the end of the 4 weeks to the point where it starts to shift about? Will you go for a hard bond again when you get your Toplace hairpiece?

Sorry about all the qs. Any insights greatfully received.

UH

The Hard Bond does tend to shift after 4 weeks. The only maintanence is taping or gluing the front in which you can lift it and kind of fold it back so clean it is not hard at all or difficult to maintain.

I don't know if i'll continue with a hard bond, it can be a bitch to deal with, esp if the piece is applied wrong (too far back, too far forward, etc) and I would need to see a specialist regularly to have it attached when just using tape myself seems more practical.

How strong of a hold can you actually get with using ST 30, Walker No Shine, or the other methods for a strong perimeter? I just need something to last me a week at a time with a pretty strong hold. I'd be horrified if the piece ever flew off while mountain biking, kiteboarding, playing football, rolling around in the bed with a girl haha.

Now you got me asking questions on this thread haha.

Hi Collegedan

So when you have the hardbond, do you wash your hair at all for the 4 weeks? I read that you use gel in a previous post, so if you don't wash, you just sleep with gel for 4 weeks? And if you do, do you use shampoo or just water?

Thanks!

Nah man I don't use gel ha, I hate having product in my hair to begin with. Try going to the beach for work and looking like you gelled your hair, its ridiculous, that's just my personal views, gelled hair isnt very 'me'.

I use MeanDean's wallgreens hair polisher though and some leave in coniditioner, that stuff works great and I mess it up after it dries to look natural and yeah I do wash my hair those 4 weeks, probably every day. I only shampoo once or twice a week and I use conditioner prob everyday to make the hair smooth.

At the Club they use to hard bond me 3/4 way around and tape in front. I would go back every 4 weeks to have it cut off and redone. They bonded way beyond my balding area.
The problem I had was the hair would grow and the bond would loosen a bit. It felt like sand or pebbles under the track where the bond was.
It also itched like crazy. There was so much movement that it caused hairloss under the track. Now even if I wanted to shave my head you
would clearly see some bald spots where the hair pulled out. I cannot help but feel that they did that on purpose to keep me hooked on hair replacement.
Now I am with Toplace and am a much happier camper.