HAIR REPLACEMENT - LIES BEHIND THE HYPE.

It's real human hair just like your very own!

Consider what has to be done to human hair to make it suitable for use in a hair replacement. Every hair is covered by a cuticle, this cuticle has thousands of tiny barbs that must be stripped off in an acid bath. If not the replacement hair will tangle and become completely unmanageable when wet. The acidic bath weakens the hair shaft, making it brittle with no ability to reflect light. This is why daily use of gels and shine sprays are a necessity to avoid bone dry hair - or what's known in the industry as "corpse hair".

We'll match your color and highlights perfectly!

After the cuticle is removed the hair is bleached white, weakening it even more. From this point the hair is batch dyed in popular primary colors. Using samples of your own hair the new replacement hair is matched - lighter color strands for high lites are added in a process known as "Ventilation" ( 1-6 hairs at a time are knotted by hand into the base).

The color will only coat the outside of the hair shaft. This means your new hair will begin to oxidize and fade. Expect to need your "Hair system" dyed an average of every 4-6 weeks. Once dyed say goodbye to those highlites you loved so much. Dye will color every strand the in the piece one uniform color.

Want those highlights back?

Then you'll need to have new high lites vented in. This process runs about $70 -$125 per hour(usual repairs are 2-3 hours).

We'll match the curl of your remaining hair and recreate your natural growth pattern!

Nonsense. Hair is bought by the bale and is only sorted by dominant color and length. As far as growth pattern - pieces can be vented with either a back or forward slant - period.

You can swim, sleep and shower in it!

You can also swim and shower in your best suit but that additional wear and tear is going to cost you, in appearance and repairs. Much effort goes into the selling of attachment methods. These are adhesives that come in water or solvent based liquids or tapes. Attachment is the weakest link in chain and although the advent of Bonding (gluing) the piece to the scalp is infinitely more comfortable than the old method of weaving.

Be warned, adhesives have their own problems. Perspiration and body oils will cause the adhesive to break down. As for claims that some companies make of using "Surgical Grade" adhesives this is once again nonsense.

Adhesives use potentially toxic chemicals like Ethyl Acetate and Heptane as well as Toluene which is a well known carcinogenic. If you feel you must buy a hair piece, make sure you demand 24 hour patch test to make sure you don't have an adverse reaction to the adhesive before you go ahead and have your scalp shaved slick bald and then slathered with adhesive.

Hot water, sweat, and heat can cause the bond to pull away from your scalp and the piece will need to be removed and re-bonded

* To my knowledge there isn't a single hairpiece adhesive that's been cleared by the FDA for safe, prolonged use on human tissue.

Synthetic hair!

Synthetic fibers have advantages over processed human hair. The color of the fiber extends through the entire shaft which means you won't have to worry about oxidation. Synthetics also have great memory which means the hair will hold it's wave or curl pattern for a very long time. Eliminating the frequent need for perms and body waves as with processed human hair.

On the down side, the fibers have an unnatural sheen and will frizz quickly if you sleep in your hair system. The frizz will show a sharp line of demarkation between your own hair and the replacement hair.Most Hair Replacement Studios don't like to use synthetics because they lose the revenue from coloring, perms and body waves ~ Hair club refuses to sell Synthetic for this very reason.

Aesthetically synthetics look better than processed human hair. Knowing the right synthetic to use is important too and your Hair Replacement professional should be able to explain to you say, the difference between Kanekalon and Futura - if he or she can't that should be a red flag that you might not be in the most capable of hands.

We offer the best Hollywood Lace in the Business !

Decades ago Max Factor introduced a way to vent hair into bases for the movies that were made of actual silk worm lace and the look was sensational. However the lace disintegrated quickly and many back up pieces were needed through the course of filming a single scene. Even today when a bald actor wears a piece for a film dozens of hairpieces are used. Each made for particular scenes, the getting out of the shower piece, the morning after piece,....well, you get the idea.

Today the most popular base is Polymer lace. They're extremely light and virtually disappear on your scalp. The down side is they're extremely fragile. Good lace systems are expensive the median price being $1800 on the low end and up to $5,000.

And don't forget, you'll need two pieces so you have a backup for emergencies.


Why not upgrade to Remy hair it's as close to un processed European hair as you can get!

What they're really saying is why don't you fork over another $500.

Remy hair is simply a buzz word for hair that's bundled and tied with the tips all at one end and the root end at the other. Because of this the hair is vented into the base in the proper direction - root end first. This isn't the case with standard replacement hair.

European un processed hair - is the Hope diamond of hair replacement. This hair isn't dyed nor is the cuticle removed. It looks and feels great. But it can NOT get wet or the tangles will be impossible to remove. Un processed European hair must be washed in dry cleaning solution only. European hair has it's place on the stage and screen and as you might imagine it's extremely expensive -$12,000 and up.

FAST FACTS ABOUT HAIR PIECES

Steer clear of clubs and service contracts! * Drive a hard bargain - the wholesale cost of a hairpiece is around $150.00 for custom and $85.00 for stock.

I'ts smart to Consider a stock piece. Over 90% of men with MPB ( Male Pattern Baldness) can wear a 7 X 9. That's 7" across the scalp and 9" from hairline to back. They can be tweaked at the studio to match your hair color as close as a custom piece.

99% of all hairpieces are made in china in factories that are little more than sweat shops. Hair Replacement Studios are resellers, they take a template of your head and after you leave fill out an order form. The order is sent to their vendor (middleman) who will process the order and send the specs over seas for production.

Out of the 6-8 weeks it takes to receive your custom piece, one week is dedicated to actual production.

Stock pieces on the other hand have a 24-48 hour turn around Plus, more often than not stock units have greater consistency and better quality hair. When I was creative director for Aderans (the Japanese 300 Million hair replacement giant) I wore some of the finest hair systems made in the world. Yet I still found stock systems to be of superior quality.

* Make sure you have some sort of guarantee in writing.

* Remember that ALL hair systems shed so consider the costs of repairs, hair adds and the supplies you'll need to buy.

* Check the studio out with the BBB and Google the name of the Studio followed by the word "Complaints" If the information you uncover makes you uneasy do business elsewhere.

* The average life of a hairpiece is one year providing you don't sleep in it. If you choose extended wear 2-4 weeks at a time the piece will last you a maximum of 1 - 2 months before it begins to look God awful. These systems are too delicate to repair and you'll need to replace your hair piece with a new one.

* Request to see a dry sample of the replacement hair. It's standard operating procedure to bring the sample in wet. Why? because even the worst quality hair looks great when wet. The hair plumps up, has a good sheen and feels silky. It's only a sales technique don't fall for it.

* Do yourself a favor and go for daily wear. This allows you to remove the piece at night and clean your scalp properly.

FINAL THOUGHTS.

Despite their shortfalls a well made hair piece can work well for many people. It's a matter of personal choice. If this wasn't true I wouldn't have worn one, let alone work in the industry for 20 years. But for most hair wearers the distress of losing their hair is only replaced with the distress of wearing a piece. The Hair replacement industry takes great strides to hide these less than desirable aspects of wearing a hairpiece.

That said, do your research and make an informed decision. That's the best advice I can give you. Well, that and shave your head!


And if you do shave your head, you'll never go back ~ ever. Free at last my friend, free at last.

BTW, Check out HeadBlade, INCREDIBLE products, you'll laugh reading about their stuff and should you decide to buy something put in the code 32909 and you'll get a hefty discount to boot.












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