Advice On Where To Start With A Hair Replacement System

[Simon66]

Recently I have been looking into a hair replacement system and came across this forum, which has been very informative! Prior to finding this I was looking to find what local options I have for a HCM type of place but really did not find many options and what I did find were really uninformative!

Just a little background on myself, I had a receding hairline the receded and receded and eventually I clipped my hair on the lowest setting and have been that way for about 8 years. It was hard to do but I knew that was better than have really thin hair on top. I have no issues in wearing a piece as long as it looks natural, I have spent too many years avoiding looking in the mirror and I really do not care what people think but I do care about what I think, so I would want to look in the mirror and not feel like I have something alien on my head!

From reading a lot of the threads on here everyone seems to steer you away from HCM type of companies and go the DYI route which seems not only cheaper but you get a better quality. Even though I love the idea of having the control over the system I am just apprehensive that I would really be able to achieve this myself and have no idea how or where to start.

Should you use a salon / company to start with and if so what are the good companies? I live in South Florida

If you start with the DYI where do you start? Are there sites links out there that guide you on how to achieve this? Any good blogs to follow?

If you do go DYI how do you find someone reliable to cut the piece?

If you managed to read this all, thank you for your time and any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Simon

 

[James Burton]

Hey simon,
Ive got similar questions, and from my own research have found the same thing. It seems that the best option is the DIY route. I went into Hair Vital in Colorado and was quoted at $800 for just a topper (also included 3 hair cut and re application appointments and product) but being the broke college student i am can hardly afford that. I started looking into Northwest lace and from what I've heard it seems to be the best option for the DIY route. I still am pretty confused and worried that i won't measure my head correctly for the hair piece so i am thinking about going back to Hair Vital and having them measure it and maybe just order the hair system but then do the rest my self and hopefully get the proper hair dimensions so i can in the future save more money and purchase the system on northwest lace.

 

[Noah]

Hi Simon

I think there are 2 separate issues here.

First, should you go DIY from day one, or use a salon? In an ideal world if you have access to a good salon it will give you a bit of help and hand-holding as you get started. Everyone comes to this with apprehension, and in fact it is a bit fiddly, the systems are fragile, and no one wants to go out looking like a fool, so it is nice to have some independent feedback on how you look. The problem is finding a good salon which will do these things without gouging you. Because until fairly recently there was virtually no publicly available information about hair replacement, many salons are selling inferior products. Others are not interested in doing a one-off job of selling you a hair system, they want an income stream, so their business model focuses on making you wholly dependent on them for managing your system. Finding a good salon is like finding true love, and getting involved with a bad one is (far) worse than doing everything DIY. If you are in South Florida I guess there is a higher density of salons than anywhere else in the world except maybe Hollywood, so there must be some decent ones. However, the important thing is that doing everything DIY is perfectly within the competence of the average guy. There is plenty of information out there, and there are forums like this to help. There is no reason to be put off hair replacement because you can't find a decent salon to help.

Second, if you do go with a salon, should you go for the Hair Club system? By that I mean the system by which they superglue a system onto your head for a month at a time, and only they cam remove it, so you have monthly 'servicing' by them and which all maintenance is done. I feel strongly that this is not a hygienic or sensible way to wear a piece. If you use a salon, it should be to help you take control of your own look, not take control away from you.

Noah

 

[Simon66]

Hey simon,
Ive got similar questions, and from my own research have found the same thing. It seems that the best option is the DIY route. I went into Hair Vital in Colorado and was quoted at $800 for just a topper (also included 3 hair cut and re application appointments and product) but being the broke college student i am can hardly afford that. I started looking into Northwest lace and from what I've heard it seems to be the best option for the DIY route. I still am pretty confused and worried that i won't measure my head correctly for the hair piece so i am thinking about going back to Hair Vital and having them measure it and maybe just order the hair system but then do the rest my self and hopefully get the proper hair dimensions so i can in the future save more money and purchase the system on northwest lace.

Thanks for the info James, I will look into the site you mentioned.