I`m a do it yourselfer with hairpeces, and can tell you that its not difficult at all once you have gone through the learning curve. And that learning curve isnt much, really.
You do have to work on it though.
It becomes sort of like part of your hygien or grooming regimen, and just any other responsibility, there`ll be times when you just dont feel like it. But to have hair, or at least, look and feel like you have hair, its worth it.
If you`re going to give it a try, the very first thing you need to decide is the hairstyle you want to have. Knowing this will help you decide on a base material. You live in a hot and humid climate seasonally, and you want the scalp to breathe
(everyone should want the scalp to get air) so I recommend a #64 lace base.
All lace too, none of that poly band around the edges. You want it to look and feel light and real.
I use all lace myself and I can feel the wind on my scalp and the water and shampoo on my scalp, and thats what we want.
Longer and denser hair you say, thats another good reason to go with #64 lace. The only other base I`d tag on that would be one of the skin type bases but they dont allow good airflow.
Maintenance for myself, I shampoo 3 times a week, and make sure to get my scalp soaking wet with warm water on the other days. I mean soaking all the way to the scalp. This keeps the scalp clean. It also temporarily loosens the bond, but once the hair dries, the bond re-establishes itself and is just like brand new.
I used to take it off once a week, clean off the adhesive and re-apply. It would take me around an hour, because I take my time.
Now since I use all lace, I remove it about once every 3 weeks, which I can do as long as I follow the regimen I mentioned above. (washing 3 times a week, soaking wet warm rinse in between)
I have to do some touch up work in between, such as in the front. I wear my hairstyle combed forwards from the crown with the very front spiked straight upwards. That front takes alot of abuse since theres nothing to protect it from dust, dirt, etc so it gets a bit dirty. The front is also the first place to want to loosen. So while its still wet from the warm soaking, I`ll use a q-tip to twirl some of the adhesive off and apply a bit of new.
Sometimes, after doing this, I`ll seal it with some liquid bandage or document sealer so that frontal adhesive area stays dry and protected from forehead sweat, humidity, pollution, etc
I even do my own haircuts. There are vacuum haircutters that you can buy and do your own haircuts. Its so simple you`d be shocked how easy it is. I used a RoboCut (from robocut.com) but there are others like Flowbee, Wahl Comb N Cut, etc
