Bio hair affected by hair system use - what can I do?

[Marooned]

Hey there,

I would appreciate some advice about properly healing / cleaning and caring for ones scalp after using a hair system. There seems to be a lot of information about cleaning / caring for hair systems, but not so much about how to care for your head!

I wore a hair system for about 2 weeks, thin skin, fully glued down (provided by TCP, and installed by their stylist). I eventually took it off, and found my bio hair peeking out of the glue, so I thought it was fine. I decided buzz down all of my hair with a 1 guard (almost clean shaven). Bad look for me.

Now that the hair has grown back, I can still see where the hair piece was. There is some density missing where the piece was, and the hair is uneven (ie: it is not uniform, and it's pointing all over the place). Is there anything I can do, or could this be permanent damage? My hair is quite thin on top, but I still felt that I had enough to try a transplant some day. This is making that option seem less viable..

Some more info: I did not have any noticeable infection / allergic reaction. My head would itch when I was hot, but that seems normal.

Any clues what to do, or maybe some general scalp maintenance advice? Thank you!

 

[BaldBearded]

The only thing I can think of is traction alopecia, meaning that when the hair system was removed, some of your own natural hair was pulled out. Even this would only be affected over repeated pulling.

Do you want to show us a pic of the damage? What does your dermatologist say? These types of questions should be put before a doctor.

 

[Fanjeera]

I think those hairs will grow back, but yeah, later than those not traumatized.

 

[Marooned]

Thanks for the answers..

I tried trimming down my hair to see if it would help. Part of the uneven / patchyness is because I've grown the hair from being almost bald, which I've never done before. The hair on top grows slower than the rest, so it can make a funny pattern.

For a moment, I thought it was better, but again, after the trim, I can still see a density change where my head was fully shaven by the stylist. (this is the only part of my head that has ever been fully shaven)

@BaldBearded I think I can rule out traction alopecia. When I removed the system, the protruding hairs were still only a millimetre or less, and I used a whole lot of alcohol to loosen the glue. I doubt it could have grabbed hold of any hairs on the way off. I didn't exactly examine the glue as I was cleaning it though, so who knows.

I only realized the issue recently, so it will take a while for me to get in front of a dermatologist. But you're right, this is going to be the next step. I'm going to think about pictures.

@Fanjeera Well, I hope they will grow back. This is a bit frustrating. I understand that there's some willful ignorance on my part, and that obviously gluing something to one's scalp is not the safest thing to do. I still wanted to trust all of the sources of information that say it's completely harmless, and ignore the ones that say otherwise. Of course TCP mentions nothing about potential "trauma" your existing hair..

BTW, I do have a small bottle of the bond they use, and I have been spot testing it on my arm. I haven't seen an adverse reaction. Most of my scalp feels fine, but there have been two spots near the crown that can be a bit tender to the touch. At first I thought the stylist nicked me with the razor back there, but then it never really healed up.

Would appreciate any experience / suggestions that people can offer.

 

[Fanjeera]

Traction alopecia happens when you do it repeatedly on the same follicles. One harsh pulling out won't cause it. Look at it like waxing. It will just take 1-2 days more to grow back than shaving.

 

[Marooned]

Thanks Fanjeera, I don't know a whole lot about this sort of thing.

I did manage to get in front of a dermatologist this week. She said what you would expect: it's unnatural to have something glued to your head, and it's hard to predict how the scalp might react to it. Her suggestion was to wait. I showed her the system (she was very curious about it), and she noted that the texture underneath the system is very rough (poly stock unit, and she's right, it is a very coarse texture) and could have caused irritation.

She did spot an infection near my crown. I wonder if this is connected to the little razor nick I mentioned above, that the stylist gave me during the application. I thought it was weird that she went ahead with the application at the time, but just assumed they knew what they were doing. In retrospect, it's negligent to glue a hair system on to a fresh wound. Regardless, the dermatologist seemed to think it would go away eventually.