How "happy" Are You With Hairpiece? Compared To Natural Full Hair (and To Complete Baldness)

AGAssi

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Hey,
after trying to optimize my wig in everyday life as far as possible, I've recently wondered a lot how happy (only refering to hair!) one can actually become wearing a hairpiece, in comparison to having a natural full head of hair.

I'm very curious how you guys - only those who do wear a hairpiece, please - would rate your hairpiece happiness on a scale ranging from over 0 to 100, if we assume, having a full head of hair by nature is what we call an index value of 100. Same comparison between your actual hairpiece and the option of walking around completely bald. Zero is not allowed, but decimal values are (see example 2)

Se let's do some math for some examples:

1. If you think, for you a natural full head of hair (always 100) would be twice as good as the best hairpiece, your hairpiece value would be 100/2 = 50. If you further think, for you a hairpiece is still 5 times better than walking around completely bald, then the bald value would be 50/5 = 10.

2. If you may think (just for the calculus), full head of hair is 50 times better than hairpiece, your hairpiece value would be 100/50 = 2... if you further feel a hairpiece is still 10 times better than baldness, the bald value would be 2/10 = 0.2

3. And if you say, your hairpiece is almost identical in everday handling and happiness to a real full head of hair because you feel no difference in your life, then you might define a hairpiece value of 95 or 99... and if being completely bald in public would be half that satisfying, then your bald value results to somewhat like 99/2 = 50 or something alike ;)

and so on... understood?

I hope you take part in that, just to get an impression of the subjective happiness values.

optional data could be:
How long have you been wearing?
What kind of hairpiece are you wearing?
What is your current Norwood status?
How old are you?


As for me, to make a start, that would read:

full natural hair = 100
hairpiece* = 20
bald = 2
how long have I been wearing hair = 9.5 years
kind of hairpiece = first 7.5 years topper, for 2 years full cap. Always all swiss lace
current Norwood status = Norwood 6
age = 36

*explanation to my wig value of 20: optical impression is perfect (would be 95 or 100) on most days, but the value also takes into account things like money and work/time to be invested (attachment, detachment), sensation on my own head, restrictions of freedom (swimming, other people touching it, fear of being busted and stigmatised...). By that I find even my best wig days only 20% of the satisfaction I'd have with a full head of hair of my own.
 
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Noah

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Slightly weird, but why not?

I would be about NW6 without the piece.
Full natural head of hair: 100
Going round bald (with big bulbous pink head): 15
First hairpiece from Hair Club-type place, nice hair, skin base, but detectable to touch: 50
Current hairpiece, bought on the Net, all Swiss lace, DIY maintenance, pretty undetectable: 70

Has your satisfaction quotient gone down since you went from a topper to a full wig?
 
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grincher

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Of course having your own hair is the winner. Thats obvious. I have been wearing many years now. Enough said.
 

AGAssi

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Of course having your own hair is the winner. Thats obvious.
Of course, that's obvious. I didn't doubt that. I just wanted to find out a quantification if people rather think wearing a wig is 10% of satisfaction, or 90% or 1%...

@Noah:
When I started 9.5 years ago (my sides and back were full then) I was instantly "happy", as I went from NW5-balding to NW1 with a wig. That would still have been a 40, not above, because I hate the thought of being busted and I feel restrictions in everyday life. When my sides and back were also effected more and more by the alopecia (currently about 20% density of original status, talking about sides/back)... Since going to a full cap, I have bad tangling issues, which decreases the lifespan of the wigs drastically and makes me re-order new ones, thus spending more money and thinking more often about my hairloss. That's why 20.
 

Noah

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Sorry to hear that man. I think if I was registering 20% satisfaction from the hairpiece I would probably call it a day and shave, given the cost and maintenance commitment.

There certainly is a point where your sidehair has retreated too far for a topper to look right. I wouldn't want to use a piece if it was detectable, and I'm not sure I could be bothered to wear a full wig. I have experienced a bit of recession, but my piece still looks OK with a bit of clever styling. I'm hoping my side hair will at least last out to allow me to enjoy my young years and connect with quality partners.
 
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grincher

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The basic fact is I'm much happier, active, social and confident now than for years.

The rest is totally subjective and unscientific when you factor in emotional and cognitive bias.

One man's 25% may be another's 50% or another's 64% or 80%.

I use a Swiss Lace topper purchased online. Its very little effort for me. However, if I had to go to a full cap I would probably try it but keep open minded to just shave my head.
 
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AGAssi

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Hi grincher,
but that's exactly the point, it is NOT unscientific :) I've been a physicist all my life, and from THAT (pure natural science) point of view, subjectiv values may indeed appear "unscientific". But there are great and very legit sciences like psychology which explicitely run studies asking exactly for those subjetive impressions. They couldn't do without these data.
 
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