Looking to get started in NYC - Suggestions needed!

[stein21]

First, apologies in advance as I know this topic has been started before but I'm having trouble finding those threads now. I have been lurking on this forum for awhile now and am getting closer to being ready to take that plunge. I was wondering if anyone could message me tips on where in NYC to go for my first system and the costs I can expect to incur. I am planning on having the salon do everything for the first 3-6 months - basically until I feel comfortable enough doing the cleaning and re-applying on my own. I have some ideas of where I'd like to go but would like to get others thoughts first.

And then as a general note, would love to get some tips on what I can do to prepare - research, what to expect during the early stages of wearing, how to bring this up to my partner, etc. Any advice or resources that have helped you when getting started would be greatly appreciated!

Last question (and maybe this should be its own thread) how long have you all been wearing? Do you see this as a long term solution, like 10+ years or do you feel that after a certain point the time and money that goes into wearing a hair system will no longer be worth it to you and you'll look for another solution or just go bald altogether.

Looking forward to hearing from anyone with insight to share!

 

[Blue eyes]

Hair direct, MHE and Lavivid all are good resources. YouTube as well.

 

[Jbalding]

Been wearing a year now. Order from some reputable companies like others have mentioned. Go with light/medium light density at the most. Your stylist will give you a good cut. Youtube is an alright source of info.. just watch hairbymhe's video's and avoid the rest imo. Northwest lace's forums is great for learning and thats where I did my research, this one should be fine too. These things are cheap long term. Maybe 1k a year? Time is only spent about an hour a week re-doing it. I shower every single day and style my hair and that takes probably 20 minutes, same as natural hair.

 

[stein21]

Been wearing a year now. Order from some reputable companies like others have mentioned. Go with light/medium light density at the most. Your stylist will give you a good cut. Youtube is an alright source of info.. just watch hairbymhe's video's and avoid the rest imo. Northwest lace's forums is great for learning and thats where I did my research, this one should be fine too. These things are cheap long term. Maybe 1k a year? Time is only spent about an hour a week re-doing it. I shower every single day and style my hair and that takes probably 20 minutes, same as natural hair.

Thanks so much for the reply, really appreciate it! So it sounds like you are really happy with the decision to wear. Have you told people on your life that you’re wearing a system? How has the reaction been?

 

[stein21]

Been wearing a year now. Order from some reputable companies like others have mentioned. Go with light/medium light density at the most. Your stylist will give you a good cut. Youtube is an alright source of info.. just watch hairbymhe's video's and avoid the rest imo. Northwest lace's forums is great for learning and thats where I did my research, this one should be fine too. These things are cheap long term. Maybe 1k a year? Time is only spent about an hour a week re-doing it. I shower every single day and style my hair and that takes probably 20 minutes, same as natural hair.

Thanks so much for the reply, really appreciate it! So it sounds like you are really happy with the decision to wear. Have you told people on your life that you’re wearing a system? How has the reaction been?

 

[Jbalding]

Thanks so much for the reply, really appreciate it! So it sounds like you are really happy with the decision to wear. Have you told people on your life that you’re wearing a system? How has the reaction been?

Just family, they didn't know I was wearing until I told them. Nobody else is required to know besides long term partners. No solution is perfect but wearing has been the best one out of the 3 for me (Bald, Hairsystem, or meds).

 

[mny]

I've tried a few places in the NYC area. Been wearing for about 3 years now.

Salon prices here seem to be minimum $5000/year total for systems + cuts + maintenance (unless I'm going to the wrong places, though I did a lot of research). It could probably be cheaper if I were willing to do more of it myself. But it's nice to just show up at a salon once or twice a month and let them do all the work, and know that my system is going to look realistic and cool.

To me, the money is worth it, because I look a lot younger - which is better for my tech career, where youth is sort of fetishized.

That said, my 10 year plan is to move out of the city, buy cheap systems online in bulk, bring them to a local suburban stylist for cut-in, and do the rest of the work myself.

Some guys can actually just pull off the bald look. But I can't, so I'm going to be wearing systems for the rest of my life, at least until science figures out how to reliably reactivate hair follicles.

 

[stein21]

I've tried a few places in the NYC area. Been wearing for about 3 years now.

Salon prices here seem to be minimum $5000/year total for systems + cuts + maintenance (unless I'm going to the wrong places, though I did a lot of research). It could probably be cheaper if I were willing to do more of it myself. But it's nice to just show up at a salon once or twice a month and let them do all the work, and know that my system is going to look realistic and cool.

To me, the money is worth it, because I look a lot younger - which is better for my tech career, where youth is sort of fetishized.

That said, my 10 year plan is to move out of the city, buy cheap systems online in bulk, bring them to a local suburban stylist for cut-in, and do the rest of the work myself.

Some guys can actually just pull off the bald look. But I can't, so I'm going to be wearing systems for the rest of my life, at least until science figures out how to reliably reactivate hair follicles.

Thanks so much for your reply! I was planning to budget around $500 a month for all of the costs I’d be incurring from a system and the maintenance so ~$5,000 a year is feasible. I’m hoping over time I’ll become more self reliant but to your point it is nice to have more of a hands off approach to get it to look the best it can.

Would you mind if I messaged you some questions I had about specific salons and stylists?

 

[Rahul Mehta]

Hi there! I am in NYC... Philip Ring is your man, he will get you the system and has amazing stylists too! $5k seems like a good budget for his prices. DM me if you need more info, I put together a spreadsheet of other providers in the area too, some are cheaper/some are more expensive.