June 30th, 2020
Today was another successful cleaning and re-attachment with significant improvements in taping and gluing the hairline. I managed to do this all under an hour, and this includes me taking a shower and giving myself a good scrub. By 10 AM I had already attached my system. I am not sure when I started, but it was definitely some time after 9 AM.
Clean Up:
The clean up process was much easier this time around since the tape came right off without breaking apart after spraying C-22. I used the edge of an old gift-card to gently lift tape off the system and washed it thoroughly. Instead of repeatedly dunking my hair system in a wash basin in the shower, I washed my system in the skin with frigid cold water. I shampoo'd and conditioned it as I should and let it dry on my mannequin head properly, making sure I detangled it with an extra-wide tooth comb. I draped a towel over it briefly as well, but let it naturally dry and air-ate itself. The clean up process was much easier, and I didn't leave a mess in the skin. Nor was there a lot of hair shedding or smelly fingers, which was an added bonus.
Attachment:
For attachment, I used perimeter tape with frontal hairline glue attachment. I decided that I was going to tape the perimeter (minus the front) with Walker's tape and glue only the frontal hair-line so that the front appeared more realistic. I think I'm going to stick with the slicked-back style so gluing the frontal hairline will be my only option for this method. I set up the perimeter by cutting the tape into little squares and lining them all along the perimeter of the base. It was a perfect alignment as it was much easier than the longer pieces that I ordered before with minimal curvature. With the perimeter (minus the front) taped, I decided to attach the hair piece starting from the back of my head. I aligned a mirror across the main bathroom mirror and gently slid the piece across my bald head slowly. It was a smooth fit all around and it naturally came to wear my hairline should me.
Now I decided to use glue this time for the front instead of tape mainly, because I wanted it to fit perfectly. I used Ghost Bond XL by applying tiny dabs of glue on a q-tip and then rolling it q-tip across the frontal of my scalp until it was all clear. It was much easier to use a q-tip than a brush that I bought off of Amazon as it did not leave a mess and was much easy to maneuver. After the application was clear, I pulled the system gently over the glued area and pushed the hairline down with a wide-tooth comb. It was almost perfect, as there is a small crease in the top corner, but this is probably due to a poorly designed template on my part. When I order a new hair system, I will make a more symmetric and even template. Either way, there was no fuss with the hairline this time, and since I properly dried my hair and brushed it back, none of it got into the way of the glue. It was truly a perfect attachment.
Future Improvements:
I am going to cut Walker's Tape into tinier even squares when placing them around the perimeter. I think it's better to get a more closer seal to the edges of my hairpiece even though my hair-piece was well-fitted this time. I'm also going to redesign my template and make it more symmetric. This includes shaving my remaining biological hair evenly and creating a new template that would be better for attachment. I was initially thinking of taping the hairline, but I think I'm going to stick to glueing it.There is no way I can tape the hairline perfectly up to the very edge. I just need more practice with glue and establishing a hairline.
It looks like I'm going to order a super thin skin and do what I've been doing. One more week before I order the real thing, although I won't be attaching it until the 3rd week of the month when I hopefully find a stylist to cut my hair.
Of course I'll have to get it cut somewhere hopefully before this second wave of virus shuts everything down.
