Salon Wants To Dye The Piece- Is This Normal?

[c213]

Hi all,

I've started the process of looking into a full hair replacement system. I live in a fairly large city but don't have a ton of options, so I've opted to start at a large company which does transplants, replacement systems, lasers, etc. After researching the results I would get from all other treatments I went in for a replacement system consultation and began to view the videos the company puts on youtube and one of them mentions they dye the pieces when they arrive. This seems strange to me, as I'm paying an (obviously marked up) premium for a custom piece, so shouldn't it match my hair color already?

Additionally, this company uses a system called sensigraft. Has anyone heard of this? Is it just a fancy name for one of the usual types?

Thanks!

 

[Noah]

Hi C213 - Your instinct is right. If they have to dye it as part of the process, it's not custom made for you.

Sensigraft is a brand name for a thinskin system - i.e. one with a base of very thin plastic/silicone. I think the way these places work is that there is a huge central 'library" of stock systems. The salon takes your specs and sends them to the central library, and they send the stock piece which best matches those specs. So it is better than buying an average stock system, simply because they have so many different types in stock. But it is not custom, and therefore the turnaround time can be quicker. Obviously they don't get the match 100% each time if they sometimes have to resort to dying the systems on arrival. They probably don't always have to do that, so you may be lucky and get an acceptable match without it. It's better that they dye them than that they send you out with a bad colour match, but dyeing is not ideal, because in a natural head of hair (and a good system) the hairs are not a single colour, but a mixture of related colours. Once you dye the hair you lose that subtlety. Particularly with dark hair, a dye job can be obvious on a guy because of the appearance of a dense block of colour.

Having said all that, I started wearing with a similar kind of place, and actually the hair looked great. The downsides are the price, the fact it's a skin base (I think lace is better for most younger active guys because it's breathable), and the fact that you are reliant on them for maintenance. But I wouldn't necessarily want to put you off this place. Just be aware that once you are comfortable with the process you can switch to DIY and you can save money, get a better result and take more control.

All the best

Noah