Skin/lace Combo System--positives/negatives?

[NYCHairGuy]

Shopping for my second system and considering a skin/lace combo of some sort for the base--either lace surrounded by a perimeter of skin (some vendors market these as "sport systems") or all skin with the front inch or so being lace (to make the front hairline more realistic).

Has anyone tried either of these options? Any positives/negatives I should know about? Also, could one use tape to attach a system like this? I'm getting so damned sick of cleaning up glue...

 

[grincher]

The skin could wear or tear before the lace as its generally considered less resilient.

You could partially offset with a thicker skin but that could defeat the initial purpose.

 

[BaldBearded]

I have hard of lace with poly around the back and sides, or all around if the hairline is not exposed, not lace and skin, for the reasons that @grincher mentioned.

 

[NYCHairGuy]

@BaldBearded and @grincher, sorry--it was late when I posted this. Where I used the term "skin" in my question, I meant "poly." Both options would involve a thicker poly than is generally referred to as "skin." I actually have no interest in those ultra thin skin pieces--not enough durability for me.

I have a medium-thick poly piece now, and the only things I dislike about it are the front hairline (which looks too fake to expose) and the use of glue, which I'm finding too big of a PITA to clean up every couple of days, which is the most time my apparently overly sweaty scalp will allow.

 

[deg_dilemma]

@NYCHairGuy any chance you would be able to put some pics up? I'd be interested to see what the hairline looks like on your poly system.

 

[BaldBearded]

You should be able to use tape on poly.

But lace will give you a better hairline.

You can do lace with a poly surround, and lace front. Tape for everything, just glue for the very front of the hairline.

 

[NYCHairGuy]

@deg_dilemma, pics of my system in this thread: https://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/threads/first-ever-system-talk-me-down-or-not.120312

 

[NYCHairGuy]

@BaldBearded I was thinking of poly surrounding the lace, but to be honest I'm sort of freaked out about the notion of most of the piece having knots that can become loosened. That's why I was thinking also about the poly with the lace front.

 

[Hair Newbie]

I'm confused about the difference between poly and thin skin?? Are they supposed to be the same? Because one of my system is a french lace with thin skin on the sides and back (pic below). The description says " French lace front with Poly sides and back" .Also says "French lace on top and front with transparent thin skin on sides and back".

https://i.imgur.com/p7LAXZm.jpg

 

[Hair Newbie]

Shopping for my second system and considering a skin/lace combo of some sort for the base--either lace surrounded by a perimeter of skin (some vendors market these as "sport systems") or all skin with the front inch or so being lace (to make the front hairline more realistic).

Has anyone tried either of these options? Any positives/negatives I should know about? Also, could one use tape to attach a system like this? I'm getting so damned sick of cleaning up glue...

I've tried 3 different base systems (Full french lace, Full skin base and French lace with skin on the sides and back)
So far I like skin base the best because the clear up is so much easier. The photos below was from few days ago (almost 3 months old skin system). It's very low maintenance and easy to style. My wife is a perfectionist when it comes to hair and she says it looks natural and undetectable. I'm very happy with the outcome.

https://i.imgur.com/DbjfJ7r.jpg

 

[NYCHairGuy]

@Hair Newbie Looks great! What thickness base is that and how is the hair ventilated--v-loops, knots, etc.? I didn't think there was a difference between skin and poly, but I think a lot of the vendors use "skin" or UTS or whatever to refer to a non-lace polyurethane base that's .03, which is the thinnest they seem to come. Thicker bases made of the same material tend to be referred to as "poly."

I'm surprised you find clean-up the easiest on the all-skin unit. Are you using glue or tape?

 

[Hair Newbie]

@Hair Newbie Looks great! What thickness base is that and how is the hair ventilated--v-loops, knots, etc.? I didn't think there was a difference between skin and poly, but I think a lot of the vendors use "skin" or UTS or whatever to refer to a non-lace polyurethane base that's .03, which is the thinnest they seem to come. Thicker bases made of the same material tend to be referred to as "poly."

I'm surprised you find clean-up the easiest on the all-skin unit. Are you using glue or tape?

I am wearing a Super thin skin (0.06-0.08mm) with V-looped stock system, Color: 1B # off black, Freestyle medium light density. Base size cut down to 7 X 9 inch.

I use non-residue Walker 1522 tape around the perimeter and sometime only use it on both sides and leave a small open gap behind for ventilation. The 1522 tape is awesome. It giving me a very secure attachment for 6 to 8 days and super easy to remove. I only spray a little bit of alcohol and can easily peel the old tape right out. I don't even need to use anymore C-22 or solvents removers. No glue residues left on my scalp either.

About the hairline, I lightly spread one thin layer of Got2B (black tube) on my scalp (Sometime I use Esha Absolute Adhesive). Both glues also can easy to remove completely from the skin base by using water and leave zero residue on the unit. If I use Got2b , it can give me 2 to 3 day secure hold. Esha adhesive can do a week or more like GhostBond classic but way more easy to cleanup comparing to Ghostbond. When I remove the whole until, I use water and dishwasher detergent to wash the base, shampoo , conditioner .... The whole process approx take about 15 minutes.

So far I can't tell any difference wearing a skin base comparing with French lace because its still a winter here. When summer come, I am thinking about using a pattern tracing wheel (pic below) to creates some tiny holes on top of the skin base that allow heat to escape and hope that can improve ventilation in the hot weather days. Has anyone tried poking holes on UTS to make it breathable??

https://i.imgur.com/MKsOtAu.jpg

 

[NYCHairGuy]

@Hair Newbie Hmm. Going to have to try a few of those products. Interesting that you're doing just a perimeter bond with a skin base--you're not finding the dreaded "plastic bag" sound from the unbonded part? Also: really curious about the hairline with that thickness of base. If you were to really expose the hairline--like wet your hair and comb it straight back--would the base material be easily detectable?

 

[BaldBearded]

@BaldBearded I was thinking of poly surrounding the lace, but to be honest I'm sort of freaked out about the notion of most of the piece having knots that can become loosened. That's why I was thinking also about the poly with the lace front.

That is a highly incorrect assumption! Injected hair sheds, and sometimes quicker than lace. Stop freaking out... The only thing that a lace system with a poly surround will give you is an easier bond with tape.

 

[Hair Newbie]

@Hair Newbie Hmm. Going to have to try a few of those products. Interesting that you're doing just a perimeter bond with a skin base--you're not finding the dreaded "plastic bag" sound from the unbonded part? Also: really curious about the hairline with that thickness of base. If you were to really expose the hairline--like wet your hair and comb it straight back--would the base material be easily detectable?

No plastic bag feel or sound. The skin base is very comfortable and no shedding from the inside the base like my old lace system. Once I have it attached , I really didn't feel it at all. Perfect fit and is like a 2nd skin grow from my scalp. When I do the attachment , I stretched a little bit to make sure no wrinkles or bubbles on the system. I wear motorcycle and ski helmet for few hours (without using any skull head wrap) so the hair smooched down flat after removing the helmet. I just spray water and use fingers or hair pick to re-style it. It's pretty easy to manipulate any styles I want using only water. Maybe that is the benefit of V-Looped. In the very beginning I wasn't plan to have an expose hairline but now I have a fully expose hairline almost everyday.

 

[Hair Newbie]

@Hair Newbie If you were to really expose the hairline--like wet your hair and comb it straight back--would the base material be easily detectable?

Not sure if you have seen this photos from 4 weeks ago. This is the close up photos of my hairline when it's wet and comb back.

https://www.hairlosstalk.com/intera...-system-experience.118851/page-3#post-1756844

 

[BaldBearded]

So far I can't tell any difference wearing a skin base comparing with French lace because its still a winter here. When summer come, I am thinking about using a pattern tracing wheel (pic below) to creates some tiny holes on top of the skin base that allow heat to escape and hope that can improve ventilation in the hot weather days. Has anyone tried poking holes on UTS to make it breathable??

https://i.imgur.com/MKsOtAu.jpg

View attachment 113348

I think that is a monumentally bad choice. I hope it's not your only system. You need ventilation than go for lace, or a hybrid with lace,

 

[NYCHairGuy]

I agree. Given the cost of these systems and their relative fragility, why do anything that would weaken the base? I think those holes in poly/skin could easily turn into large rips during de/re. Besides, most of the guys who wear skin don't seem to feel like it's too hot. Curtis from YouTube wears UTS and he lives in hot and sticky Florida.

 

[BaldBearded]

I agree. Given the cost of these systems and their relative fragility, why do anything that would weaken the base? I think those holes in poly/skin could easily turn into large rips during de/re. Besides, most of the guys who wear skin don't seem to feel like it's too hot. Curtis from YouTube wears UTS and he lives in hot and sticky Florida.

There is a reason why they are NOT manufactured with holes!

If you don't sweat a lot, you can wear skin. If you do, you HAVE to wear lace, otherwise, it's a nasty disaster of melting glue and sweat.

 

[Hair Newbie]

I think that is a monumentally bad choice. I hope it's not your only system. You need ventilation than go for lace, or a hybrid with lace,

I have 3 more spare systems. (Lace & skin). I sweat a lot from any sort of physical activity so probably will go back to lace during summer. Poking a tiny holes on the skin just an experiment and will be doing it on a 3 months old skin system.